Earth Day 2010
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Jim Cochran
Art: Nat Damm Jim Cochran Farmer, Swanton Berry Farm Davenport, Calif. Despite what many consumers may think, organic rules don’t ensure fair treatment of workers—and tight profit margins mean that working conditions and pay on organic farms are too often no different from those in conventional operations. But Jim Cochran, 62, who launched California’s first […]
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Leslie Christian
Art: Nat Damm Leslie Christian Founder, Upstream 21 and Portfolio 21 Seattle, Wash. “Small companies are critical to the future of our communities,” says Leslie Christian, 62—so she helped concoct an innovative way to support them. Upstream 21, whose board she chairs, is a Portland, Ore.-based regional holding company that acquires and supports small, locally […]
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Valerie Casey
Art by Nat Damm. Original photo by Brian Smale. Valerie Casey Founder, Designers Accord Oakland, Calif. Designer Valerie Casey, 37, wants to green not just her own projects but her entire industry. She started the Designers Accord—aka the “Kyoto Treaty of Design”—in 2007 to encourage the creative community to integrate the principles of sustainability into […]
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Robert Cialdini
Art: Nat Damm Robert Cialdini Psychologist Tempe, Ariz. Robert Cialdini, 64, until recently a psychology and marketing professor at Arizona State University, wrote Influence, the classic book on persuasion. Lately he’s been researching the best ways to persuade people to save energy. In 2007, he coauthored a study [PDF] that found that giving people info […]
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Ambrose Carroll
Art: Nat Damm Ambrose Carroll Pastor, Renewal Worship Center Denver, Colo. The Renewal Worship Center, founded in April 2009 by Rev. Ambrose Carroll, 40, is one of the first churches in the U.S. to have started up with an explicitly environmental emphasis; it also has a mission to reach out to all different kinds of […]
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Irma Muñoz
Art: Nat Damm Irma Muñoz Founder, Mujeres de la Tierra Baldwin Vista, Calif. Los Angeles native Irma Muñoz, 57, founded Mujeres de la Tierra (Women of the Earth) in 2004, after two neighbors died of cancers that they suspected had been caused by nearby oil wells. Her group organizes women in Southern California to fight for cleaner, healthier […]
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Patti Moreno
Art: Nat Damm Patti Moreno Founder, Garden Girl TV and Urban Sustainable Living Roxbury, Mass. Patti Moreno, 38, aka “The Garden Girl,” wants to sow the seeds of inspiration and get everyone growing organic veggies and living a more self-sustaining life. In her how-to videos and on her websites, Garden Girl TV and Urban Sustainable […]
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Save Bette Midler, er, Mother Nature! [VIDEO]
I remember watching The Earth Day Special when I was 10 years old, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, with far too much enthusiasm. I had even set the VCR to tape it more than two weeks prior. I was such a nerd. Lucky for you guys, I still am, as is some other […]
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Mike Mathieu
Art: Nat Damm Mike Mathieu Founder, Front Seat Seattle, Wash. After working at Microsoft and founding an internet publishing firm, Mike Mathieu, 41, decided to put his software smarts to work for the greater social good. Seattle-based Front Seat, which he founded and chairs, has launched “civic software” projects like Walk Score, which shows you […]