R.I.P. Sir Edmund, 1919-2008

Sir Edmund Hillary died yesterday at the age of 88.

I grew up in a mountainous region, and mountains have always held a special place in my heart.  They had everything to do with my interest in environmental values and, eventually, an environmental career.  And, as nearly everyone knows, the highest in the world, Nepal’s Mount Everest, was first scaled successfully in 1953 by New Zealander Hillary and his lifelong friend, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.  (Norgay passed away in the 1980s.)

I’m hardly the only environmentalist to become fascinated with our planet’s wild extremes, of course.  All you need to do to confirm that is look at the logos of environmental groups.  It’s not coincidence that NRDC’s, for example, depicts a wild forest and a “spirit bear,” which requires remote wilderness to survive.

But mountaineering wasn’t all that Sir Edmund did.  He avidly pursued the cause of bettering the lives on the Himalayan people, building their first hospitals and the airstrip that first gave them access to the outside world.  A dedicated environmentalist, he came to decry the spoilage and commercialism that later came to characterize mountaineering and attempts by others to reach the Everest summit.  He was pretty easy for me to adopt as a hero.

Hillary was not a city boy by disposition, and probably would not have been the kind of guy to pursue the smart growth dream of walkable urban neighborhoods and public transit that I usually write about in this blog.  But I have no doubt that he would have understood completely that, to save earth’s wild, extreme places, we must also concentrate our human settlements, and make that concentration as attractive and livable as possible.  I like to think he would have applauded our efforts.  I certainly am proud to take this moment to applaud his.