This medal was chosen as the 82nd issue of the prestigious Society of Medalists series in 1970. The obverse bears a stylized hand bearing a flame with interwoven human figures. The reverse bears a halo of flame surrounding a circular field with the inscriptions: PRO VITA / TERRA / AQVA / AER.
Tom Allen Jr. was an environmentalist long before environmentalism became popular. The brochure which acommpanied the medal had the following words from the artist:
"Ecology, or the biology dealing with mutual relations between organisms and their environment, has become one of the vital concerns of all mankind. Natualists and conservationists have been warning us for many decades that the loss of a species creates an effect on the natural order."
The medal measures 73mm in diameter and has a reported production quantity of 1,115 pieces in bronze.