On Earth Day, Wallace J. Nichols gave a keynote address at Duke University in honor of Evel Knievel entitled “Jump the Chasm: Are you an EcoDaredevil?” After the address, Elliott Hazen, a Duke University PhD student, was honored with the first EcoDaredevil award.
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Evel Knievel.Growing up in the 1970s, I idolized Evel Knievel. To me, he was a rock star, sports hero, and folk legend in one. He was both a daredevil and a cool character. Back then, his jumps over buses, fountains, and canyons inspired me to launch my bicycle into the air and over puddles, mounds of dirt, and many a hapless friend. Occasionally, in honor of his ill-fated jump over the Snake River Canyon, I’d jump my bicycle into the neighbor’s pond.
Now, I find new inspiration in my childhood hero.
In 1961, before “Evel” became a household name, Robert Craig Knievel hitchhiked with the rack of a bull elk from Montana to our nation’s capital to protest the culling of elk in Yellowstone. The Kennedy administration responded and countless elk were saved.
Half a century later, we face ever more seriou... Read more
