"TIME" Leaders & Visionaries

CRISTINA NARBONA ANOMENADA 'HEROINA DEL MEDI AMBIENT' PER LA PRESTIGIOSA TIME, JUNT A LA BRASILEIRA MARINA SILVA

Time destaca que el ecologistes l'anyorem. També que va defensar enormement el medi natural i que es va enfrentar al 'fortìssim lobby' (sic) de la construcció en Espanya per les aberracions fetes al litoral...esperem i desitjem que eixe no siga el leit motiv de la seua no presència a l'actual gavinet.

Marina Silva and Cristina Narbona

Ruiz Marina Silva and Cristina Narbona Ruiz couldn't be more different — or more alike. Silva is an indigenous Brazilian born poor in the rain forest; she only learned to read at age 14. Narbona Ruiz grew up in Italy as the daughter of Spanish journalists in exile from the repressions of the Franco era. Silva spent her early career building a trade-union movement among the rain forest's rubber tappers alongside the activist Chico Mendes; Narbona Ruiz climbed the political ladder within Spain's Socialist Party. But once the two rose to become Environment Ministers in their respective countries, they both spoke out with a passion that proved too disturbing for the governments that appointed them. Narbona Ruiz was never really an outsider; before moving into politics she taught economics at the University of Seville. But like Silva, Narbona Ruiz dared to take on powerful interests — in her case, the construction industry that has paved over much of the country's Mediterranean coastline. When she became Environment Minister in 2004, she pressed on with policies that have made Spain a leader in renewable energy. But Narbona Ruiz's truly heroic moment came when she implemented a plan to limit construction on the coastline in an attempt to return Spain's beaches to something more natural. Narbona Ruiz was lauded by environmentalists, but gained powerful business enemies; when a new Socialist cabinet was formed in 2008, she found herself out of a job. TIME INTERNATIONAL