Huey Johnson
Huey Johnson
CREATED BY ADAM LOFTEN & GARY YOST 10:27 mins 2019
“You have to persist, you have to believe in yourself when everybody else says it won’t work.” Born in 1933, Huey Johnson’s life’s work includes being president of the Nature Conservancy, founding The Trust for Public Land, The Grand Canyon Trust and the Resource Renewal Institute. The United Nations has called him "a catalyst and champion for environmental protection.” A self described salesman, Huey abandoned his first career selling plastics and found a way to leverage his salesmanship to fight land development and protect millions of acres of open space.
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Discussion Guide:
Huey says that “Education is a cumulative experience… the more diverse the experience, the better you’re going to be.” He says that his trip around the world was more important to his development than college. What kinds of diverse experiences have you had that are more important than your time in classrooms? What kinds of new experiences do you think might make a “better person?”
How do you think Huey’s childhood being raised in a small rural community has played a role in his life’s story of saving millions of acres as an adult. What is it about your childhood that played a formative role in what you’ve accomplished as an adult?
Do you think that Huey’s early career selling plastics for Union Carbide helped provide perspective for the later work he did protecting land? How did your early working experiences help inform what you’re doing now?
Huey’s travels in the Middle East led him to conclusions about how humanity has suffered because it hasn’t taken care of it’s resources. In what other ways do you think humanity is suffering because it hasn’t taken care of its resources?
Huey expressed deep satisfaction with standing on land that he’s saved from development. What opportunities in your life do you have to create long-lasting impact?
Manipulation is usually considered a negative. Huey says “I’ve been accused of manipulating. That’s why I’m a salesman. Selling the idea of preserving land. And it works.” What times in your life did you manipulate people in order to get a positive result?
How has your community benefited from people who’ve saved land from development? Are you aware of how the open spaces in your community were saved from development?
How does it feel to have open space that’s preserved from development? The corollary is how does it feel not to have open space in your vicinity?
Draw a representation of a place that is meaningful to you -- from when you were a child or more recently. Share your drawing with a partner.
Where is your favorite natural place on the planet? Find organizations working to protect or restore that place. Learn what they are doing, and how you can join in.
Huey talks about how important it is to persevere. Is perseverance always a good thing? In what circumstances might quitting be the more effective path?
Mahatma Gandhi said “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” What do you think Ghandi meant by this statement? Think of an example that would prove his point.
Make a list of three strategies people employ to preserve land. Rank them from simplest to hardest to carry out. Which do you think would be most effective in your community?
What do you think is the biggest land preservation challenge we face? What would need to happen to solve it?
Half of the world’s population now lives in cities. In what vital ways is everyone -- even a city dweller -- connected to nature? How might this statistic influence the way we address land preservation issues?
Albert Einstein said “Look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better.” What could a person living in a town or city do to develop a deep understanding of nature?
Links to discover more about Huey:
Article: “Huey Johnson Takes the Long Road.”
Video: “Ode to Water”