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

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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 () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

in 1972, studying

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

. She went on to finish her studies at the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univ ...

, 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 of an educational institution. Teaching is closely related ...

for the

plastic arts Plastic arts are art forms which involve physical manipulation of a ''plastic medium'', such as clay, wax, paint or even plastic in the modern sense of the word (a ductile polymer) to create works of art. The term is used more generally to ...

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

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

, teaching at Chile's Catholic universities, Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación. 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 a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

, 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 is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

. 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate for the presidency of Chile 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 Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Arturo Frei Arturo is a Spanish and Italian variant of the name Arthur. People *Arturo Alessandri (1868–1950), Chilean politician and president *Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1985), American-born Salvadoran footballer * Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born ...

. 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 Santiag ...

(

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

/ APC). Larraín, along with Gladys Marín ( PCC) and Tomás Hirsch ( PH) threw their support behind the ''

Concertación The Concertación, officially the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia (; ), was a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won every election from when military rul ...

'' 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, 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, aqua ...

s in the

Aisén Region Aisén or Aysén may refer to: Places *Aysén, Chile, a commune in Aysén Province *Aysén Region The Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region (, , '), often shortened to Aysén Region or Aisén,Examples of name usage1, official reg ...

, 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 by ...

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 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 20th-century Chilean women educators 21st-century Chilean women educators 20th-century Chilean educators 21st-century Chilean educators