Honour Roll ​

John Harrison ​

Who are the greatest Naturalists of all time? ​

Sir David Attenborough

The most influential nature communicator in human history and the most frequently mentioned globally due to his 70-year career and peerless reach. He delivered

  • Seven decades of documentaries that brought the natural world into billions of homes
  • Raised global awareness of climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecological fragility
  • Inspired countless scientists, conservationists, and policymakers
  • Humanised nature with storytelling accessible to all ages and cultures

King Charles III

Widely regarded as the most committed environmentalist ever to sit on the British throne, with more than 50 years of sustained activism, practical projects, and global advocacy shaping his public identity. His environmentalism is not a late-career branding exercise, it has been the defining theme of his adult life.

He is a career environmentalist whose ideas have helped shape modern sustainability discourse. His reign embeds climate and nature protection into the monarchy itself, and his influence spans politics, business, conservation, and public culture.

In 1970, at age 21, he warned publicly about plastic pollution and was one of the earliest high‑profile statements on the issue.

  • Throughout the 1970s–80s he promoted organic farming, sustainable land management, and conservation.
  • In 1992, he convened a conference that helped pave the way for the Rio Earth Summit, the birthplace of the COP climate conferences.
  • He has consistently argued for a balanced relationship between humans and nature, often decades ahead of political consensus.
  • He has done much other well good work worth researching

Rachel Carson

The woman who launched the modern environmental movement.

  • Author of Silent Spring (1962)
  • Exposed the dangers of pesticides like DDT
  • Triggered policy reform in the U.S. and around the world
  • Led directly to the creation of the EPA and the banning of DDT
  • Demonstrated that science-based environmental warning can galvanise public action

Janine Benyus

Global champion of biomimicry designing human systems inspired by nature.

  • Popularised the concept of biomimicry
  • Showed how ecosystems can inspire architecture, energy systems, materials, and product design
  • Her work shifted industry thinking toward regenerative, rather than extractive, solutions
  • Established Biomimicry 3.8, influencing companies and governments globally

Jane Goodall

Brought compassion and scientific understanding to animal behaviour and conservation.

  • Transformed our understanding of chimpanzees and primates
  • Humanised wildlife through storytelling
  • Built the global Roots & Shoots movement to empower young conservationists
  • A lifelong ambassador for forests, wildlife, and coexistence

E.O. Wilson

“Darwin’s natural heir” and the champion of biodiversity.

  • Coined major concepts such as biophilia and half‑earth conservation
  • Pioneered modern biodiversity science
  • Pushed governments and scientists toward large-scale conservation strategies

Sylvia Earle

The leading voice for ocean conservation.

  • Legendary marine biologist
  • Advocate for marine protected areas
  • Her “Mission Blue” campaign protects oceans worldwide
  • Showed the public the beauty and fragility of marine ecosystems

David Suzuki

Brought environmental science to mainstream television.

  • Hosted The Nature of Things
  • Made ecology, climate science, and sustainability understandable to millions
  • Long-time advocate for indigenous ecological knowledge

Wangari Maathai

Nobel Peace Prize winner who connected ecology with human rights.

  • Founded the Green Belt Movement
  • Planted over 51 million trees across Kenya
  • Promoted women's empowerment through ecological restoration

Carl Sagan

Expanded environmental awareness beyond Earth.

  • Explained the fragility of the biosphere using planetary science
  • The “Pale Blue Dot” message reshaped global ecological consciousness
  • Popularised science in ways that encouraged stewardship of Earth

Sir David Attenborough is, scientific advocacy, or pioneering activism, several others are in the top tier.

Here are the winners of nature promoters in my view:

1. The Voice of the World: Sir David Attenborough

I have already mentioned him, and for good reason. No other person has narrated the story of life on Earth for as many people over as many decades.

  • The Impact: He transitioned from showing "nature as a spectacle" to "nature as a crisis." His later work, like Blue Planet II and A Life on Our Planet, directly triggered massive global policy shifts on plastic waste and carbon emissions.

