Laurie Ellen David (née Lennard; born March 22, 1958) is an American

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advoc ...

, producer, and writer. She produced the Academy Award-winning ''

An Inconvenient Truth ''An Inconvenient Truth'' is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate people about global warming. The film features a slide show that, by Gore's own e ...

'' (2006) and partnered with

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. From 2013 to 2017, ...

to executive produce '' Fed Up'' (2014), a film about the causes of obesity in the United States. She serves as a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to ...

on the

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, B ...

and a member of the Advisory Board of the Children's Nature Institute and is a contributing blogger to ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

.''

Personal life

Laurie Ellen Lennard was born and raised in a

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Co ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ish family on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

. She was married for 14 years to

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...

from March 31, 1993 to July 13, 2007. They have two daughters. In 2007, David was awarded nearly half of the net worth of her husband Larry, following their divorce. She remarried in 2012 to Robert Thorpe.

Entertainment industry

Before working full-time on environmental and political issues, David worked in the entertainment industry. She began her career in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

as a talent coordinator for ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production compan ...

''. Four years later, she left to start her own management company, representing comedians and comedy writers. David also produced several comedy specials for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

, Showtime, MTV, and

Fox Television The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...

. Upon moving to Los Angeles, she became vice president of comedy development for a division of

Fox Broadcasting The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

and developed sitcoms for

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

. After leaving to raise her two daughters, she executive produced ''An Inconvenient Truth'', which won an Academy Award. David wrote two popular cookbooks on healthy eating and the importance of family dinner, ''The Family Dinner,'' and ''The Family Cooks''. She co-wrote ''The Down To Earth Guide To Global Warming''. Most recently she co-wrote ''Imagine It! A Handbook for a Happier Planet'' published by RandomHouse Rodale.

Activism

Climate Change

Laurie David has worked publicly on projects aimed at stopping climate change. She founded the ''Stop Global Warming Virtual March'' with Senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. David has produced other projects to bring the issue of climate change into the mainstream

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

, 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 on November 20, 2005. Aside from the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning documentary ''

'', David produced

's ''Too Hot Not to Handle'' (a documentary on the

effects of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea leve ...

in the United States), which aired on April 22, 2006. David appeared in '' Big Ideas for a Small Planet'', an

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that s ...

documentary series on the

Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States). * Sundance Channel (Canada) Sundance Channel was a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment that aire ...

. In an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'' 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.

Campaigns

As a trustee of the

and a founding member of The Detroit Project, David has spearheaded numerous public education and action campaigns urging

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

and auto-makers to raise

fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result 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, w ...

standards and make higher mileage cars. In January 2004, the NRDC opened the David Family Environmental Action Center.

Awards

In 2003, she was honored by the

Riverkeeper Riverkeeper is a non-profit environmental 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. It started out as the Hudson River Fisherman' ...

organization. She also received the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based Children's Nature Institute's Leaf Award in 2003 for her commitment to the environmental education of young children. In October 2006, David was featured in '' Glamour'' 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. Laurie has received numerous other awards and honors, including the

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing establishment ...

’s Stanley Kramer Award, a Humanitas Prize Special Award. Her environmental work has been honored with the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

’s

Rachel Carson Award The Rachel Carson Award is awarded each spring by the National Audubon Society's Women in Conservation to recognize "women whose immense talent, expertise, and energy greatly advance conservation and the environmental movement locally and globally" ...

, the Feminist Majority’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award, and Bette Midler’s Green Goddess Award in 2019.

Books

David's book ''The Family Dinner'' was published in 2010, with recipes by Kirstin Uhrenholdt, a foreword by

Harvey Karp Harvey Neil Karp, FAAP (born 1951) is an American pediatrician, author, and child development specialist. He is best known for his book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and its accompanying DVD, that use his "5 S's" approach to infant care. He ...

and an afterword by

Jonathan Safran Foer Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels ''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works '' Eati ...

. The book advocates a return to the domestic tradition of an evening meal (sometimes called supper) shared around the family table. Her second cookbook ''The Family Cooks'' was published a few years later. She co-wrote a book on climate for kids called ''The Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming''. In 2021, she co-wrote ''Imagine It! A Handbook for a Happier Planet'' published by Random House/Rodale.

Bibliography

References

External links

Laurie David
Official website *

link dead]
Huffington Post columnLaurie David talks with Chicago Life about her work with ''The Inconvenient Truth.''
{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Laurie 1958 births American bloggers American environmentalists American women environmentalists American non-fiction environmental writers American talent agents American television writers Businesspeople from Los Angeles People from Long Island Environmental bloggers Jewish American writers Living people Ohio University alumni Television producers from New York City HuffPost writers and columnists Writers from Los Angeles Activists from California Activists from New York (state) Writers from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from California Television producers from California American women television producers American women television writers American women columnists 21st-century American women