The Huffington Post
What Do Ted Turner, Erin Brockovich and Rufus Wainwright Have in Common?
January 25, 2014
Billionaires are eccentric, but Ted Turner may be the only one who hosts an annual fundraiser in honor of a cartoon character. Each year in Atlanta, the cable-mogul-turned-rancher and his daughter Laura Turner Seydel gather a crew of celebs who are as crazy about saving the environment as they are — all in the name of Captain Planet, the animated eco superhero Turner, 75, created in 1991 with Barbara Pyle (the syndicated series still airs on Turner networks). In 2012, Richard Branson and Alison Krauss helped Turner fund green causes and youth programs supported by the Captain Planet Foundation Gala; in 2013, it was time for Erin Brockovich and Rufus Wainwright to join the ranks.
Each year, the Gala honors environmental activists who dedicate their time and resources to finding workable solutions for environmental change, both on the community and global scales. Honorees at the December 2013 event at the Georgia Aquarium included Dr. David Suzuki, a Japanese/Canadian science broadcaster (along with his wife, Dr. Tara Cullis, a writer and Harvard alum) and the David Suzuki Foundation, which assists urban centers in Canada to protect green and blue spaces; Erin Brockovich, a consumer advocate and the subject of an eponymous Oscar winning film about her work to save a rural area from environmental disaster; Tom Szaky, the 30-year-old owner of TerraCycle, which makes bikes out of garbage; and Charles Orgbon ΙΙΙ, a young entrepreneur who formed the advocacy group, Greening Forward. As hosts and recipients discussed climate change and the state of the world’s oceans, whale sharks and beluga whales swam behind them inside tanks filled with 10 million gallons of salt water.
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