2. The Force of Personality: Steve Irwin

If Attenborough is the professor, Steve Irwin was the "action hero."

  • The Impact: He reached a demographic that documentaries often missed: children and those who found traditional nature programs too slow. His "Crocodile Hunter" persona turned "scary" animals (crocodiles, snakes, spiders) into creatures worthy of love and protection. He used his fame to buy vast tracts of land for conservation, a legacy his family continues.

3. The Ethical Pioneer: Dr. Jane Goodall

Goodall redefined what it means to "promote" nature by blurring the line between humans and animals.

  • The Impact: By naming the chimpanzees she studied (rather than numbering them), she forced the world to recognize animal sentience. Her Roots & Shoots program has turned millions of young people into active conservationists across 100+ countries.

4. The Undersea Explorer: Jacques Cousteau

Before Attenborough was a household name, Cousteau was the world’s window into the "Silent World" of the oceans.

  • The Impact: He co-invented the Aqua-Lung (SCUBA), which literally allowed humans to see the 70% of the planet that was previously hidden. His films won three Oscars and a Palme d'Or, making marine conservation a mainstream global priority for the first time.

5. The Catalyst: Rachel Carson

While less of a "media personality" in the modern sense, she is often credited with saving the biosphere from chemical collapse.

  • The Impact: Her book Silent Spring (1962) was the first time the public was shown that human "progress" (like DDT) was killing the natural world. It led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is the foundation of the modern environmental movement.
  • John Muir: The "Father of the National Parks," whose writing convinced the US government to protect places like Yosemite.
  • Greta Thunberg: For mobilizing the youngest generation into a political force through mass protest.
  • Al Gore: For using high-level political influence and data visualization to make climate change a global talking point.

I am John Harrison and I should tell you about my library as if you want more background on the ecology of the planet and issues affecting it and us, you should try and read some of them.

John Harrison’s Library

I have the following texts from early environment writers.

David Suzuki and Holly Dressel. Good News for a Change. Hope for a Troubled Planet

Eugen Linden. The Future in Plain Sight

Eugen Linden. The Winds of Change.

Mayer Hillman. How We Can Save the Planet

Rory Spowers. Rising Tides. A History of the Environmental Revolution and Visions for an Ecological Age.

Janine M Benyus. Biomimicry. Innovation Inspired by Nature

Rachel Carson. With essays by Edward O. Wilson and Linda Lear. Silent Spring

James Lovelock. The Ages of Gaia

James Lovelock. A New Look at Life on Earth

Ron Nielson. The Little Green Handbook

Al Gore. An Inconvenient Truth. The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What we can do about it.

Al Gore. Our choice

John Ralston Saul. Voltaire’s Bastards. The Dictatorship of Reason in the West

Lester R Brown. Plan B3.0. Mobilising to Save Civilisation

Peter Ellyard. ideas for the new millenium

Paul Weaver, Leo Jansen, Geert van Grootveld, Egbert van Spiegel, Phillip Vergragt

Jared Diamond. Guns, germs and steel. A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years.

Jarred Diamond. Collapse. How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. He also wrote about Easter Island.

Professor Robert M. Carter. Climate: The Counter Consensus. Preparatory Essay by Tom Stacey.

Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. Wikinomics How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.

Tim Flannery. The Weather Makers. The History and Future Impact of Climate Change

Tim Flannery. We are the Weather Makers. The Story of Global Warming.

William F. Ruddiman. How Humans Took Control of Climate.

William L Burroughs. Climate Change in Prehistory. The End of the Reign of Chaos

William McDonough – architect and design theorist and Michael Braungart – chemist and materials scientist. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things

Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point. How Little Things can Make a Big Difference

Jay Harman. The Shark’s Paintbrush

Helen Cushing. Beyond Organics, Gardening for the Future.

Paul Hawken, Amory B Lovins, L Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism The Next Industrial revolution.

Paul Hawken. The Ecology of Commerce

Dan Gardner. Future Babble

Oliver Milman. The Insect Crisis

Mathew Evans. Soil

Peter Singer, One world. The ethics of globalisation