Death of Pierre Rabhi, pioneer and influential figure of ecological thought – LCI

Through his practices and his ideas, he left his mark on the French environmental movement. Pioneer of agroecology, writer, philosopher, Pierre Rabhi died on Saturday at the age of 83 following a cerebral hemorrhage, his son, Vianney told AFP.

This activist of the environmental cause had published many books which have met with undeniable success. Like Towards happy sobriety, advocacy on “joy of living in simplicity”, sold over 460,000 copies.

Born in 1938 at the gates of the Algerian Sahara, Pierre Rabhi settled in 1961 in a farm in Ardèche. He will remain as one of the pioneers of agroecology – an agricultural practice aimed at regenerating the natural environment by excluding pesticides and chemical fertilizers. A method applied from the 1980s in sub-Saharan Africa, where he made many trips.

Pierre Rabhi had chosen the hummingbird to illustrate his philosophy based on an Amerindian legend: faced with a fire in a forest, the hummingbird “bustled about, fetching a few drops with its beak to throw them on the fire”, eliciting sarcasm from other animals. “I know it, but I’m doing my part”, he replied in this legend that Rabhi kept telling.

With Cyril Dion – author of the successful activist documentary Tomorrownot –, he co-founded the citizen movement of Hummingbirds, which calls for local actions, such as shared gardens, educational farms or even short supply circuits.

From Marion Cotillard to Nicolas Hulot, Pierre Rabhi had become a reference for many personalities. In 2002, he had experienced a certain media exposure, during an ephemeral presidential candidacy, for already “introduce ecological and human urgency into the debate”.

“There is a kind of unconsciousness, we are in a blind modernity, in the sense that we only see the financial gain”, underlined in 2018 Pierre Rabhi in an interview with AFP. “Personally, I make a good living, I don’t deny it … but I’m not a millionaire”, he confided then, in response to a controversy over his income that had left him with a bitter taste.

Father of five children, he shared since his time between interviews, animation of his foundations, conferences and writing of books.

The announcement of his death sparked many reactions in the political and environmental sphere, starting with that of the green presidential candidate, Yannick Jadot, who praised the memory of “one of the great precursors of agroecology”.

More nuanced, the ecofeminist Sandrine Rousseau praised the memory of a “incredible precursor of ecology, happy sobriety and the hummingbird” but one “conservative on societal issues, homosexuality and women”.