PERSONAL:

As one of North America's leading environmental advocates and public speakers, Paul Tukey spends much of his time away from his home state of Maine. But Maine is still very much home. Paul was introduced to gardening during summers spent growing vegetables at his grandparents dairy farm in Bradford in the 1960s. After graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in Journalism, Paul spent nearly a decade as a reporter and editor at the Maine Sunday Telegram and Portland Press Herald.

With Good Morning America Weatherman Sam Champion during an appearance in July of 2007

In the late 1980s Paul followed his love of the outdoors and founded his own landscaping company, Tukeys Home n Land. Like most commercial landscapers of the era, Paul used conventional techniques and supplies.

But in the early 1990s Paul started hearing about the links between 2,4-D, a synthetic weed killer, and numerous illnesses including cancer. Then his personal physician suggested that his recurrent headaches, nosebleeds and blurred vision were attributable to exposure to those same chemical weed killers. His transformation to organic gardening and building healthy soil was underway. In the past five years, he has emerged as the leader of the SafeLawns movement across the U.S. and Canada.

Paul resides in Maine with his wife, Katie Hoffmann Tukey, and three children, Paul Jr., 17, and Aimee,3 and Angie born in August of 2009. Pauls oldest daughter, Christina, 25, graduated from Williams College and recently completed her second-year of medical school. The familys garden and landscape in Maine is spread across more than two acres of flowers, vegetables, trees and shrubs and, of course, a spectacular lawn.

Paul Jr., Paul Sr. Aimee, Christina & Pumpkin (Cat)

Still addicted to growing and mowing great grass after all these years, Pauls emerald green carpet is achieved without a single synthetic fertilizer, herbicide or fungicide. The kids can roll around in the grass, says Paul, and I dont give it a second thought.