Harvard Honors Harrison Ford

BOSTON—Actor Harrison Ford was awarded the 2002 Global Environmental Citizen Award from the Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment on Monday.

When he’s not being an action superhero, Ford is a vice-chair for Conservation International (CI), a group with over 1,000 professionals that works in 30 countries to protect natural habitats.

He also recently brought awareness to conservation efforts in his narration of the IMAX film Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance.

Mellon Professor of the Sciences Edward O. Wilson, last year’s recipient, presented Ford with the award—a white marble dove—at the ceremony held at the New England Aquarium. The two men have known each other for years through their work in the environment.

In his acceptance speech, Ford said he was accepting the honor on behalf of CI, saying that he “merely [serves] as a foothold for the organization.”

“We have a moral obligation to be good stewards of the earth, a moral responsibility to our children to inherit an intact globe,” Ford said in explaining why he chose to advocate for environmental causes.

Ford hoped the attention he garnered in receiving the award would increase the public awareness of CI and other institutions like it.

“I hope that my participation here will in some way bring attention to the necessity of biodiversity and conservation or bring attention to the center or help in the global environment,” Ford said.

Ford arrived in a dashing tux, having been misinformed about the dress code, and jokingly addressed the “deplorable wardrobe choice of the academics” present at the conference, who sported blazers and khakis.

The Center for Health and the Global Environment, founded in 1996, is the first medical school-based center in the United States that studies the effect of the global environment on human health.

Center Director and Founder Eric S. Chivian ’64 introduced the award and the purposes behind its inception. The award is given annually to a recipient who represents the vision of the center’s mission.

Chivian, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, said that Ford was an obvious choice for the center and would expose the public to Ford’s environmental endeavors.

“Few people know the role [Ford] has played in preserving habitats and species,” Chivian said.

He calls Ford’s 10-year involvement with CI “tireless in promoting conservation of biodiversity.”

—Staff writer Maria S. Pedroza can be reached at mpedroza@fas.harvard.edu.