Laurie David
Encyclopedia
Laurie David is an American
environmental activist
. She serves as a trustee
on the Natural Resources Defense Council
and a member of the Advisory Board of the Children's Nature Institute and is a contributing blog
ger to The Huffington Post
.
Jewish family on Long Island
. In 1979, she graduated from Ohio University
with a degree in journalism. She was married for 14 years to Larry David
(co-creator of Seinfeld
and creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm
). They married in 1993, and Laurie David filed for divorce on July 19, 2007.
as a talent coordinator for the David Letterman show. Four years later she left to start her own management company, representing comedians and comedy writers.
She also produced several comedy specials for HBO, Showtime, MTV
, and Fox Television. Upon moving to Los Angeles, she became vice president of comedy development for a division of Fox Broadcasting and developed sitcoms for 20th Century Fox
TV.
. She founded the Stop Global Warming Virtual March with Senator John McCain
and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Ms. magazine
quoted David about the grassroots aspect of her campaign: "If everyone does one thing, they are likely to do two things, then three things. Then they are likely to influence friends and family, and that's how you build a movement."
In addition to the Virtual March, David has produced several other projects to bring the issue of climate change into mainstream popular culture
, including the release of her first book, Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You!, and the comedy special, Earth to America!
for TBS, which aired November 20, 2005, featuring Tom Hanks
, Will Ferrell
, Steve Martin
, and Jack Black
.
In addition to the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth
, starring Al Gore
, she produced the HBO documentary Too Hot Not to Handle on the effects of climate change in the United States, which aired on HBO on April 22, 2006. David also appeared in Big Ideas for a Small Planet
, an environmentalist
documentary series on the Sundance Channel.
and a founding member of the Detroit Project, David has spearheaded numerous public education and action campaigns urging Congress and auto-makers to raise fuel efficiency
standards and make higher mileage cars.
In January 2004, the NRDC opened the David Family Environmental Action Center. Endowed by the David family, the Center promotes activism
to protect the environment. It features exhibits on issues such as global warming, ocean pollution, everyday toxin
s, and green
building solutions.
in November 2006, David acknowledged that owning two homes on opposite sides of the country and flying in a private jet several times per year is at odds with her message to others. In the interview she notes "Yes, I take a private plane on holiday a couple of times a year, and I feel horribly guilty about it. I probably shouldn't do it. But the truth is, I'm not perfect. This is not about perfection. I don't expect anybody else to be perfect either. That's what hurts the environmental movement – holding people to a standard they cannot meet. That just pushes people away."
In 2005, and then again in 2009, David was cited by the Chilmark Conservation Commission for paving over protected wetland areas on her estate on Martha's Vineyard.
as one of its “Women of the Year”. She received the Gracie Allen Award for Individual Achievement by the American Women in Radio & Television and the NRDC's 2006 Forces for Nature award for her work against global warming.
In 2003, she was honored by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s organization, Riverkeeper
. She also received the Los Angeles
-based Children's Nature Institute's Leaf Award in 2003 for her commitment to the environmental education of young children.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
environmental activist
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
. She serves as a trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
on the Natural Resources Defense Council
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
and a member of the Advisory Board of the Children's Nature Institute and is a contributing blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger to The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
.
Personal life
David was born as Laurie Ellen Lennard, and raised in a middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
Jewish family on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
. In 1979, she graduated from Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
with a degree in journalism. She was married for 14 years to Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
(co-creator of Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
and creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
). They married in 1993, and Laurie David filed for divorce on July 19, 2007.
Entertainment industry
Before working full-time on environmental and political issues, David worked in the entertainment industry. She began her career in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
as a talent coordinator for the David Letterman show. Four years later she left to start her own management company, representing comedians and comedy writers.
She also produced several comedy specials for HBO, Showtime, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, and Fox Television. Upon moving to Los Angeles, she became vice president of comedy development for a division of Fox Broadcasting and developed sitcoms for 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
TV.
Climate Change
David has worked publicly on projects aimed at stopping climate changeClimate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. She founded the Stop Global Warming Virtual March with Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. is an American radio host, activist, and attorney specializing in environmental law. He is the third of eleven children born to Ethel Skakel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and is the nephew of John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy...
Ms. magazine
Ms. magazine
Ms. is an American feminist magazine co-founded by American feminist and activist Gloria Steinem and founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin together with founding editors Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, and Mary Peacock, that first appeared in 1971 as an insert in New York magazine...
quoted David about the grassroots aspect of her campaign: "If everyone does one thing, they are likely to do two things, then three things. Then they are likely to influence friends and family, and that's how you build a movement."
In addition to the Virtual March, David has produced several other projects to bring the issue of climate change into mainstream popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, including the release of her first book, Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You!, and the comedy special, Earth to America!
Earth to America (TV special)
Earth to America was a 2-hour television special that aired on TBS on November 20, 2005. Hosted by Tom Hanks, the show used a comic approach to raise awareness of issues concerning the environment, mostly global warming...
for TBS, which aired November 20, 2005, featuring Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
, Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
, and Jack Black
Jack Black
Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
.
In addition to the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
, starring Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
, she produced the HBO documentary Too Hot Not to Handle on the effects of climate change in the United States, which aired on HBO on April 22, 2006. David also appeared in Big Ideas for a Small Planet
Big Ideas for a Small Planet
Big Ideas for a Small Planet is an American documentary series on the Sundance Channel which focuses on environmental innovations such as alternative fuel and green building techniques. The series premiered on the iTunes Store prior to its release on the Sundance Channel on April 17, 2007...
, an environmentalist
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
documentary series on the Sundance Channel.
Campaigns
As a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense CouncilNatural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a New York City-based, non-profit, non-partisan international environmental advocacy group, with offices in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Beijing...
and a founding member of the Detroit Project, David has spearheaded numerous public education and action campaigns urging Congress and auto-makers to raise fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the efficiency of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier fuel into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device, which in turn may vary per application, and this spectrum of variance is...
standards and make higher mileage cars.
In January 2004, the NRDC opened the David Family Environmental Action Center. Endowed by the David family, the Center promotes activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
to protect the environment. It features exhibits on issues such as global warming, ocean pollution, everyday toxin
Toxin
A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded...
s, and green
Green Power
Green Power is a Hong Kong-based non-governmental organization concerned with the city's environmental issues. The NGO was founded in 1988 by a group of volunteers who made environmental education the foremost priority of the organization....
building solutions.
Criticism
In an interview with The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in November 2006, David acknowledged that owning two homes on opposite sides of the country and flying in a private jet several times per year is at odds with her message to others. In the interview she notes "Yes, I take a private plane on holiday a couple of times a year, and I feel horribly guilty about it. I probably shouldn't do it. But the truth is, I'm not perfect. This is not about perfection. I don't expect anybody else to be perfect either. That's what hurts the environmental movement – holding people to a standard they cannot meet. That just pushes people away."
In 2005, and then again in 2009, David was cited by the Chilmark Conservation Commission for paving over protected wetland areas on her estate on Martha's Vineyard.
Awards
In October 2006, David was featured in GlamourGlamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
as one of its “Women of the Year”. She received the Gracie Allen Award for Individual Achievement by the American Women in Radio & Television and the NRDC's 2006 Forces for Nature award for her work against global warming.
In 2003, she was honored by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s organization, Riverkeeper
Riverkeeper
Riverkeeper is an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the Hudson River and its tributaries, as well as the watersheds that provide New York City with its drinking water...
. She also received the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based Children's Nature Institute's Leaf Award in 2003 for her commitment to the environmental education of young children.