NOTABLES OF AMERICAN
PR
BARBARA C. HARRIS
Earth Day 1990 mobilized 200 million people in 141 countries. It was the precursor to the campaign to address global climate change, which continued to involve the vital role of PR professionals. (Credit: Art Fleury / Alamy Stock Photo
Earth Day 1990: “Who Says You Can’t Change the World?” 1990
Twenty years after the first celebration of Earth Day, the campaign for planetary preservation needed a PR makeover.
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, launched the modern environmental movement and led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Act. The Clean Air Act passed the following year. But in the wake of the environmental disaster caused by the leaking Exxon Valdez oil tanker in 1989, environmental leaders wanted Earth Day to engage a truly global response. Political organizers and consultants, as well as advertising and PR professionals, joined forces to promote the event — and Earth-friendly actions individuals could take. “We are trying to generate as much interest as we can for people to start doing things immediately — at home, at work and at school,” said Diana Aldridge, on leave from Hill & Knowlton to serve as Earth Day communications director. The event’s slogan: “Who says you can’t change the world?” E. Bruce Harrison, APR, Fellow PRSA, known as the “father of environmental PR,” promoted corporate commitment to a balance between economic growth and environmental protection. By 2005, that concept had evolved. A United Nations initiative encouraged the integration of environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions. Former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary on climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth,” galvanized public attention — thanks in part to the work of three PR professionals: Megan Colligan of Paramount Vantage, Buffy Shutt of Participant Productions and Michael Feldman of Glover Park Group. When that PR team won PRSA’s Silver Anvil award in 2007, Gore lauded their vital role. “The filmmakers took a slide show and made it a movie. Publicity took that movie and helped make it into a movement,” Gore said.
1930–2020 Barbara Clementine Harris began her career at Joseph Baker’s public relations agency in Philadelphia. During her tenure there, Harris developed a Division of Women’s Information and edited a monthly publication for homemakers. She rose in rank at the firm, becoming its president in 1958. Harris was elected president of PRSA’s Philadelphia Chapter in 1973. Harris went to work for Sun Oil Company in 1968 where she held high-level public relations positions until 1977. She was among the few African American women to hold such senior public relations positions at the time. Harris also served as an American bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. She was the first woman consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion. (Courtesy of The Archives of the Episcopal Church) 31