About The Founder of SafeLawns Paul Tukey
Paul Tukey, 52, is an American journalist, author, filmmaker, TV host, consultant and motivational public speaker, who is internationally recognized for his expertise in environmental issues related to landscape management and water quality. Winner of the prestigious Horticultural Communicator of the Year Award from the American Horticultural Society, Mr. Tukey is lauded for his ability to turn a mundane subject — lawn care — into a rousing public discourse. He has been featured in thousands of media outlets from Good Morning America in the U.S., to the CBC in Canada, as well as National Geographic, Readers Digest and the New York Times, which called him “The godfather of the natural lawn care movement.”
Life & Career
Mr. Tukey spent the 1980s as a newspaper journalist before launching his own landscape contracting business in the 1990s. In 1994 he developed Acute Chemical Sensitivity from the products he applied to lawns, so in 1995 he launched an environmentally oriented media company, People, Places & Plants, which published a magazine and a television show broadcast internationally on the cable network HGTV from 2003-2007. In 2006, Mr. Tukey launched SafeLawns Foundation (www.SafeLawns.org) and in 2007, he wrote the best-selling book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, and produced an award-winning video series titled “Making the Organic Lawn Care Transition.” In 2009, he produced and starred in the award-winning documentary film, A Chemical Reaction (www.ChemicalReactionMovie.com), centered on the first town in North America — Hudson, Quebec — that ever banned lawn and garden chemicals. In 2012, Mr. Tukey co-authored a book, Tag, Toss & Run: 40 Classic Lawn games and the campaign, Lawn Games for Life (www.LawnGamesforLife.org). He also launched an international consulting firm, Organic Green Pros to help businesses, municipalities and others maintain their landscapes naturally. Since late in 2012, Mr. Tukey has been spending the majority of his professional life as a sustainability consultant for Glenstone, a museum in Potomac, Md. A father of four, Paul resides in Rhode Island with his wife, Katie.
Speaking
The essence of Mr. Tukey’s award-winning presentations is to bring hands-on environmental stewardship into the minds of private homeowners, political and business leaders. Mr. Tukey’s audiences have included environmental groups, universities, hospitals, law clinics, corporations and elected officials as diverse as: Harvard University, EcoJustice Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, America in Bloom, Longwood Gardens, Women in Medicine, the Environmental Protection Agency, L.L. Bean, Walt Disney World and the state of New Hampshire legislature.
Teaching
A major component of Mr. Tukey’s objective is to provide practical hands-on tactics that can be employed by homeowners, municipalities and business leaders and, most often, Mr. Tukey will offer educational sessions in addition to keynote speeches. He considers his honoraria to be a per diem and prefers to present to as many groups as possible while visiting a particular municipality. For example, during a recent visit to Regina, Saskatoon, Mr. Tukey offered a two-hour educational seminar to landscape professionals in the morning, followed by a one-hour motivational speech about health issues related to gardening to a national nurses’ group in the afternoon, followed by a keynote presentation that evening to the community at large.
Topics
Mr. Tukey’s talks are always customized to meet the needs of a particular group, but generally fall under the following headings:
- Safe Lawns: How & Why to Create a Beautiful, Natural Landscape
- Get Off the Couch & Get Back Outside: Lawn Games for Life!
- 10 Words: Essential Dialogue for Saving the Planet
- The Precautionary Principle: A Better Safe Than Sorry Approach to Environmental Law
- Yes You Can: Effective Community Action Starts with You
- The Truth About Kids, Cats, Dogs & Lawn Chemicals
- Why Organic, Why Now?
- Global Warming & Your Garden: How You Can Make a Difference
The Film
In 2008 and 2009, Mr. Tukey produced and starred in a documentary film, A Chemical Reaction: The Story of a True Green Revolution. The film’s world premiere at the prestigious World Film Festival of Montreal was soon followed by appearances at other major North American film festivals, as well as thousands of private and public screenings at various events across the U.S. and Canada. Mr. Tukey often attends openings of the film and offers a rousing question-and-answer session thereafter.
Book Signings
Where appropriate, Mr. Tukey offers signings of his best-selling books, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, or Tag, Toss & Run: 40 Classic Lawn Games, at the conclusion of his presentations, which he will happily sign.
Contact & Booking
Phone: 207-252-0869 Email: Paul@SafeLawns.org
Milestones
In 2012, Paul co-authored a book, Tag, Toss & Run: 40 Classic Lawn Games and launched a national campaign, Lawn Games for Life, aimed at addressing America’s sedentary lifestyle.
In 2009, Paul produced and starred in the Emmy nominated documentary film, A Chemical Reaction, from PFZMedia, LLC (www.ChemicalReactionMovie.com) about the origin of the anti-pesticide movement that has swept across Canada and into the U.S.
In 2007, Paul authored The Organic Lawn Care Manual from Storey Publishing, which quickly became the best-selling lawn book through 2010.
In 2006, Paul founded www.SafeLawns.org, an international coalition of for-profit and non-profit organizations promoting environmentally friendly lawn care and resource conservation.
In 2002, he launched an Emmy nominated TV show titled People, Places & Plants, which was co-hosted by Roger Swain. Aired for two years on HGTV, the show is now available worldwide as a 46-episode boxed set.
In 1995, he founded “People, Places & Plants”, which was widely regarded as the finest regional gardening magazine in the United States.
Other Honors
In 2007, Paul received the Quill & Trowel Award for Best Electronic Media from the Garden Writers Association of America for his video collection titled Organic Lawn Care: Making the Transition to Organics.
In 2006, Paul was named the nation’s Horticultural Communicator of the Year by the American Horticultural Society.
In 2002, Paul was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for Contributions to Regional Horticulture.
