Arlene Blum

Born: 1945

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

Reed College BS Chemistry 1966; MIT 1966-67; UC Berkeley PhD Biophysical chemistry 1971

""In America, foods, drugs and pesticides are regulated, you may say they are not well enough regulated, but you really have to provide information because those are the things that go into our mouths. Other chemicals like flame retardants are not regulated, there are not really health requirements but they go into our bodies the same way." (wikipedia); "I love bad weather. I grew up in Chicago where winters were freezing cold with high winds and snow. I grew up in a suffocating family situation and I much preferred being outdoors in a blizzard to being indoors. I always want to be outdoors." (chemistryworld.com); "Back in the 1970s, I found that the flame retardant Tris in kids’ pyjamas was cancer causing and that use was stopped in three months. But I didn’t know that the same chemical Tris was also being used in furniture across the US and Canada. I took 26 years off from science and came back to discover the same Tris was still in our furniture. It had taken three months to solve the kids’ pyjamas problem. But when I started solving the furniture problem, there was an enormous lobbying from the chemical producers who spent a documented $20 million trying to prevent a change away from the use of harmful flame retardants. That was a huge struggle, which got solved when I started taking hikes with our governor’s senior advisor, and I educated him about the problem. He educated the governor of California, and then the flammability regulation was updated. Now, furniture across North America has increased fire safety without harmful flame retardants." (chemistryworld.com); "One of the biggest unanswered question in science is: can we all come together and solve the interlocking problems of climate change, plastic pollution and toxic chemicals globally? Each could destroy the world we know and love. Can scientists join with government and business, particularly with the petrochemical industry, to solve these big problems? I’m optimistic – Himalayan mountain climbers have to be optimists. I believe that chemists and other scientists can come together and have a big positive impact, and help save our health and our planet." (chemistryworld.com); "

— Arlene Blum

Field of Study: Biophysical Chemistry; Mountaineer;

Institution/Corporation: Green Science Policy Institute; Reed College

Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degree: University of San Francisco (2022)' Member: American Association for the Advancement of Science (2011); boards of the Society for the Preservation of Afghan Archeology; ISET, an organization dedicated to solving climate, water and disaster problems in South Asia; and the advisory boards for Project REED which builds libraries in Asia, Environmental Building News, and the Plastic Pollution Coalition;

Awards: 2018 California Hall of Fame; 2018 U.S. Congressional Proclamation in honor of her life work to protect public from toxics; 2017 International House U.C. Berkeley, Alumnus of the Year; 2015 US Green Building Council, Women in Sustainability Leadership Award; 2015 Reed College, Thomas Lamb Eliot Award for Lifetime Achievement; 2014 Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal as the city of Berkeley’s "most useful citizen;” 2014 Jean and Leslie Douglas "Pearl Award;" 2014 Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame for Science, Engineering & Technology; 2013 US Green Building Council NCC “Super Hero” Achievement Award; 2013 Consumer Federation of California “Consumer Warrior” Award; 2012 Hall of Mountaineering Excellence; 2011 UK Guardian Top 100 Women Sport & Adventure; 2010 National Women’s History Project, 100 “Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet;” 2008 Purpose Prize for those over age sixty starting organizations to solve societal problems; 1984 Society of Women Geographers Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement;

Achievements: best known for leading the first successful American ascent of Annapurna 1 in 1978 a climb that was also an all-woman ascent; 1970 was deputy leader of the first all-woman ascent of Denali ("Denali Damsels" expedition); 2007 cofounder & Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute whose goal is to bring scientific research results into policy decisions to protect human health and the environment from toxic chemicals ; while a researcher at UC Berkeley in the 1970s her research contributed to the regulation of two cancer-causing chemicals used as flame retardants on children's sleepwear;