Sara María Larraín Ruiz-Tagle (born 1952) is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

who ran for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

in 1999 presidential election. She is of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent. Larraín currently sits on the board of directors of the

International Forum on Globalization International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

Education and early career

Larraín attended the

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

in 1972, studying

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. She went on to finish her studies at the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (''PUC or UC Chile'') ( es, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities i ...

, receiving a degree in

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely re ...

for the plastic arts. From 1978 to 1989, Larraín was an academic in the field of

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

, teaching at Chile's Catholic universities,

Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación The Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences ( es, link=no, Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE), is a public and traditional university located in the commune of Ñuñoa, Chile. It is the fourth oldest university ...

. From 1989 to 1993, she was a founding member and the director of the Chile (''Pacífico Sur'') office of

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

, and also worked with organizations like RENACE (''Red Nacional de Acción Ecológica'', or the " National Network for Environmental Action") and organizations for the research of

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

. From 1997 to 2001 she served as the director of the Sustainable Chile Program (''Programa Chile Sustentable'').

Presidential campaign

Larraín put herself forth as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate for the

presidency of Chile The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is r ...

in the 1999 presidential election. Supported by various environmentalists, she managed to receive the 0.5% of signatures necessary to file her candidacy. In the election, she received 31,319 votes, or 0.44% of the vote, coming in fifth place. The only candidate she bested was former

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, Arturo Frei. When the first vote resulted in no majority, a runoff election was held between

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...

( PPD/ CPD) and

Joaquín Lavín Joaquín José Lavín Infante (born 23 October 1953) is a Chilean politician of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party and former mayor of Las Condes, in the northeastern zone of Santiago. Formerly Lavín has also been mayor of Santiago ...

(

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People * Udi Gal (born 1979), Israeli Olympic sailor * Udi Vaks (born 1979), Israeli Olympic judoka ...

/ APC). Larraín, along with

Gladys Marín Gladys del Carmen Marín Millie (; July 16, 1938 – March 6, 2005) was a Chilean activist and political figure. She was Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Chile (PCCh) (1994–2002) and then president of the PCCh until her death. She ...

(

PCC PCC may refer to: Science and technology * Pearson correlation coefficient (''r''), in statistics * Periodic counter-current chromatography, a type of affinity chromatography * Portable C Compiler, an early compiler for the C programming language ...

) and

Tomás Hirsch Tomás René Hirsch Goldschmidt (born 19 July 1956) is a leftist Chilean politician and businessman. He was the Together We Can Do More pact candidate for the 2005 Chilean presidential election, winning 5.4% of the vote. Biography Hirsch wa ...

( PH) threw their support behind the ''

Concertación The Concertación, officially the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia ( en, Coalition of Parties for Democracy), was a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won ...

'' coalition candidate, Ricardo Lagos. Lagos went on to defeat Lavín, the conservative candidate.

Environmental activism

Larraín has continued her environmental activism with various organizations, principally working with the Sustainable Chile Program, of which she serves as director. Since 2001 she has served as a member of the Consultative Council of the National Commission for the Environment (''Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente'', CONAMA). She has also been a strong opponent of projects like the

Pascua Lama ''Pascua'' is a genus of gobies native to the Pacific Ocean. The origin of the name ''"Pascua"'' is from the Spanish for "Easter" in recognition of the Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and s ...

, the

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

s in the

Aisén Region Aisén or Aysén may refer to: *Aisén (name), an African name for a boy or a girl Places *Aysén, Chile, a commune in Aysén Province *Aysén Region, one of Chile's administrative divisions *Aysén Province Aysén Province ( es, Provincia de ...

, and the introduction of

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

in her country to address Chile's energy crisis. This has caused her to distance herself from the Concertación governments, despite their earlier closeness.

External links

Sustainable Chile Program

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larrain, Sara 1952 births Chilean environmentalists Chilean women environmentalists Chilean educators Chilean women educators Chilean academics Candidates for President of Chile Chilean people of Basque descent Living people Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Chilean women in politics University of Chile alumni Sara Maria