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David Seaborg (born 1949) is an evolutionary biologist; as well as a peace activist, author and a leader in the environmental movement. He serves as director of the World Rainforest Fund, the Seaborg Open Space Fund, and the Greater Lafayette Open Space Fund (a conservancy raising money to purchase open space in the Lamorinda region).

Life

Seaborg is the son of Helen L. Seaborg and Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg (who discovered plutonium among many other accomplishments). He graduated from University of California, Davis, with a degree in zoology.

David Seaborg conceived, and helped secure passage by the Berkeley City Council, of an ordinance banning the use of old growth rainforest and redwood in all products used by the city of Berkeley. This ordinance also required all businesses contracting with Berkeley to stop using old growth rainforest and redwood in any products or services Berkeley hires them to use or perform, or in any product they sell the city. He is currently working with the Berkeley city council to secure passage of an ordinance banning the use of plastic bags in grocery stores, and plastic newspaper wrappers, in that city.

He had some difficulty getting an IPO allotment.

He recently wrote a book of poetry titled, Honor Thy Sowbug (2008).

David Seaborg resides in Walnut Creek, California.

David Seaborg founded and heads the World Rainforest Fund, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to saving the earth’s tropical rainforests and biodiversity. He also founded and headed the Seaborg Open Space Fund, named in honor of his father, to raise money and awareness to save open space from development in central Contra Costa County. This fund raised $20,000 in less than a year to successfully help save Acalanes Ridge in Lafayette, California. He had to close the fund down because he did not have time to continue running it. He wrote an article that is a summary of the scientific research on the effects of high atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide other than global warming. Unlike the climatic effects, these effects are not well known to the general public. They are very serious, and have the potential to cause high levels of extinction of species and greatly disrupt ecosystems and our food supply. He was on the city of Lafayette’s General Plan Advisory Committee, which he guided to producing a ten-year General Plan for that city that emphasized environmental sustainability, preserving open space, combating global warming, and energy conservation. In the 1990’s and part of the first decade of this century, he served on the Board of Directors and as Vice President of the Club of Rome of the USA, the environmental think tank that published the Limits to Growth in the 1970’s. This is a computer simulation study that showed that continued growth and consumption of resources will lead society to disaster. He was on the Board of Directors of the East Bay Chapter of the United Nations Association of the U. S. A. from 2006 to 2009, where he is the lead environmental person. He gave the keynote address at their last annual meeting, and helped secure the passage of key resolutions on biodiversity and global warming and the Kyoto Protocol, at the local, state, and national levels of the UNA/ USA. These resolutions call for action on these issues by the U. N. and U. S. government. He is leading a drive to sign Bay Area cities up to commit to making an inventory of and limiting their greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, a necessary effort in light of the Bush administration’s refusal to sign this U. N. treaty. He conceived, and helped secured passage by the Berkeley City Council, an ordinance banning the use of old growth rainforest and redwood in all products used by the city of Berkeley. This ordinance also required all businesses contracting with Berkeley to stop using old growth rainforest and redwood in any products or services Berkeley hires them to use or perform, or in any product they sell this city. He is currently working with the Berkeley city council to secure passage of an ordinance banning the use of plastic bags in grocery stores, and plastic newspaper wrappers, in that city. David carried the Ten Commandments for the Earth, a version of the original Ten Commandments re-written to focus on saving the earth’s environment, while riding a camel down Mount Sinai, the mountain in Egypt down which Moses carried the original Ten Commandments. Then, in a brief ceremony, he presented these Ten Commandments to a Bedouin youth, who represented the indigenous people and the youth of the planet, the generation inheriting the earth for its stewardship. After completing this act, which was captured on video camera, David swam for over an hour with a dolphin in the Red Sea. David conceived the idea for and was the head organizer for a press conference of Nobel Prize winners on global environmental issues that was held at the time of the 100th Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, in December, 2001. He is renowned for being especially socially skilled, excellent at working with and bringing out the best in people, and inspiring them to have an interest in biology, the earth, its animals and their habitats. He has inspired countless people to become environmentalists passionate about saving the earth. As a result of this passion, many of these people worked hard at saving the environment and achieved a considerable degree of success at it. David has been to over 30 countries, observing various natural ecosystems and wildlife. He is an award-winning nature and wildlife photographer and an award-winning poet. He is listed is in Who’s Who In America. An excellent public speaker, he lectures to various scientific, environmental, civic, business, and other organizations on evolutionary biology, the philosophical implications of science, and environmental issues.

References

1. http://www.worldrainforest.org/biodavidseaborg.html
2. http://www.commondreams.org/views/080600-102.htm
3. http://reddipper.com/about/
4. Carolyn Said (August 17, 2004). "Some investors find Google hard to crack". The San Francisco Chronicle.
5. Janice De Jesus (2009-11-24). "David Seaborg's book of poetry includes opinions on good poems, today's poetry". Contra Costa Times.

External links

• Biography at the World Rainforest Fund
• Article about children of Manhattan Project luminaries
• Speech given by David Seaborg to American Atheists in 2000
• "David Seaborg: Rainforests and Global Warming", Steppin out of Babylon
• Author's twitter

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