This year’s Captain Planet Foundation Gala was an amazing success! I am so excited to announce that we raised over a million dollars! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who attended, as well as donated.

This year we had some really amazing guests and award recipients. Jimmy Carter, Richard Branson, Ted Turner and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson all participated on a panel, discussing a wide array of environmental topics. (more…)

I was very proud to be chosen by The Delta Mu Mu Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity this month for their 2012 Omega Citizen of the Year award. The fraternity runs an organization called the Black Rhinos Mentoring Program, where the men work with young students on public service initiatives based around environmental projects. I was thrilled to hear that the kids chose to plant trees in the inner city areas of Atlanta for their community project next year. My work with environmental youth mentoring programs is a great tie-in with their initiatives. I believe this is part of an important overall goal of bringing more diversity into the environmental movement.
(more…)

In my work with the Environmental Working Group (EWG), I really focus on two key pieces of legislation, The Safe Cosmetics Act and The Safe Chemicals Act. Both of these acts focus on banning a number of known toxic chemicals in items we use everyday. Several years ago my father, son and I participated in the first intergenerational toxic body burden test. What I found out is that each of us had high level of toxins present in all of our systems for seemingly one reason or another. While The Safe Cosmetics Act focuses on the cosmetic industry, like the prevalence of lead in red lipsticks, The Safe Chemicals Act addresses everyday household items. (more…)

About seven years ago my father, son and I participated in the first intergenerational toxic body burden test. I recently spoke to Living on Earth’s Steve Curwood about the experience and the changes I made as a result. You can check out the interview here! (more…)

Some of my fondest childhood memories are from times I spent as a Girl Scout, so when my two daughters were old enough to join, I jumped at the chance to get them involved, too. Through my time spent as a Scout and then later as a Troop Leader for both daughters, I have experienced the organization’s awesome ability to teach important life lessons, including leadership responsibilities, female empowerment and respect for the world around us. (more…)

Below is a summary of the report by Georgia Water Coalition’s Dirty Dozen list for 2011. Please download the PDF for more information and continued reading.

Georgia Water Coalition’s “Dirty Dozen” highlights the worst offenses to Georgia’s water—offenses that are the consequences of an under-funded state environmental agency and a lack of politi cal will to aggressively enforce laws that protect our water, land, air and people. Too often in Georgia, the “fox is watching the hen house,” and the system gives polluters free passes while the rest of us end up with dirty water. (more…)

When our country celebrated the first Earth Day 42 years ago, we were at an environmental tipping point: our factories spewed black clouds of toxic emissions without apology and it was commonplace to dump toxic waste into our waterways.  Both our country and our environment were in desperate need of environmental leadership and governmental regulation. (more…)

Although we should celebrate Earth Day every day, we do dedicate the entire month of April to supporting environmental education and ways to save the planet on a daily basis.  Atlanta has so many exciting Earth Month events – for families, individuals and business leaders alike.
(more…)

In honor of World Water Day, we need you to call your state representative ASAP today and ask him or her to VOTE NO on SB 362, ‘the log mining bill.’

SB 362 will allow a small group of private businesses to profit from dredging 200-year old logs that are submerged in the bottom of South Georgia rivers. These logs serve several important ecological functions. First, the logs trap sediment that contain metals and toxins that have accumulated from decades of upstream industrial discharges. Dredging these logs will release these pollutants back into the water. Second, the logs are habitat for the smallest species in the aquatic food chain. Removing these logs will cause harm to habitat and food sources in the rivers. The Georgia Water Coalition is opposed to this practice as few people stand to personally profit while water quality for all will suffer. (more…)

On April 22, 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson called for teach-ins across the country to raise awareness on local and global issues affecting our environment. His grassroots effort rallied the support of 20 million people and thus the very first Earth Day was born. Forty-two years later, the Earth Day Network is still dependent upon this “grassroots effort” and is calling for the individual actions of 1 billion people to do their part to restore and protect the natural systems that support all life. (more…)