RIP Gorby: The Quiet Environmentalist
Mark A. Izeman
Senior Attorney and Strategist at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Ok, here is my very short Gorbachev remembrance/tribute post.?
And check out Tanya’s great?post?on her best memory of meeting him.
I met him twice.??
The first time was July 4, 2006. We had just moved to Russia and there was a celebration at the US Embassy in Moscow, following a Civil Society G8?conference earlier in the day.?
Seeing Gorbachev, I waded through the crowd and shook his hand, just so I could tell this story later… like today! (This was pre-selfie era, so you’ll have to trust me...without verification).?
The second time was a year or two years later at an environmental conference at the?President Hotel?in Moscow where Gorbachev was the keynote speaker. When I showed up, there were only about 20 people milling around in a large conference room. So, I went to get some tea at the small self-serve coffee/hot water station in the corner.??
As I was dillydallying, a man behind me said in English (I guess my badge or clothes gave me away): “Could I please break in for the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union” and standing three feet away was Gorbachev with his very distinctive birthmark.?Of course, I obliged.?
One last point.?Most obituaries of him don’t mention his creation of the environmental group Green Cross International and that he also published a?book?on his global environmental vision.
Marine Conservation and Biodiversity
2 年Hi Mark, I remember this second event at the Presidential hotel. Mostly because I came to Gorbachev and introduced myself and asked Ifd he will be intrested to give couple of phrases for the book of my father Nikolay Vorontsova, who was the Minister of Environment in the Gorbachev's government. Best, Masha.