About This Blog

 

This is the blog of Paul Tukey, the founder of SafeLawns.org, an educational foundation based in Maine, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. The blog includes how-to information about natural lawn care and landscaping, as well as advocacy information about making legislative changes relative to pesticides and fertilizers.

Among Paul’s other active duties include:
1) Landscape industry consultant to landscape companies, municipalities and the green industry at large;

2) A public speaker at more than 100 events annually;

3) Executive Producer of the award-winning documentary, A Chemical Reaction, which can be found at www.pfzmedia.com; the movie chronicles the origin of the anti-pesticide movement sweeping across Canada and into the United States;

4) Author of the best-selling book The Organic Lawn Care Manual from Storey Publishing company. The book is available at www.Amazon.com, or for an autographed copy, you can click here: http://www.safelawns.org/organic-lawn-care-manual.cfm

5) Co-host of People, Places & Plants the Gardening Show with Roger Swain (now out of production, but available at http://www.amazon.com/People-Places-Plants-Disc-Set/dp/B000LPS2PO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1248437145&sr=8-2);

6) Author of the book, Tag, Toss & Run: 40 Classic Lawn games, about all the great outdoor activities we played as children.

6) A consultant in resource conservation and public relations.

Paul’s blog is posted almost daily, sometimes multiple times per day. NOTE: Some of the opinions expressed herein are those of individuals or companies not represented by Paul Tukey or the SafeLawns Foundation. Spam, profane or otherwise inappropriate comments will be deleted.

About Paul Tukey

Paul Tukey, 51, is an American journalist, author, filmmaker, TV host, consultant and motivational public speaker, who has a particular 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 makes upwards of 100-120 appearances a year across North America. 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.

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 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 a TV show of the same name, 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.

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.