Michael Green Recognized for Protecting Children’s Health
San Francisco
– Tonight, Michael Green will be
presented with the Compassion in Action Award, for "his tireless work for
children's and community health as Executive Director of the Center for
Environmental Health (CEH)." The award is a joint project of the Committee of
100 for Tibet
and the Dalai Lama Foundation, and is given annually to individuals who "embody
pure motivation and compassionate concern for the well being of others, world
peace, ecology, and global responsibility."
"It is a tremendous honor to receive this award from
organizations that are made up of so many of my heroes, people who have made
the world a better place, not only through their activism and political work,
but also through the way that they are as people in the world," said Green. "I've
had the incredible good luck to make a career out of working to protect children
and families from environmental health hazards. I am humbled to receive this
award for our work at the Center for Environmental Health."
Michael Green will accept the award tonight at the opening
of the Yerba Buena Center
for the Arts showing of the exhibit The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the
Dalai Lama, hosted by master of ceremonies Sharon Stone. The Missing Peace is a multi-media art exhibition bringing together 88
artists representing 30 countries, in an exploration of the idea of art as an
interpretation of and a catalyst for peace.
In over ten years as founder and Executive Director of CEH,
Michael Green has coordinated the organization's groundbreaking work to protect
children and families from chemicals that can cause cancer, birth defects, and
other illnesses, and to promote safer alternatives for a more sustainable
economy. Most recently, Green has been a national leader in the movement to
expose and prevent hidden lead hazards to children from toys and other
products. Just this year, CEH has identified lead-contamination in toys, vinyl
baby bibs, school lunchboxes and backpacks, leading to product recalls and
changing production practices for entire industries. CEH has previously
identified and won legal agreements to end lead hazards in other children's
products, including diaper creams, children's medicines, home water filters, and
children's jewelry, among others.
Green has also made CEH a leader in working with "green"
businesses to promote healthier production and operations. For example, CEH is
a leader in the movement for healthier production and management of computers
and other electronics, promoting safer e-waste and computer take-back programs
and demanding production of electronics without toxic chemicals. CEH currently
works with the top purchasing staff at Kaiser Permanente, the nation's leading
non-profit health care corporation, on standards the health care leader can use
to demand safer computers, televisions, and medical electronics from their
suppliers.
Prior to founding CEH, Michael
Green volunteered with Mother Theresa's mission in Calcutta, India,
and later traveled to Tibet.
On December 10th, 1988, International Human Rights Day, in the Tibetan capitol
of Lhasa, he witnessed young Chinese soldiers shoot and kill a group of Tibetan
nuns who had unfurled a Tibetan flag in the historic Barkhor, a center for
religious pilgrimage. Green later worked for the Unrepresented Nations and
Peoples Organization, which was founded by the long-time legal counsel to His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, and with the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in Dharamsala, India,
where he developed a solid waste management plan for the Tibetan community. He
later served for many years on the Board of Directors of the Tibet Justice Center.
Mr. Green worked in government with the U.S. Department of
Energy and at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Working Group on
Environmental Equity, the forerunner of today's Office of Environmental
Justice. In 2007, he was awarded The California Wellness Foundation Leadership
Award.
For more information on CEH, see www.cehca.org