Amy, how did you become interested in the environment?

My father was part of the group that started the first EPA in the early 70s, part of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and he was very big with the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

In the 70s, it was all around. With Carter, there was a focus on conservation. It’s what people were thinking about. We put on sweaters and turned down the thermostat. I made a t-shirt in shop class that said “Ecology”.

So I was interested in it back then and then when I became a mom, my daughter’s speech delay was an interesting door opening for me because she’s one of those kids whose brain works a little different, and no one quite knows why. And that opened the door to exploring vaccinations and chemical additives.

Is that what led you to your involvement with Healthy Child Healthy World, the organization dedicated to protecting children from harmful environmental exposures?

Healthy Child, Healthy World approached me and it seemed like a good fit. Almost two years ago, we launched the Blue Butterfly Campaign. It has five steps toward a healthy home and I adopted them all; eat organic, avoid the whole plastics thing (no micro waving in plastic), clean the air filters, no pesticides and use toxin-free cleaning products. I immediately chucked out everything and switched to Method cleaning products – we love Method, and then I called my gardener and said that we were not going to use the bad stuff anymore.

I had this really moving moment soon after that when we had ants in our pantry area. We called our pest guy . . .and they said they’d been trained to do it organically. The pantry area is near my home office, and I was thinking it would take 4 hours for the air to clear, and they said no, it’s fine to be in the treated areas. So I went back there, and the guy didn’t have his mask on and I said “Oh, you guys!” and he said, “Yeah, you have no idea, we’re around this stuff all day long.” It was this “circle of life” moment. So I was glad we’d chosen a natural approach, for my home and children, and for the sake of the people who do the treatments.

And I’m working with a wonderful woman named Ann from Paradise Contained (on creating a sustainable children’s garden.) She started me in a sustainable direction. I live in a desert, and I’ve grown to appreciate the parameters of my life, not in a way that is limiting, but in a way that is in synch - to acknowledge and celebrate the reality of living in a place that is 110 degrees in the summer. To be where you are, that is my journey, so I live in the Valley and three months out of the year it is really hot, so work with it.

What have you found challenging in this work?

I think it is so easy to sink into despair – I was reading about (the melting of) Greenland the other day, and it is, in a way, unprecedented this emotional and psychological journey that we’re on. I was thinking it was only like 100 years ago with the automotive engine, and we didn’t know (about the harmful effects of carbon emissions), but now we know and to not do something is insanity. It is that balance of action and despair that is so challenging.

What inspires you?

All the people thinking out of the box inspire me. I seek them out. Linda Loudermilk, the designer who makes clothes out of sustainable stuff, the guys making purses out of Luna Bar wrappers- I love that and try to support them.

I wish that all the ingenuity this country shows when it is at war could go into the environmental movement, and that people could think outside the box and be willing to sacrifice because this is bigger. I saw Al Gore speak about climate change, I found it so riveting and haunting, and I really want to hold on to that because it highlights the major importance of this issue. The potential for climate refugees, and wars over water is huge, if we don’t deal with the reality of global warming.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Amy Brenneman
Amy Brenneman has a degree in Comparative Religion from Harvard University. She is a founding member of the award-winning Cornerstone Theater Company. Theater credits include: Romeo & Juliet, The Oresteia, Three Sisters, Sincerity Forever, St. Joan of the Stockyards (Yale Rep), God’s Heart (Lincoln Center) and A Nervous Smile (Williamstown Theater Festival). Film credits include: CASPER, BYE BY LOVE, HEAT, DAYLIGHT, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER, OFF THE MAP, NINE LIVES, 88 MINUTES, JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, and DOWNLOADING NANCY. Television credits include: NYPD BLUE (2 Emmy noms), JUDGING AMY (3 Emmy noms, 3 Golden Globe noms, winner of three TV Guide awards for Best Actress). Amy was co-creator, executive producer and star of Judging Amy. In May 2007, Amy was in a two-hour episode of GREY’S ANATOMY, and currently stars in the new ABC series PRIVATE PRACTICE.
Amy is married to writer/director Brad Silberling. The couple has two children– Charlotte, 6, and Bodhi, 2.