Nothing Ever Goes Away: Barry Commoner – October 2, 2012

Obituary: Pioneering environmental scientist and activist dies at 95

Barry Commoner, a pioneering environmental scientist and activist, died Sunday at age 95.

Described in 1970 by Time magazine as the "Paul Revere of ecology," Commoner followed Rachel Carson as America's most prominent modern environmentalist. He viewed the environmental crisis as a symptom of a fundamentally flawed economic and social system. A biologist and research scientist, he argued that corporate greed, misguided government priorities, and the misuse of technology undermined "the finely sculptured fit between life and its surroundings."

Commoner insisted that scientists had an obligation to make scientific information accessible to the general public, so that citizens could participate in public debates that involved scientific questions. Citizens, he said, have… more

by: Peter Dreier

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