Atlanta Business Chronicle
Businessman and environmentalist Ted Turner can’t remember a time when he wasn’t awed by the natural world.
He takes his stewardship of the natural world seriously, backing it with a serious amount of time, energy and money.
The founder of CNN and former owner of the Atlanta Braves, Turner is the recipient of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award for his environmental efforts. He says he doesn’t have any one environmental project that makes him the most proud.
“The thing that makes me happy is I have so many projects,” the 70-year-old Turner says from his office at Turner Enterprises Inc., where he keeps his office lights turned off to conserve energy. “If I had just one project, I would think I didn’t have enough. I have hundreds going on at the same time.”
Those projects vary in size and interest. An active philanthropist, Turner is heavily engaged with his Captain Planet Foundation Inc. and the Turner Endangered Species Fund. He has also invested in a solar energy company — Turner Renewable Energy (which was sold to global solar panel developer First Solar Inc. in late 2007) — and is bringing eco-friendly features such as paper straws, low-voltage lighting and biodegradable takeout containers to his namesake Ted’s Montana Grill.
Various efforts
Additionally, some of Turner’s other environmental projects include owning nearly 2 million acres of land in the United States, much of it ranch land, where he raises bison; and the donation of $1 billion to the United Nations Foundation.
At Turner’s insistence, Turner Enterprises has studied all renewable energy, the first being solar, because of its likelihood to have the biggest global impact, says S. Taylor Glover, president and CEO of Turner Enterprises, a private company that manages Turner’s business interests, land holdings and investments.
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