UK newspaper The Observer has just published its “Green Power List” for 2011, including celebrities, royals and people who own a lot of cars. Reaction hasn’t been entirely positive. And for good reason: the list was notable for who it excluded. Not a single Chinese or Indian was named, and very few politicians or businesspeople. In response, the team at chinadialogue has selected 20 people we think really matter. With apologies to Brad Pitt.
Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comment section.
Declaration of interest: Some of these people have been interviewed by or written for chinadialogue. Where this is the case we’ve added a link.
Lisa Jackson – head of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States.
Pan Yue – vice minister of China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. chinadialogue articles.
Jairam Ramesh – Indian environment minister.
President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives.
Christiana Figueres – executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. chinadialogue interview.
Yao Tandong – leading glaciologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Zhang Yue – chairman of Broad Air Conditioning, who has emerged as China’s most outspoken tycoon on environmental issues. chinadialogue articles.
Wangari Maathai – environmentalist and political activist, who became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. chinadialogue articles and interview.
Ma Jun – Chinese environmental activist and journalist. chinadialogue articles.
Johan Rockström – leading international scientist on global sustainability issues.
Sylvia Earle – oceanographer.
Lester Brown – environmental thinker and analyst. chinadialogue articles and podcast.
Indra K Nooyi – chief executive of pepsico.
Steve Chu – United States secretary of energy.
Josh Fox – documentary filmmaker, director of gasland.
Nobuo Tanaka – executive director of the International Energy Agency.
Ken Caldeira – climate scientist with a special focus on geo-engineering.
Bill McKibben – American environmentalist and writer. chinadialogue articles
Pavan Sukhdev – project leader for the United Nations Environment Programme’s “Green Economy” initiative.
And, posthumously, climate scientist Stephen Schneider.