Our final nominees for the OEA's Campaigner of the Year are a mixed bunch of exemplary human beings, dedicated to improving a lot of others and the planet. They contain at least two 'National Treasures', a current judge of these awards and a former judge (showing we choose well). Some show extraordinary courage, dogged determination and or passion. Others have a lightness of touch and approach that immediately make ethical issues palatable to huge numbers of people. Thank you for nominating in such numbers, now it's over to you to vote again for your final winner.
Already know who you would like to vote for? Use our simple online form to vote for your winner now.
Sir David Attenborough
For many of us voting here, our understanding of planet Earth (and desire to do more to protect it) will have been shaped, inspired by or inculcated by Sir David Attenborough, the world's leading natural history programme maker. The way he tells it, his broadcast career happened by accident when he stood in for a zoologist colleague on camera. In the early days it certainly involved some hurried reptile loans from London Zoo. I went to the zoo and asked could they lend me a cobra and some others and they put them in a sack and I took them back to the studio,' he told the Observer in 2009. Today's filming techniques and ability to access areas of the earth and get close up to species are worlds' away from those rudimentary programmes, but Attenborough has maintained an extraordinary sense of wonder and curiosity. As the ecological backdrop has worsened he has also become a vociferous campaigner against Climate Change and over population. Sir David is a trustee of the British Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; an honorary fellow of Clare College, Cambridge; a fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 1985.
The films:
Where to begin?
Possibly the trailer for his recent series on Galapagos
Some vintage Attenborough, The Living Planet 1984
We also love David's speech at the 2009 OEAs
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
By popular consent the winner of the 2010 Ethical Campaigner Award is back again. Hugh is pretty dynamic for a downshifter. The old-Estonian son of a cookery writer he went to Oxford, worked briefly in conservation in Africa and then explored his love of cooking working in the kitchens of the legendary River Cafe. However he lacked, he said, the "speed, skill, discipline or tidiness of my fellow chefs'. In 1997 he downshifted to rural Devon and the River Cottage experiment began. His success lies in his brilliant ability to kick the tyres around the theories and politics of the Good Life and test sustainability by living it. This experiential technique has transferred brilliantly to the screen, mainly on Channel 4; the network has been his constant campaigning companion getting issues from Battery Farming to the 'scandal' of fish discards into the mainstream. He is one of the few people who can make an on-screen telephone conversation with Tesco electrifying because he refuses to kowtow to big business. Highlights of his campaigning work include Hugh's Chicken Run where he crammed 2500 live chickens into a tiny shed for 39 days and watched what happened. Not only did he make himself cry and Jamie Oliver feel sick, but he changed the purchasing habits of millions; supermarkets reported shortages of non intensively reared chicken. His Fish Fight campaign recently scored a huge victory when the EU voted for a ban on the throwing of healthy fish from boats back into the sea.
The film: Observer Food Monthly awards 2011 Best Food personality
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Livia Firth
Livia Firth's Twitter moniker 'Wife of the King in Spanx' (referring to her husband Colin's stint as George VI. The Spanx are hers) suggests she doesn't take herself too seriously. But she IS serious about environmental and social justice speaking up for millions of exploited garment workers in today's fashion supply chain and determined on industry reform. Founder of Eco-Age Ltd a sustainability consultancy, arguably her greatest hit to date is the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC). Firth gets ethical fashion production in the spotlight - Meryl Streep and Cameron Diaz at the Oscars and the Met Ball respectively have worn GCC – but also works deep in the supply chain as evidenced by a recent collection of GCC for Gucci handbags made from the world's first zero
deforestation certified Amazon. Beloved by the fashion cognoscenti from Anna Wintour to Franca Sozzani she works fluidly with business, activists and NGOs meaning she is extra likely to bring real change. Firth is a UN Leader of Change, an Oxfam Global Ambassador and launched The Circle initiative in Italy with Annie Lennox. Eco Age on facebook.
The film: The Green Carpet Challenge
The website: Eco-Age
The blog: Huffington post
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Polly Higgins
It has been said of London-based barrister, Polly Higgins that she only has one client: planet earth. An expert on Earth Law, she has fought tooth and nail to get the charge of Ecocide recognised. This means corporations and individuals could be prosecuted for crimes against the environment. Her book, Eradicating Ecocide (winner of the Peoples Book Prize in 2001 for non-fiction) essentially coaches non legal professionals to be their own Erin Brokovich, 'I want everybody to become a barrack-room lawyer on behalf of the planet,' she told the Observer at the time of publication. Her second book, Earth is our Business, Changing the Rules of the Game has been described as 'groundbreaking'. Polly is chair of the Eradicating Ecocide Global Initiative to have Ecocide recognised as the 5th Crime Against Peace and the Arne Naess chair for global justice and the environment at Olso University for 2013/2014.
The film: Polly talks at TEDxExeter
The book(s): Eradicating Ecocide, Earth is Our Business
The website: Eradicating Ecocide
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Satish Kumar
We are outraged there is no movie biopic of this great man's life so far. His life up until 18 alone merits immediate celluloid attention. Born in Rajastan, Kumar left his family at the age of nine to become a Jain monk. In 1962 he embarked on a peace walk from India to the four capitals of the nuclear world: Moscow, Paris, London and the US. All his work is underpinned by Gandhian values of action through non violence and Kumar has now worked for half a century building a movement for sustainability, social justice and spirituality with its headquarters in the UK. He is editor of Resurgence magazine which last year merged with the Ecologist, bringing two much loved green publications together. He is also founder of the highly influential Schumacher College in South Devon, which has provided something of a lifeline for environmental activists and therefore for the planet.
