Richard Fuller (environmentalist)

Richard Fuller (born 1960) is an Australian-born, U.S.-based engineer, entrepreneur and environmentalist best known for his work in global pollution remediation. He is founder and president of the nonprofit Blacksmith Institute,^[1] (also known as Pure Earth) dedicated to solving pollution problems in low and middle-income countries, where human health is at risk. He is also the founder and president of Great Forest, Inc.,^[2] a leading sustainability consultancy in the U.S. In 2010, he was profiled in Time magazine's Power of One column^[3] about his efforts fighting pollution. In 2014, Bloomberg Businessweek chronicled the growth of Blacksmith Institute/Pure Earth and Fuller's work on toxic pollution problems around the world, including a dangerous cleanup of a secret former Soviet arms site in the Ukraine.^[4]

Early career

After a stint in IBM, Fuller headed to the rainforests of Brazil to work on global environmental issues with the United Nations Environmental Programme. He then brought his experience to New York, establishing Great Forest Inc. to work on greening commercial buildings and corporations in the pioneering days of corporate social responsibility. Realizing that enhancing sustainability practices to corporations alone would not have enough impact on global environmental issues, Fuller started Blacksmith Institute to tackle the problem on a larger scale.^[5]

Life-Threatening Pollution

Fuller believes that pollution is one of the most serious problems the earth faces.^[6] "The health of roughly 100 million people is at risk from pollution in developing countries."^[7]

"A particular concern...is the accumulating and long-lasting burden (of pollution) building up in the environment and in the bodies of the people most directly affected."^[8]

In 2010, Fuller was profiled in Time magazine’s Power of One column^[9] on the impact he has made in fighting life-threatening pollution worldwide.^[10] The article pointed to Fuller’s success in raising awareness about the issue of toxic pollution in low and middle- income countries - one of the most underreported and underfunded global problems.^[11]

In 2014, Bloomberg Businessweek chronicled Blacksmith/Pure Earth's growth, led by Fuller's global work against toxic pollution. The article offers a behind-the-scenes look at how Fuller came upon a toxic secret former Soviet arms site in the Ukraine that was sitting on top of a forgotten "bomb", and worked to make the site safe before the onset of hostilities in the area.^[12] The article also explains: "Fuller’s mission is to help kids play safely on the beach or bathe in a river, not save spotted owls and polar bears. He also knew he wanted to serve the poor, because “the U.S. has the resources to clean up its own Superfund sites.” Mostly, he didn’t want to be another nongovernmental organization dedicated merely to raising awareness." ^[13]

Although toxic pollution is widespread, Fuller believes that it is one global problem that can be solved. “There’s a finite number of polluted sites out there, and you can fix them for relatively little.”^[14] "The good news is we have known technologies and proven strategies for eliminating a lot of this pollution."^[15]

Blacksmith Institute

In 1999, Fuller established Blacksmith Institute to focus on pollution remediation. Over the years, Blacksmith has completed over 50 pollution cleanup projects around the world.^[16]

In 2011, he received the UN-backed Green Star Award on behalf of Blacksmith.^[17] The award recognized Blacksmith's work in environmental emergencies, particularly for its response efforts during the 2010 Nigeria lead poisoning crisis, which killed hundreds of children.^[18]

Fuller created a number of initiatives that established a model for global pollution cleanup. They include the Blacksmith Index, developed with John Hopkins and used around the world to rate levels of health risk from pollution; and the Blacksmith database, the only resource of its kind, which currently documents nearly 3000 of the world's worst polluted places.^[19] Under Fuller, Blacksmith also began the Global Inventory Project, sending researchers out across 80 countries to hunt out and access highly polluted hotspots.^[20]

Fuller is also responsible for the creation and launch of the annual World's Worst Polluted Places Reports;^[21] and the publication of the Blacksmith Journal of Health and Pollution,^[22] which promotes and brings together academic research on the health effects of life-threatening toxic pollution. He also contributes to The Pollution Blog.

In 2008, Fuller began efforts to create the global Health and Pollution Fund, a superfund-inspired initiative to finance the cleanup and elimination of legacy pollution in the low and middle-income countries. This effort eventually led to the formation of the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP),^[23] the first coordinated international effort to tackle pollution on a global scale.^[24]

References

External links

• Blacksmith Institute
• Great Forest, Inc.
• World's Worst Polluted Places Reports