Magda Renner

Magda Elisabeth Nygaard Renner (known as Magda Renner) (Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul; 1926 – 11 October 2016) was a Brazilian environmentalist, activist, and ecologist. Magda Renner began her work in environmental conservation with the co-founding of the "Ação Democrática Feminina Gaúcha" (ADFG) in 1964, with fellow environmentalist Giselda Castro. After attending a conference titled "The four basic principles of ecology" by environmentalist José Lutzenberger at the Association of Agronomists in 1972, Renner was further inspired to engage in environmental causes. NAT/Brasil joined Friends of the Earth International in 1983. after the controversy surrounding this event, the name of the ADFG was always associated with the fight against pesticides.

Renner also campaigned against the burial of waste from Porto Alegre in the islands of the Guaíba River. Renner learned to promote her messages through megaphone, leaflets on the streets, and in newspapers outside the social columns, with the support of her family. It was after the integration that the ADFG allowed men to join.

Considered a charismatic and articulate figure, Renner became one of the most influential environmentalists in the state. Her trajectory and that of Giselda Castro, were narrated in the documentary Substantivo Feminino, by journalist Daniela Sallet, with testimonies from Brazilian activists and foreigners.

She was married to businessman Otto Renner, son of A. J. Renner, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in Rio Grande do Sul. With her husband she had children Telma, Felicitas, Cristiano and Mathias. She died in 2016 due to Alzheimer's disease, diagnosed 13 years earlier.