Much decorated environmentalist likes cars

COURTESY OF MONTE HUMMEL

Monte Hummel, co-founder of Pollution Probe, was an early adopter of the VW Beetle during his love affair with 1950s and '60s autos.

Yvonne Marton

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

The moniker “gearhead environmentalist” may be an oxymoron but Monte Hummel, Officer of the Order of Canada, president emeritus of World Wildlife Fund Canada and co-founder of Pollution Probe readily admits he loves cars, specifically classic cars.

A child of the 1950s and ’60s, Hummel says he could identify not only the make but the model and all the features on every car on the road. Trained as an artist, his admiration is that of an artist — citing beauty and line — rather than the engineer’s mechanical fascination.

But how can a car lover like Hummel square his enthusiasm with his environmentalism and a lifetime spent fighting pollution and protecting nature?

“I’ve tried to ‘walk the talk’ in terms of the vehicles I’ve owned and driven. I live in the country northwest of the city — I’m (former mayor) John Sewell’s nightmare in the sense that I’m your classic guy that lives on 10 acres north of the city and commutes in every day and out at the end of every day so I’ve got a big carbon footprint.”

Ultimately his love of classic cars has been platonic — admiring them from a distance only. He buys the most fuel-efficient cars in their class, has owned an electric car, and drives only when he has to, following advice that the WWF promotes in its “Drive Less” challenge.

As a self-described “urban northern guy,” Hummel says he likes cars not in and of themselves but rather what they make possible — where they can take you — and, of course, if they can fit a canoe on top.

Practical considerations like reliability and affordability have always been forefront. And those are the same criteria he used back in 1969 when he bought his first car: a new, cream-coloured Volkswagen Beetle, paying around a thousand dollars (with a trade-in Beetle from his parents).

The money was a bit of a stretch as a grad student — Hummel has graduate degrees in philosophy and forestry from the University of Toronto — but the tiny Beetle was able to haul a 17-foot canoe on top.

His first road trip that same year: his honeymoon to Woodstock, which was apt for a student who worked his way through school playing in rock and roll bands.

Hummel may have looked like a rebel but he laughs recounting how they drove, instead of hitchhiked, stayed in a motel with a pool and unlike many concert goers, actually had tickets.

“We were like the bourgeois middle-class couple sitting there,” he says. “By the end of the day we’d go back to our car and go back to our motel.”

That same summer, Hummel and his new bride travelled across Canada and up to the Yukon to go fishing, but it was the return trip that became a life-altering experience.

Though born in Toronto, Hummel had spent part his childhood north of Kenora in the Ojibwa community of Whitedog Falls, where his father, a hydro worker, was stationed.

Stopping in on the way back, he was furious to find the river that he’d fished on as a kid littered with signs — skull and crossbones postings that said “Fish for Fun Only”. Hummel was struck not only by the environmental degradation but by the impact of the mercury poisoning on the native community.

Back in Toronto, he and a couple of friends founded Pollution Probe whose early mantra was “Sue the Bastards.”

With a lifetime spent working to win “the good fight,” Hummel’s results-driven leadership has helped to protect forests, endangered animals and threatened habitats.

He stresses the fight is not about revenge or today’s media clip but insists it’s about the long-lasting results that will make a difference, even if he does dream every now and then of a certain Aston-Martin DB7, the Ian McCallum designed coupe.

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