Thanks for good friends gone

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s the least commercialized and the most meaningful to me, encouraging all of us to reflect on the many blessings in our lives. The emphasis on family and friends reminds us of what we have, and sometimes, what we’ve lost.

Today I am most thankful for a friend who recently passed and the work she did to quite literally save the world for the rest of us. As many have said during the last several weeks, she was the brightest light, the most focused advocate, and yes, the most obsessed with preserving our planet for those yet to be born. She lived large, within an ever-expanding circle of friends and family, usually dominating a room with her vivacious personality, impossible to ignore.

Elyssa Rosen was just 48 when she died in a scuba accident in the Tinderbox Marine Reserve off the coast of Tasmania late in October. She was enjoying a rare moment of free time during a work trip as an officer for the Pew Charitable Trust Environment Group. She was attending the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conference where she and others were advocating for the creation of the world’s largest marine reserve in Antarctica.

Originally from Chicago, Elyssa found her way to Nevada as our first paid staff person for the Sierra Club. She eventually became the senior regional representative for the Sierra Club, based in San Francisco, but not before she left her mark in the Great Basin, her adopted home. Elyssa was a founder of Great Basin Mine Watch and served as its executive director, working diligently and effectively to reduce mercury emissions from Nevada’s gold mines. She built a strong coalition of environmentalists, Native Americans, and scientists to keep a closer eye on the mining industry’s activities in Nevada.

Elyssa stepped on some toes in the process. She was the type of person who could easily differentiate between right and wrong, and she had no qualms telling you which was which. Elyssa didn’t go out of her way to be confrontational, but she knew when she had to provide the example, famously quitting the board of an admired non-profit group when she believed (correctly, as it turns out) that they were starting to get much too cozy and comfortable with accepting monetary “sponsorships” from the mining industry.

Elyssa was also an accomplished ceramicist and very active in the artisan community of Great Basin Pottery. Her work was delicate and artistic but also very functional; art meant to be used in everyday life.

Elyssa had a huge capacity for love. She enjoyed meeting people and making new friends, while always having time for those she had known for years. She was engaged to Matt Newberry, a Wooster High graduate talented in his own field of renewable energy, and they were happily planning their future.

Over the years, Elyssa perfected her original academic training as a journalist, and became widely known as an expert in strategic communications. She mentored younger women in particular, encouraging them to enter the field of environmental journalism and help the public understand the perils facing our planet.

Losing someone so full of life at such an early age has been a shattering blow to Nevada’s progressive community who looked to Elyssa for guidance and action. It’s been a harsh reminder of the limited time we have to accomplish our goals and how quickly our opportunity to effect change can vanish.

One of Elyssa’s exquisite ceramic pieces will be on my Thanksgiving table this year and every year, representing the best of humanity and reminding me of the commitment needed to change the world. I’ll pause to give thanks for a friend like Elyssa who inspires me to work harder and love larger.