Laura Turner Seydel: Down to Earth
We got to hear from Laura Turner Seydel today at PRSA Georgia’s monthly luncheon. What a role model! Despite being the daughter of arguably the world’s greatest media mogul, Seydel exudes a sense of rugged independence (excuse the adaptation of a presidential slogan) and family values (oops, there we go again) about hard work and, frankly, accountability.
Of course, Seydel comes by environmentalism honestly as the daughter of an outdoorsman. But she boasts many of her own environmental bona fides. Among them, Seydel’s home was the first LEED-certified residence in the Southeast; she chairs the Captain Planet Foundation; and she serves as vice chair of the League of Conservation Voters’ Education Fund. Meanwhile, she rattles off alarming statistics with the kind of passion it takes to remedy injustice. For example, citing the League of Conservation Voters, today she noted that Georgia’s representatives can lay claim to one the country’s worst voting records on the environment. She also enjoined the crowd to drive a green car, noting her love of her Prius and the freedom of filling up only every other week.
I remember interviewing her as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The story had to do with greening your Thanksgiving, and she spoke about conservation, like re-using beautiful ribbons, in the old-fashioned way. This is what our grandmothers did, they didn’t waste anything, she had said.
http://www.ajc.com/hotjobs/content/printedition/2008/11/22/greenthanks.html?cxntlid=inform_artr
For more green resources, Seydel encouraged people to visit her web site: http://www.lauraseydel.com.
Seydel was interviewed by Lewis Perkins, whose blog, “Semantics of Sustainbility” runs on FastCompany.Com and is a leading speaker on environmental responsibility. Perkins offered up recommended eco-resources on his blog as well: www.lewisperkins.com.
We’ll learn more about their ideas to save the planet –and ourselves — in the duo’s new book, “Green Heroes.”
It’s an apt title for the authors as well.
