A mother of three, Caldicott has devoted the last 22 years of her life to an international campaign of educating the public about the medical hazards of the nuclear age and the necessary changes in behavior to stop environmental destruction and begin healing and regeneration. In the early 1970s, Dr. Caldicott played a major role in opposing French nuclear atmospheric testing and educating Australian trade union workers about the dangers of uranium production. In 1977, she founded the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and remained active in it until about 1966. PSR is composed of more than 23,000 physicians dedicated to educating the public, their colleagues and politicians about the danger of nuclear weapons and nuclear production.
Caldicott is the author of several books, most recently, If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth (W.W. Norton,1992), and before that, Nuclear Madness and Missile Envy: The Arms Race and Nuclear War. She has received many prizes, awards, and 17 honorary degrees, in addition to being nominated by Linus Pauling in 1985 for a Nobel Peace Prize. While an instructor at Harvard Medical School, she began her lecturing on the dangers of nuclear weapons.
Presently, Dr. Caldicott continues her worldwide lecturing, particularly in Australia, Canada, and the United States. She is affiliated with the Stanley Foster Foundation and its "One Person, One Tree" campaign, encouraging Australians and especially young children to become involved planting one indigenous tree on the first day of spring each year. The Foundation hopes to encourage students to propagate the seeds and help them learn and appreciate the cycles of Nature while developing a strong community program to replenish the environment.
During the Envirofest, Dr. Caldicott will speak at 6 pm on "Saving Our Planet: Starting Right Now." The Envirofest will feature demonstrations, exhibits and information booths by grassroots organizations and others focusing on sustainable economics, sustainable resource use, recycling, alternative electric and self-propelled vehicles, and alternatives to wood (kenaf, hemp, straw) in paper production. Items sold at the Mendocino Coast Environmental Center's non-profit store also will be exhibited, which include recycled glassware, hemp clothing, recycled rubber handbags and briefcases, and solar items. Electric vehicles will be displayed and test rides will be available as well.
Further information can be obtained by calling MCEC at 937-0709 or MEC at 468-1660. Tickets at $8 each can be purchased in the town of Mendocino at MCEC, Out of This World, the Adventure Store; in Ukiah and the MEC, Ukiah Co-op, or Mendocino Book Co; and in Willits at the Willits environmental Center. All proceeds benefit the non-profit Mendocino Coast Environmental Center and Mendocino Environmental Center in Ukiah.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1998
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