Arlene Blum was born on March 1,1945 and is an American mountaineer, writer, and environmental health scientist.
19 Facts About Arlene Blum
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Arlene Blum is best known for leading the first successful American ascent of Annapurna, a climb that was an all-woman ascent.
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Arlene Blum led the first all-woman ascent of Denali, and was the first American woman to attempt Mount Everest.
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Arlene Blum is Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute.
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Arlene Blum was graduated from Reed in 1966 and attended MIT and UC Berkeley, where she earned a PhD in biophysical chemistry in 1971.
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Arlene Blum was part of the first all-woman team to ascend Alaska's Denali in 1970.
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Arlene Blum participated in a 1976 expedition up Mount Everest as part of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition, but did not reach the summit.
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Arlene Blum led the first expedition to climb Bhrigupanth in the Indian Himalayas, leading a team of Indian and American women.
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Arlene Blum then attempted what she called the "Great Himalayan Traverse", a two-thousand-mile journey across the treacherous but beautiful peaks of the Himalayas from Bhutan to India.
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Arlene Blum crossed the Alps from Yugoslavia to France, bearing her baby Annalise on her back in a backpack.
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Arlene Blum taught at Stanford University, Wellesley College, and the University of California, Berkeley.
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Arlene Blum discovered that the same Tris her research had helped remove from children's pajamas was back in California couches and baby products.
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In 2007 Arlene Blum co-founded the Green Science Policy Institute with the goal of bringing scientific research results into policy decisions to protect human health and the environment from toxic chemicals.
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Arlene Blum has published articles about science policy in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, and Science magazine.
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Arlene Blum's award-winning memoir, Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life tells the story of how Blum realized improbable dreams among the world's highest mountains, in the chemistry laboratory, and in public policy.
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Arlene Blum's awards include a Purpose Prize to those over 60 who are solving society's greatest problems, National Women's History Project selection as one of "100 Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet" and a Gold Medal from the Society of Woman Geographers, an honor previously given to only eight other women including Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, and Mary Leakey.
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Arlene Blum is the founder of the annual Berkeley Himalayan Fair and the Burma Village Assistance Project.
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Arlene Blum serves on the boards of the Society for the Preservation of Afghan Archeology; ISET, an organization dedicated to solving climate, water and disaster problems in South Asia; and the advisory boards for Project REED which builds libraries in Asia, Environmental Building News, and the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
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Arlene Blum has a daughter, Annalise Blum, a 2010 graduate of Stanford University in environmental engineering.