Enviro Heroes: Elizabeth May

Environmental activist, writer, lawyer, politician.

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, activist and politician, 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 then health minister Allan Rock agreed to oversee the health and safety of the area residents.

With nearly four decades of environmental activism under her belt, May has vast amounts of knowledge about a variety of things, such as 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 seven books, including her most recent publications, Global Warming for Dummies (with Zoe Caron; Wiley) and Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy (McClelland and Stewart).

With her 2006 move into the political sphere as leader of 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 series spotlighting the efforts of individuals determined to make a difference. It was updated in April 2009.

Want to hear more from Elizabeth, including what’s in store for the environment in 2009—and Canada’s role in it? Read our recent interview with her.