The film: as we say, no Hollywood blockbuster (yet) but plenty online
of Satish Kumar's elegant take on human scale sustainability such as
this Guardian clip
The books: many and profound
The magazine: this year marks the 40th anniversary as Kumar as Resurgence editor.
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Caroline Lucas MP
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, is the UK's first ever Green Party MP. Between 2008 and 2012 (she stood down to devote more time to parliamentary duties) she was also the first elected Leader of the Green Party for England and Wales. Before the OEA's Most Ethical Politician category was retired, Lucas was voted winner by you the reader every year. She campaigns to keep climate change, environmental protection and animal welfare high on the political agenda, for renewables above nuclear power and for action to eradicate fuel poverty. She was at the forefront of last year's
successful campaign against the government's planned badger cull, and instrumental in a parliamentary report calling for a moratorium on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides linked to the decline of bee populations. Lucas abstained from the Commons debate in memory of Margaret Thatcher saying, '"I opted to spend my time working on constituency issues rather than join in the seven-hour display of Tory hero worship in the House of Commons for someone who caused the British people so much misery'.
The blog: www.carolinelucas.com
The analysis: the Observer on Caroline Lucas
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Joanna Lumley
Goodness, let me count the ways we adore Joanna Lumley! Frequently referred to as a National Sweetheart and other fond clichés, she has proved herself a born campaigner moving effortlessly between championing the rights of Gurkhas or teaching us to shwop our troubled wardrobes towards sustainability. A longtime advocate for animal welfare (plus, let's not forget a three time BAFTA winner) the woman who gave us Purdey and Patsy has proved to be a great leader of social justice and environmental campaigns who is never ever preachy. Could Lumley be the perfect ethical campaigner?
The book: No room for secrets, Joanna Lumley
The film: M&S – Shwopping with Joanna Lumley
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Guy Watson
A true Son of the Soil, Watson was lured back from a high flying career in New York by the family farm (near to uber-green town of Totnes, Devon) in the late 1980s. Convinced 'not all your answers are lying at the bottom of an agri-chemical bucket' he turned the farm organic. In 1993 he delivered the first Riverford organic veg boxes out of the back of his Citroen. Little did he know he was securing his place in fruit and veg history. Riverford now delivers 40,000 boxes of organic produce a week across the UK. 'From the outset, my aim has been to produce organic food with flavour, look after my team, my suppliers and the land, and encourage people to eat seasonally,' says Watson who is prone to rail against ideologies of conventional business such as 'unbridled capitalism'. His highly principled stance attracts many gongs: Riverford has picked up three retailer and business category OAEs and Watson was voted BBC Farmer of the Year 2012.
The book: Riverford Farm Cook Book: Tales from the Fields, Recipes
from the Kitchen (Guy Watson, Jane Baxter).
The film: Tim Hayward interviews Guy Watson about eating sustainably
on Word of Mouth
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Dame Vivienne Westwood
The first lady of British fashion has taken up the fight against climate change with typical aplomb, recently spending time in the Peruvian rainforest. Previous to 1971 when she opened her first boutique with Malcolm Maclaren and set about defining punk and New Age, Westwood was a school teacher. This background serves her well now as she spends an increasing proportion of time teaching about a planet in peril. She has given lectures at the UN, notable science festivals, implored consumers on mainstream chat shows to stop consuming (an interesting position for a fashion designer) and told the Duchess of Cambridge to stop wearing new clothes in favour of a bit of wardrobe recycling. She favours mixing climate change science with Voltaire, Huxley and design principles - arguably bringing much needed design flair to green politics. She is a devotee of James Lovelock's gaia theory. 'I consider Lovelock to be a genius as important as Einstein or Darwin,' she has said.
Westwood has given £1 million to help support Cool Earth, the charity founded by MP Frank Field and businessman Johan Eliasch. The idea is to raise money to secure rainforest land, essentially pricing deforestation out of the market. Her central theory is that we should 'Get a Life! Then not only will you be off the consumer treadmill, you'll have a tremendous anchor in life, and be engaged enough with the world to fight for it'. She believes culture is the best defence against 'endless distraction' that prevents us from campaigning effectively. 'Get a life. Get A VISION. Get an idea!' urges Vivienne. 'Freedom fighters need ideas. They can't just be angry at everything.'
Take action: Cool Earth
Vote now – voting closes 10 May
Malala Yousafzai
Occasionally a remarkable young woman comes along and wakes up the world. Malala Yousafzai, grew up with her family in the mountain city of Mingora, in the Swat Valley, Pakistan. By all accounts she demonstrated a virtuosic gift for language and reason from a young age. While Malala's zest for knowledge grew, the Taliban were determined on violently removing her right to education. She refused to be silenced. Aged 11 she began a diary of her experiences navigating a daily war zone posting 35 entries of an extraordinary blog for the BBC, under her pen-name, Gul Makai (the name of a Pashto folk hero). "They cannot stop me," she told a film crew, "I will get my education, if it is home, school, or any place. This is our request to all the world. Save our schools. Save our world. Save our Pakistan. Save our Swat." They tried to stop her in the most violent way possible. On 9 October 2012 as Malala sat on the school bus, she was shot at point-blank range by a Taliban gunman. The bullet grazed her skull and damaged the soft tissue underneath that controls the face and neck. 'I am Malala' read the signs at candlelit vigils in Pakistan in the aftermath of the shooting. In the UK Birmingham doctors have reconstructed Malala's left jaw and facial nerves. The young woman has become a global symbol for a girl's right to education. On 12 July she will be 16, an occasion she'll mark with a speech in front of 4000 young people in New York on the right of young people to an education. She is the youngest nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in history.