Friends of the Earth

The modern environmental movement was still in its infancy in 1969 when Donald Aitkin '58 left physics research at Stanford to co-found Friends of the Earth along with former Sierra Club head David Brower. The purpose, said Aitkin: to use the "modern tools of environmental law in pursuit of environmental protection." Soon after forming, the group won an injunction blocking a plan to bury the Alaskan pipeline in an underground trench. The pipeline was built above-ground.

Aitkin left Friends of the Earth after two and a half years to start up one of the nation's first environmental studies programs at San Jose State University. He has since founded and directed San Jose State's Center for Solar Energy Applications and worked with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth has grown to a crowd: there are now 50 chapters worldwide.