Peggy Frankland, Wilma Subra, Theresa Robert and Marylee Orr discarded their aprons and donned briefcases.
Originally dubbed “hysterical housewives” by critics, these four women became pioneers on the environmental protection frontier. They visited campus Tuesday for LSU Libraries’ “Women Pioneers of the Louisiana Environmental Movement” in Hill Memorial Library.
Frankland is the author of a book of the same name, which “provides a window into the passion and significance of 38 committed individuals who led a grassroots movement in a socially conservative state,” according to her website.
Frankland, who serves as president of the Calcasieu League for Environmental Action Now, has been an environmental activist since 1982. She worked closely with the University’s T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, interviewing female pioneers of the Louisiana environmental movement for her book.
She established three points for deciding who she interviewed.
“They had to have been active between 1976-1996, they had to have improved environmental laws and the process had to take place without institutional support,” Frankland said.
Thirty-eight women fit the mold, including the five other panelists at the event — Subra, Orr, Florence Robinson, Theresa Robert and Les Ann Kirkland.
Subra founded her own environmental consulting firm in 1981, where she serves as president. She also worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in various positions.
Subra said women are ideal environmental activists because of their connection to their respective communities.
“Women can always find time and make time and get everything done,” Subra said.
Inhaling air pollution shaves one to two years off a human’s life expectancy, according to Conserve Energy Future.
This frightened Orr, whose son suffered from lung cancer.
She had reason to be scared — the Conserve Energy Future also reports outdoor pollution ranks in the top 10 killers of humans.
“The environmental community didn’t have a voice,” Orr said.
Orr became that voice when she founded Mothers Against Air Pollution, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about air pollutants and their causes and effects.
Robinson joined Orr in her efforts after realizing how air pollution affected the Baton Rouge community when an infant relative became ill from air pollution.
“We all had a certain kinship with the land, and we all had a sense of community,” Robinson said of the women at the panel.
Robert said it was the women’s sense of community combined with their devotion to their families that inspired them.
“We have a bond with children that is indescribable,” Robert said. “That is probably our motivation.”
An Argonne National Laboratory report also said 9 billion liters of contaminated water are pumped annually by the nation’s oil and gas wells. The women said they have worked tirelessly against the water waste.
Kirkland went so far as to run for a state representative seat to stimulate conversations about the environment in each political debate.
Though she lost the battle, Kirkland said she thinks they are winning the war. Her whole campaign cost a total of $50.
She said even though it cost her little, she learned a lot.
“There is a victory in simply the effort — win, lose or draw,” Kirkland said.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Raegan Labat

(From left to right) Les Ann Kirkland, Theresa Robert, Florence Robinson, Marylee Orr, Wilma Subra, Peggy Frankland, and moderator Jennifer Cramer, speak on a panel concerning women-led activism and the environmental movement in Louisiana Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2015, to celebrate Women's History Month at LSU's Memorial Hill Library.