Pitzer College honors Robert Redford's environmental advocacy

Following the Academy Award-winning actor and director's death, Pitzer College's Robert Redford Conservancy honored the late movie star's legacy as a staunch advocate for environmental preservation. 

Founded in 2012, Pitzer College named the conservancy after Redford to celebrate his decades of environmental advocacy. He served on the center's Board of Trustees and visited the conservancy many times in the past decade. In 2014, Redford delivered a speech at Pitzer after the college divested from fossil fuels. The following here, he spoke in front of the United Nations about climate change. 

"He meant a lot to me as an environmentalist," conservancy director Susan Phillips said. "As a child, watching Electric Horseman, an idea of fighting for what you think is right no matter what."

Born in Santa Monica in 1936 and raised in Van Nuys, Redford remarked on his love for protecting the environment as Los Angeles County turned into a major metropolitan. 

"Suddenly there were skyscrapers and there was pollution," Redford said, remarking about the changes to LA in his childhood. "I felt like the city I loved as a child was taken away from me. So, I moved away from that, in sadness."

The Robert Redford Conservancy is 12 acres nestled in the middle of the 80-acre Bernard Field Station and allows students to get hands on experience. 

"There's almost nothing like this in Southern California," Phillips said.