Committed Environmental Champion Receives Volvo Environment Prize 2001

    STOCKHOLM, Sweden--Sept. 6, 2001--This year's Volvo Environment prize has been presented to Professor George M. Woodwell from Massachusetts in the USA. A prominent scientist, well ahead of his time, who has had to fight to defend his beliefs. He was one of the first people to come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to the global environment was actually posed by human beings. A theory that was initially received with criticism and scepticism, but which now forms the basis of ecological research the world over.
    George M. Woodwell has been working on and promoting interest in ecological issues for more than 40 years. Back at the beginning of the 1960s, he pointed out that there was a risk that the world's ecological systems would be harmed by man's exploitation of natural resources. With his research, George M. Woodwell demonstrated that all life on earth created a unit, a chain in which every link is important. He pointed out that radioactivity, chemical pesticides and insecticides and deforestation disrupt the vital interplay between flora and fauna and pose a threat to life on earth.
    However, his theories were well ahead of their time and it took many years for George M. Woodwell to be accepted as a serious researcher. His methods are now acclaimed and acknowledged throughout the world and his work is described as pioneering and outstanding.
    George M. Woodwell is a doctor of botany from Duke University in the USA. He has received a great many awards, including the Heinz Environment Award in 1996, when he was described as "one of the world's most respected champions of the environment." What is more, he has taken the initiative and set up a number of research institutes in the USA.
    George M. Woodwell has also continued stubbornly to present his theories to politicians, the authorities and the general public.
    This is the twelfth time Volvo is presenting its Environment Prize. It was instituted in 1990 to support environmental research and is worth SEK 1.5 million. This year's award will be presented at a ceremony October 30.