Welcome to the Official Web Site of Paul Tukey, movie producer, best selling author, public speaker, magazine publisher and America’s 2006 Gardening Communicator of the Year.

ABOUT PAUL:

OVERVIEW:

Paul Tukey, 49, is an American journalist, author, filmmaker 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:

A lifelong resident of Maine, 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 founded the U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit SafeLawns Foundation 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, that is centered around the first town in North America — Hudson, Quebec — that ever banned lawn and garden chemicals.

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 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
• 10 Words: Essential Dialogue for Saving the Planet
• The Precautionary Principle: A Better Safe Than Sorry Approach to 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 more than 100 private and public screenings at various events across the U.S. and Canada. The Canadian Cancer Society has agreed to be the distributor of the film in 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 book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, at the conclusion of his presentations, which he will happily sign.

CONTACT & BOOKING:

Phone: 207-252-0869 Email: Paul@SafeLawns.org

MILESTONES:

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 of the year.

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 is 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.