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“Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the 20th Century”
February 16 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am
The Life Explorers series features programs for adults interested in expanding and sharing their knowledge on a variety of topics.
Mead Botanical Garden Life Explorers Speaker Series
Topic: ” Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the 20th Century.”
Speaker: Dr. Leslie Poole, Rollins College Professor/ Author
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2023
Doors open: 9:30 A.M. (coffee and refreshments)
Program Time: 10:00 – 11:30 A.M.
Location: Azalea Lodge, Mead Botanical Garden, 1300 S. Denning Drive Winter Park, FL
Cost: Free
***Come early for coffee and light refreshments and bring your questions for Dr. Poole during the discussion session that follows. The program is in the Azalea Lodge and admission is free.
“Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the 20th Century.” Featuring: Dr. Leslie Poole
Leslie Poole, associate professor of environmental studies at Rollins College, will be the February 16 Life Explorer’s Series’ speaker at Mead Botanical Garden. Her presentation on the history of Florida’s environmental movement will focus on the critical role women played in creating an agenda for environmental protections and sustainable development. She will highlight the activism of early women environmental pioneers who worked to gain protections for our state’s natural resources even before they had the right to vote. They paved the way with strategic methods to raise grassroots action and consciousness that still impacts Florida today. Her presentation will touch on the lives of environmentalists like Doris Leeper, Clara Dommerich, and the towering legacy of the three “Marjories”: author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, scientist/activist Marjorie Harris Carr, and journalist/activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas. These leaders sparked an environmental movement to preserve our beautiful beaches, natural springs and subtropical wilderness from the onslaught of polution, over-development, and dangerous pesticide abuse. Poole is an award-winning writer and historian, specializing in environmental issues and the significance women played in saving Florida’s natural resources. A fourth-generation Floridian, she received her PhD in History from the University of Florida in 2012. She has been published in a number of academic journals, appeared in PBS documentaries In Marjorie’s Wake and The Swamp, and has written several books. She is the author of two histories: Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the Twentieth Century and Maitland, and co-editor and essay contributor to The Wilder Heart of Florida: More Writers Inspired by Florida Nature.
