The Indianapolis Zoological Society Inc. has selected film star Harrison Ford as the recipient of the 2018 Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award. The organization says the honor is given to people “who have been effective, credible and consistent voices for wildlife.”
The Star Wars and Indiana Jones star is an honorary chair of the Indianapolis Prize, which is also awarded by the Indianapolis Zoological Society, and serves on the executive committee for Conservation International, an organization of which Ford has been a member for 25 years. Additionally, Ford was instrumental in the establishment of Conservation International’s Center for Applied Bioscience Diversity and Center for Environmental Leadership in Business.
“Nothing is more important to human society than preserving its natural capital. Nature does not need people, people need nature,” Ford said. “Our health relies entirely on the vitality of our fellow species on Earth. I care deeply for the natural world. It’s not about me, it’s not about me at all, it’s about this other world we’re going to leave behind. If we don’t stop the destruction of nature, nothing else will matter. Jobs won’t matter, our economies won’t matter, our freedoms and ethics won’t matter, our children’s education and potential won’t matter. If we end the ability of a healthy natural world to sustain humanity nothing else will matter.”
Ford is pictured above with fellow 2018 Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award recipient Russell Mittermeier.
Read more at Inside Indiana Business.