The event was part of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation<\/a>\u2018s 9th annual Half-Earth Day<\/a> celebration, hosted at the Field Museum this year, to promote discussion around a conservation initiative<\/a> proposed by Wilson that advocates for protecting half of the Earth\u2019s land and seas to preserve biodiversity and maintain ecological balance.<\/p>\n Paula Ehrlich, president and CEO of the foundation, said the award honors the work of those who courageously encourage and inform collective action to safeguard nature.<\/p>\n \u201cHarrison Ford\u2019s life is a testimony to the conviction that successful conservation efforts require not only scientific understanding, but also the ability to translate complex ecological concepts into compelling public narratives that inspire action and advance enduring conservation policy,\u201d Ehrlich said. \u201cHe reminds us that our work to protect the Earth is a critical scientific, moral and spiritual duty, not only for its own sake, but for the future of all life.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford has been an advocate for the environment and biodiversity for over three decades. It was his curiosity and subsequent realization as a frog-hunting\u00a0<\/strong>teenager living in the suburbs that underpins his commitment to nature.<\/p>\n \u201cEd Wilson always said that every great naturalist, even every great scientist, begins as a bug collector. Like a little kid out in the field, turning over stones and seeing a bug,\u201d said Wade Davis, a Canadian cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist, who asked Ford during an onstage conversation: \u201cHow did you get the bug of loving nature?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I grew up in Chicago,\u201d Ford said, matter-of-factly, to hoots and hollers from the audience.<\/p>\n His family, he said, visited a farm almost every summer, where he and his brother would stay and spend their days working.<\/p>\n Ford was also a Boy Scout and, eventually, became his chapter\u2019s assistant director of the nature department.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich meant I could collect snakes and turkeys and frogs and dig a hole in the ground, make a terrarium,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThose are my earliest memories of interaction with nature.\u201d<\/p>\n Most of his weekends were spent in Chicago\u2019s Lincoln Park Zoo, since his father \u2014 who was in the advertising business \u2014 had a client that sponsored Zoo Parade<\/a>, a TV program in the 1950s featuring animals from the zoo.<\/p>\n \u201cMarlin Perkins would often show me around himself,\u201d Ford said, referring to the zoo\u2019s then-director and the show\u2019s host, who would later co-host another documentary wildlife program, Mutual of Omaha\u2019s Wild Kingdom<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now 83 years old, Ford has remained steadfast\u00a0in his environmental activism and calling out those in power who refuse to act to protect the climate and nature.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as we can make alternative energy as inexpensive as fossil fuels, we will have a chance,\u201d he told the Tribune. \u201cUntil then \u2014 we\u2019re boned.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast with his usually calm and collected demeanor, Ford grew increasingly agitated as he decried climate denialism.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s established science. It\u2019s not a fiction, it\u2019s not a con. It\u2019s hard science, tested science,\u201d he said. \u201cSo my hope and expectation is that people will see the light. They will change their behavior. They will elect to \u2026 office people who believe in science, who can use science, who do not denigrate science.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, during his conversation with Davis, Ford acknowledged frustration: \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0impatient with us.\u201d<\/p>\n But\u00a0he doesn\u2019t feel hopeless.<\/p>\n \u201cIn every young person of intelligence and humanity that I meet, there\u2019s another soldier that may be able to join the fight and help,\u201d he told the Tribune.<\/p>\n![\"Harrison](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ctc-l-harrison-ford-23_245742782.jpg\")
Harrison Ford accepts the E.O. Wilson Legacy Award for Transformative Conservation Leadership from Paula J. Ehrlich, right, president of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation at the Field Museum on Oct. 29, 2025. (Talia Sprague\/for the Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Harrison](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ctc-l-harrison-ford-14.jpg\")
Harrison Ford speaks with anthropology professor Wade Davis after accepting the E.O. Wilson Legacy Award for Transformative Conservation Leadership at the Field Museum on Oct. 29, 2025. (Talia Sprague\/for the Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n