Protecting the planet is everyone’s work. But we all have our own heroes in whatever area we are working. Planet Savers brings together the varied stories of the hundreds of movers and shakers that have spoken up throughout history and taken action to defend the world from pollution, deforestation, species loss and climate change.

From Theodore Roosevelt to Al Gore; from Francis of Assisi to David Attenborough — and from hundreds more men and women that you will know little, if anything, about. Scientists, artists, business people, priests, lawyers, poets, politicians, activists and more, from every continent of the world. Their work has enthused us about the natural world and warned us that we must do much more to preserve it. The Indian woman who became the world’s first environmental martyr; the Baptist Reverend who asked ‘What Would Jesus Drive?’; the Quaker big game hunter who set up the first conservation organisation; the Shakespearian actor who revolutionised organic gardening; and the housewife whose campaign against toxic waste forced a President to act.

The book is a cornucopia of people who from time immemorial have put their careers, reputations and lives on the line to protect our planet from its governing inhabitants — the human race. Today, as thousands of species of animals and plants are faced with extinction, thousands of years of indigenous knowledge is lost in the face of technological advance, and we become more and more aware of the potential doomsday scenario of a warming world, we need Planet Savers more than ever.

Our inspiration can be the 301 environmental lives portrayed in this book. These people cared enough to do something about it. Planet Savers is both a tribute and a catalyst: a tribute to the people that loved the planet enough to want to act to save it, and a catalyst for the people who will be inspired to act after reading it. New Planet Savers are at work right now in rainforests and megacities; in community centres and boardrooms; at road protests and in courtrooms, all over the world. If this book has one great aim it is to inspire you, the reader, to join them.

It is a book that every home should own.

Planet Savers is a marvellous antidote to our world of gloomy prognostications. It's akin to reading the daily obituaries of great men and women whose extraordinary contributions to society have been unsung. But many of these ‘Planet Savers’ are still alive and I found reading about them very cheering indeed.
Anna Ford, Broadcaster

An inspiring collection of people making a difference ... a refreshing antidote to apathy and the hopelessness that nothing can be done with the environmental challenge so overwhelming and huge.
Thomas E. Lovejoy, President, The Heinz Center for Science Economics and the Environment

There has never been a more urgent need for environmental leadership. This fascinating compendium of the good and great, the famous and the unjustly forgotten, shows that individuals can change the world for the better. This is a book to inspire, a potent record of heroes from all cultures and backgrounds, and above all it is a petition, galvanising us to greater action.
Mike Maunder PhD, Executive Director, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, Florida

A timely book to recognise those who toil to save the world. The human race’s most redeeming feature is its ability to rise above self-interest when the general good is threatened. There has never been a time when this trait has been more necessary.
Robin Hanbury-Tenison, President, Survival International

To me, environmentalists are the true heroes. It is they who appreciate the wonders of nature — and have alerted the world to the catastrophe that threatens from human beings’ profligacy. Environmentalists are also outstanding people, passionate, skilled, often eccentric, and always worth reading about.
John Hemming, Expert on Amazon Peoples, former Director, Royal Geographical Society

This is a book that should not just be read to entertain, but to challenge all its readers into action. It is my hope that you too will join this distinguished list of people who care about the future of the planet upon which we live.
Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, VMH, School of Plant Sciences, University of Reading, Scientific Director, The Eden Project

Planet Savers presents an unusual ‘Who’s Who’ in the environmental world, profiling 301 people, famous and not so famous. Crediting each featured individual with reference to their contribution to saving our planet from ‘its governing inhabitants — the human race’. From St Francis of Assisi and Franklin Roosevelt to, in more recent times, Pierce Brosnan and Ken Livingstone, this book examines the small (and sometimes not so small) way in which each of these people have used everything in their power (from leadership and fame to the right to free speech and experience) to fight for the good of the planet. Whether you know these people or even whether you agree with their methods, this compilation of environmentalists is an interesting and eye-opening glance at environmental commitment through the centuries.
The Environmentalist Issue 68 (17 Nov 2008)

Foreword
Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, VMH

Introduction
Acknowledgements

The Planet Savers
View a list of the 301 Planet Savers featured in this book

Free samples:

Index of Planet Savers
Index of organisations
Photo credits
About the author