Michael Charles Tobias | |
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![]() Michael Tobias with a cheetah | |
Born | (1951-06-27)June 27, 1951 (age 73) |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Author Environmentalist Anthropologist Mountaineer Filmmaker |
Michael Charles Tobias (born June 27, 1951) is an American author, environmentalist, mountaineer, and filmmaker.[1][2] In 1991, Tobias produced a ten-hour dramatic television series,Voice of the Planet, forTurner Broadcasting; the series starredWilliam Shatner. Tobias has written numerous books, most notablyWorld War III: Population and the Biosphere at the End of the Millennium.
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In 1977, Tobias received a PhD from theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz, in theHistory of Consciousness, a humanities department.[citation needed]
He directed a mountaineering film in 1984. CalledCloudwalker, it was recorded for the UK'sChannel 4. The film chronicled a failed attempt at an ascent on theMoose's Tooth[3] in theRuth Gorge Amphitheatre of Alaska'sMcKinley range (now Denali).
Michael Tobias's PBS filmAhimsa –Nonviolence premiered in the United States on December 25, 1987.[4] Taking three years to make, it was the first major film to portray the life ofJains (a religious group) in India.[4] Southeast Asian religions professorChristopher Chapple said that the film "elegantly portrays several Jain leaders and extols the religion as the great champion of animal rights and nonviolent living".[5]
In a cover story for theNew York Academy of Sciences publicationThe Sciences, Tobias called for an Antarctic World Park,[6] citing threats[clarification needed] to the potential area for large-scale habitat preservation. He released a 1987 PBS film entitledAntarctica: The Last Continent with a similar topic, proposing the creation of an "international park" in Antarctica similar tonational parks in the US.[7] According toThe Christian Science Monitor, the film explores "the discovery of Antarctica and the multinational claims to ownership".[7]
In aDiscovery Channel documentary about theExxon Valdez disaster, namedBlack Tide, he considered the dilemma of safely using oil resources.[8]
Tobias has been involved in wildlife preservation efforts. InNew Zealand, he has overseenecological restoration of a peninsula in the far south of the country, adjoiningRakiura National Park.[9][better source needed]
Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, first wife of thefourth king ofBhutan, described Tobias's efforts as being "invaluable for policymakers and scientists ... [and] inspiration for the next generation of young ecologists wanting to make a difference in the world".[10]
Tobias wrote a book about the growing world population, the environment, and the potential for athird world war calledWorld War III: Population and the Biosphere at the End of the Millennium.[citation needed]
The magazinePsychology Today wrote that it "reads like a volcano erupting ... Tobias throws sparks like an evangelist and has the old-fashioned, wide-ranging erudition of a Renaissance scholar".[11] Scientist Marc Lappé describedWorld War III as "a lengthy and complex treatise that is a distillation of a lifetime of thought and action concerning the human condition. ... It provides a thread of hope, offering a new vision about how humankind may ultimately come to peace with nature."[12] AnthropologistJane Goodall, writing of the book in 1998, said, "Tobias describes for us a path that we could take – a path mapped out by a combination of scientific, logical, intuitive, and spiritual reasoning – towards a future where all is not, after all, lost." In her foreword toWorld War III, she also said that Tobias has provided "ample scientific proof of the large-scalehabitat destruction andloss of biodiversity that has and continues to take place".[13] In 1994, during the UNInternational Conference on Population and Development, theMontreal Gazette quoted Tobias: "For purposes of absolute clarity I call it World War III," as The Gazette extrapolated from Tobias's perspective, "the most terrifying problem humanity has ever faced".[14]
Tobias directed a feature-film documentary calledNo Vacancy, which is based on his book and also focuses on the growing world population.[15] Journalist Ellen Snortland, writing in thePasadena Weekly, stated that "No Vacancy, written and directed by Michael Tobias, is to the world's population explosion what Al Gore'sAn Inconvenient Truth is to global warming".[16]
Tobias received the international Courage of Conscience Award in 1996.[17]
In 2004, Tobias received theParabola Magazine Focus Award.[18]
He delivered the annual address at theUniversity of LondonSchool of Oriental and African Studies in March 2012 as the opening for a symposium onconservation biology, animal rights, and comparative religions.[19]Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and president ofPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, described Tobias as "one of the world's great souls".[20] In 2013, Tobias gave an address to the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, the Research Centre for Sustainable Development, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences at their annual conference inTianjin andBinhai.[21][22] He has also given addresses inMonterrey, Mexico, for the Fifth Conference on Worldwide Values,[23] and at the 21st International Meeting of the Club of Budapest in Hungary.[24]
Tobias is an honorary member of the Club of Budapest.[25]
Tobias is a contributing writer forForbes online.[26]
From 2001 to 2002, Tobias was Regents Lecturer at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, in Environmental Studies.[27] In 2016, he was a Martha Daniel Newell Visiting Scholar atGeorgia College & State University.[28]
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