American political activist and co – founder of Green Party of US John Rensenbrink died on July 30th, at the age of 93. According to Global Greens he played key role in the Green Party movement and is remembered fondly by Greens all over the planet.
Rensenbrink was born in Pease, Minnesota. He gained a degree in history and political science from Calvin College and went on to earn a PhD from the University of Chicago.
In 1961, he became professor of government and environmental studies at Bowdoin College. According to Bowdoin, he began his teaching career in 1956 at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to teach political philosophy and American government at Williams College after a year. He taught political philosophy and history at Bowdoin for another year before leaving in 1962 to serve as an education consultant to the governments of Kenya and Tanzania, sponsored by the US Agency for International Development.
“In the classroom he taught generations of students how to think, and in his work off campus he was wise, bold, and truly lived his values,” wrote Bowdoin President Clayton Rose in a letter to the Bowdoin community according to the Sun Journal.
John dedicated his work to environmental activism, co-founding the Maine Green Party, and later the U.S. Green Party. According to The Bowdoin Orient, this was the first Green Party in the United States and paved the way for the founding of the national Green Party a few years later. He also co-founded the Cathance River Educational Alliance (CREA).
In the words of Rensenbrink himself, as reported by Cathance River Educational Alliance website : “Five years ago, we had an idea. We didn’t quite know exactly how to translate the idea into reality, but we did know that we wanted to make maximum use of the 230 acres along the wildest portion of the Cathance River in Topsham for environmental education purposes. Also, to help nurture an appreciation for and knowledge of this pristine area now known as the Cathance River Nature Preserve.”
He also worked intensely to campaign for the closure of the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant in Wiscasset.
As stated by Green Horizon Magazine John Rensenbrink started ‘Green Horizon’ as a newsletter in the 1990s, and then turned it into an international magazine. Today, it is the only major print magazine in the United States that covers green politics and the broad social transformation movement ‘greening’.
In 1996 Rensenbrink ran for the US Senate in Maine on behalf of the Maine Green Party. Maine public describes his candidacy for the US Senate as focusing on social justice issues, environmental sustainability, the middle class and the cancer of big money politics.
According to The Portland Press Herald the national Green Party states that 30 percent of all Greens who won in U.S. partisan elections have been elected in Maine, which they said is a testament to Rensenbrink’s leadership.
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