As the daughter of social activists, Elizabeth May knew at an early age what her life pursuit would be. “Oh there was no question about it, I was raised to go forth and save the world,” she says with a laugh. As a writer, lawyer and activist, May has put her passion for the environment to good use, including stints as a senior policy advisor to the Minister of Environment in the Mulroney government and, more recently, 17 years as executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, one of Canada’s oldest and most effective environmental groups.
As the leader of many successful campaigns fighting for wildlife protection, pesticide-use reduction, sustainable agriculture, increased climate protection and more, May has learned how to manoeuvre big government and corporations. “Early on, I learned it is totally possible to get presidents and prime ministers to do the right thing,” she says. In 2001, she tested her own philosophy with a 17-day hunger strike to shed light on travesties of the Sydney Tar Ponds, which ended after Health Minister Allan Rock agreed to oversee the health and safety of the area residents.
With 36 years of environmental activism under her belt, May has vast amounts of knowledge about a variety of things like how to mount campaigns and how to motivate people into realizing that even the smallest gesture counts. Somehow she has managed to find the time to fit some of it into five books, including her most recent publication, How to Save the World in Your Spare Time (Key Porter Books, 2006).
With a recent move into the political sphere with the Green Party of Canada, May is continuing her pursuit of changing the world for the better. For her, politics must include the environment and something she calls “relentless truth-telling.”
This is part of Enviro Heroes, a continuing series spotlighting the efforts of individuals determined to make a difference.
by Julia Dault
Green Living Blogs
