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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arlene Blum | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlene_Blum | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T18:21:07.059813+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Writing == Her first book, Annapurna: A Woman's Place was included in Fortune Magazine's 2005 list of "The 75 Smartest Business Books We Know" and chosen by National Geographic Adventure Magazine as one of the 100 top adventure books of all time. Her award-winning memoir, Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life tells the story of how Blum realized improbable dreams among the world's highest mountains, in the chemistry laboratory, and in public policy. Blum has published articles about science policy in The New York Times, Science magazine, Los Angeles Times, and The Huffington Post.
== Awards and other activities == For her mountaineering accomplishments, Blum was the winner of the Sierra Club's Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award for 1982. She holds a Gold Medal from the Society of Woman Geographers, an honor previously given to only eight other women including Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, and Mary Leakey. The American Alpine Club inducted Blum into its Hall of Mountaineering Excellence in 2012. For her science and policy work, Blum won the Purpose Prize in 2008, an award for those over 60 who are solving society's greatest problems. In 2010, the National Women's History Project selected her as one of "100 Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet". In 2014 she was inducted into the Alameda County Women's Hall of Fame for Science, Engineering and Technology and received the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal as the city of Berkeley's "most useful citizen". In 2015, her alma mater Reed College awarded her the Thomas Lamb Eliot Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2018 Blum was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2022, she was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of San Francisco. 2024 Blum was recognized as one of 50 Forbes Sustainability Leaders. Arlene Blum is the founder of the annual Berkeley Himalayan Fair and the Burma Village Assistance Project. She serves on the board of the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
== Quotes == "With a global and virtual expedition team, we are attempting challenging and important mountains and reaching for the summit of a healthier world to benefit us all." "The health and environmental problem from such chemicals could be as threatening as climate change, but I believe it is a problem that can be solved relatively easily. It's a matter of informing the public – and political will." "My new adventure in science and policy work is the most challenging and important of my life and I feel lucky to look out at the horizon and see endless rows of mountains to climb." "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."
== Personal life == Blum lives and works in Berkeley, California. She has a daughter, Annalise Blum, a 2010 graduate of Stanford University in environmental engineering. In 2017 Annalise earned a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at Tufts University. In March, 2023, Annalise was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science in the U.S. Department of the Interior.
== References ==
== External links == Arlene Blum official website Green Science Policy Institute website Purpose Prize Profile Article about Arlene Blum in Reed College Magazine Interview with Arlene Blum for Breaking Trail Dashka Slater, "Arlene Blum's Crusade Against Household Toxins", The New York Times, September 9, 2012. California Museum profile