Environmentalism. Sounds serious, right?
Like science, your home’s mechanics and eating food that is good for you, all combined into one complicated package.
Lake Forest’s Kate Sackman believes that humor and fun will entice more people to adopt green living practices than lectures. She founded EcoMyths Alliance with a group of like-minded environmentalists affiliated with major institutions, such as The Field Museum, Alliance For The Great Lakes, Lake Forest Open Lands and the National Wildlife Federation, to do just that—make environmental advice fun and easy to understand.
EcoMyth Alliance is like Kermit The Frog meets Ghostbusters meets environmentalists. It tries to make it easy to be green by busting environmental myths through original cartoons and articles created in partnership with leading experts. They hope to soon add a curriculum for schools.
The content delivered on their website has caught the attention of the media, including Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ, which does a monthly EcoMyths segment on the show “Worldview.” Find their most recent story here: “The Big Reasons Not to Flush Old Medicines Down the Toilet.”
An entrepreneur at heart, Sackman founded Aurora Technology, a medical software and systems company, with her father and sold it nine years later, in 2003. Substantial volunteer service with the Lake Forest Open Lands followed, including her tenure as President, and Sackman started discussing with other passionate environmentalists and experts how to make green living more accessible to the general public.
Thus EcoMyth Alliance was born three years ago. “With EcoMyths I get to channel my twin passions for business and the environment,” Sackman says. “The goal is to inspire and empower people to make more sustainable choices, with bite-sized, entertaining content.”
The most popular article to date debunks misinformation about Asian carp.
Sackman’s hope for the future? “That millions and millions of people will be intrigued and eventually inspired to make small, daily changes in their lives.” Those simple choices can be the difference between a habitable and inhabitable planet in the future.
