Barbara R. Alexander
Consumer Affairs Consultant, Former Director, Consumer Assistance Division, Maine Public Utilities Commission
Barbara R. Alexander graduated from the University of Michigan (B.A., LS&A) in 1968. After working on the Robert F. Kennedy campaign in Indiana, Oregon, and California, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she joined The Conservation Foundation and was recommended for the nascent Earth Day 1970 staff. Barb was the Midwestern Coordinator for Earth Day. Following her marriage to Donald Alexander and a move to Maine in 1973, Barb received a J.D. from the U. of Maine School of Law in 1976, and was appointed Superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection (1979-1983) and then from 1986-1996 the Director, Consumer Assistance Division, at the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Since 1996 Barbara has implemented a consulting practice to represent public advocates and national and state consumer organizations in public utility proceedings in over 30 U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions.
Clips
4:05-4:50
Barbara discusses the role of women in the environmental movement and how it was a good place to be because people were given roles based on what they could do, not on gender.
#environment #women
5:02-5:50
Barbara talks about how support for the environmental movement exploded after the first Earth Day and how no one could've expected the level of enthusiam for the Teach-In or for Earth Day.
#TeachIn #EarthDay
5:55-7:29
Barbara describes all the diverse groups across the nation who came together to help support the Clean Air/ Clean Water Acts and how the popularity of Earth Day forced politicians to listen to them.
#community #EarthDay #environmentalism
9:10-9:56
Barbara talks about how important and helpful union groups were to the organization of Earth Day.
#EarthDay #unions #community
13:45-15:25
Barbara discusses how the environmental movement is different now than it was in the 1970s due to the differing economic circumstances of the average American.
#environment #change #economy