Sheryl Crow Tells Why She Became a Green Advocate

Last week, I had the honor of presenting the NRDC’s Forces for Nature Award to Sheryl Crow, the Grammy-winning artist and environmentalist, at NRDC’s benefit in New York City.

It was a pleasure to celebrate Sheryl’s commitment to the environment. She has tapped her passion and expertise to promote green solutions.

As a global warming advocate, took a model she is deeply familiar with--hitting the road in a tour bus--and joined NRDC Trustee Laurie David in a barnstorming campaign through Southern college towns to educate students about climate change.

She was able to attract people who might not have been concerned about the issue, and then she mobilized them to take positive action.

And that is one of the things I admire most about Sheryl. An air of optimism animates her work. She believes that given the right information, more and more Americans will embrace sustainable practices.

You can hear Sheryl describe where that sense of optimism and purpose comes from in this clip from her acceptance speech. She talks about childhood trips to national parks, but she also says her father, an Atticus Finch-style Southern attorney who found God in nature, helped her see the profound role the natural world can play in our lives.