David Allan
Professor Emeritus, U-M, Former acting dean, U-M’s School for Environment and Sustainability
David Allan is Professor Emeritus in the School for Environment and Sustainability at The University of Michigan, where he has served as Professor and Dean. Dave’s research interests are in freshwater ecology, including the many threats to and benefits from healthy ecosystems. He received his BSc from the University of British Columbia (1966) and PhD from the University of Michigan (1971. In 1969-70, when he should have been working on his doctoral thesis, Dave joined with other students and supportive faculty to launch the ambitiously titled, “Environmental Action for Survival”, fortunately shortened to “Enact”, and helped to organize UM’s first earth day. Following graduation, he spent a post-doctoral year at the University of Chicago, then joined the Department of Zoology of the University of Maryland before returning to the University of Michigan in 1990. He retired in 2015 but remains professionally active, at present completing a third edition of his textbook entitled “Stream Ecology”. Allan has served on various committees advisory to the U.S. and Canada on freshwater protection, and on the boards of American Rivers and The Nature Conservancy. Professor Allan is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the Society for Freshwater Science. He has been recognized by the University of Michigan with the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award and by the Society for Freshwater Science with the Award of Excellence.
Clips
2:14-3:00
David discusses how he got involved with ENACT and the Teach-In. #ENACT #TeachIn #BuildingAMovement
3:46-4:20
David describes the initial mission of ENACT and how they came up with the name. #ENACT #BuildingAMovement
7:51-10:02
David discusses how the Teach-In grew beyond their expectations and how that led to meetings with Dow Chemical executives. He explains some of the struggles they faced, such as bridging the gap between supporters like Dow and the radical leftists on campus, as well as trying to gain legitimacy for their movement. #ENACT # TeachIn #Dow #BuildingAMovement
14:10-15:10
David recalls how there was lots of grassroots participation in the Teach-In that wasn't planned by the organizers and how it related to political stances on industry and captialism.
#ENACT # TeachIn #BuildingAMovement #community #grassroots #industry
16:27-17:17
David discusses how he got big name celebrities to come to the Teach-In and remarks that "if you don't question whether you can do something, you'd be surprised at what you can actually do." #ENACT # TeachIn #BuildingAMovement
18:32-18:52 & 23:25-24:08
David remarks that the amount of support and number of big names they were able to draw to the Teach-In could be attributed to the idea that supporting those taking a stand on environmental issues was "safer" than supporting those protesting issues such as Feminism, Civil Rights, or Vietnam. #ENACT # TeachIn #BuildingAMovement #Vietnam #CivilRights #feminism
21:26-22:27
David talks about attendance at the Teach-In and some of the people who came to speak at the event. #ENACT # TeachIn #BuildingAMovement