You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Really fun reading in for this next guest who last year told People Magazine that quote taking care of the environment, it's in her DNA. We so welcome Laura Turner Sidell. She is chair of Captain Planet Foundation and she joins us on the phone from Atlanta. Laura, it's so nice to have you here on Bloomberg Radio. Um, let's cut to
the chase. Your dad, well known, someone who changed the world of media, blowing up the world of cable decades ago. We're talking, of course about Ted Turner, who I believe also is a big, big or one of the largest individual landowners in North America, lots of open land out west sees. The environment has been the environment has been so important to him. What was it like growing up in that environment? Well, thank you first the foremost, Carol and Tim for having me on the program today. It
was kind of like drinking out of a fire hall. Uh. He is a real life Captain Planet and he spent his career on a top mountain, top of information, and he saw a lot of what we're experiencing today, either firsthand or in you know, reports coming in from around the world about environmental degradation and pollution and you know, potential for wars. And obviously he covered a lot of that on on his his media platforms, including CNN. UM, we got into trouble for not turning the lights off
or or leaving the TV on when we left the room. Uh. He we drove around in a little Japanese car, you know, swished in. We've weeded our lawn by hands on the weekends, and our neighbors would drive bag. We've waved to him. Um, our whole whole yard was weeks. That was really uh, to avoid using chemicals and door paying for expensive uh maintenance. Um, when you have five kids, you've got a you know, uh,
pretty much a free labor force. What do you think your dad saw at a time when people weren't really talking about the environment. I mean, we come back to even like Rachel Carson silent Spring, right, he was thinking about these things before that. He sure was, Um, he was really concerned. Um, you know Dr Lester Brown. Uh, there was a global two thousand reports the President Carter at that time, commissions that said, you know, humanity was
racing towards disaster. Um you know that we were over consuming, uh the resources of the planet. We were not taking care of the systems that supported all lights, our air, our water, our land, our soil, our climate. And uh you know he really you know, used his plat warm for good to educate people. Um he you know, aired underwater Sea Adventures of Doc Pustau and National Geographic Explorer to make people fall in love when nature and want
to take care of it. But I would say one of the most important uh you know, parts of putting Vision back into television was um, you know, his focus on engaging, empowering and forming youth to be problem solvers and you know agents for change, uh for for our life support system, for their inheritance and their children's and grandchildren's inheritance. And uh you know that it was this idea.
He's like, we need a superhero, but not just the superhero that goes around blowing things up, but actually superhero focused on saving the earth. But what was great is the executive producer, Barbara Pyle came up with the idea that it really needed to be a in conjunction with with young people from around the world who would come
together and their youth really was their superpower. And um, if they worked individually and collectively uh and smartly and wisely and strategically, they could change systems and uh put pressure on governments on business uh and you know, really create a world that they that they envisioned. And you know, I just think you know, in our thirty first year of the formation of the foundation, uh, well it's our
thirty one. Last year was our thirtieth. Of course, we put everything off because of COVID uh and we are hosting our first in person gala and a couple of years um coming up in March. But you know, I think that the what he wanted to happen when he started that cartoon actually been happening all these years. In terms of the media world and growing up with that,
it has changed so dramatically. UM. Your thoughts on media and the responsibility when it comes to climate change, Well, of course there is a huge responsibility uh to climate change. But UM, you know, I think unfortunately, uh, there are some you know companies that uh you know are more concerned about profits uh them people, and and they're they're willing to do anything to support their companies and you know,
squeeze out every last little penny. Um. Some companies are transitioning and trying to get on board, but they control our media through the that tizing, and they control our politicians, and you know, so it's really important that uh that you know, the public um puts pressure in the right places. And and that's what I love about Captain Planet Foundation is that the youth now are putting pressure on the
right places. With a little bit of training, mentoring support, uh, you know, they can go out and they can be change agents, and they're changing policies and they're getting you know, getting businesses. Yes, well, I gotta say, I have to say, just we're gonna come We're gonna do some news and come back in just a moment that we were talking capt Planet and I'm gonna be fair time. Tim my co host, and one of our producers, are they like,
oh my god, that's right. Turner. We started singing the Captain Planet theme song during the break because you know, grew up early nineties, that's when we were kids. You were watching it. Are we're gonna come back to Laura Turner's side down chairf Captain Planet Foundation will continue our conversation with her in just to moment, I'm Bloomberg. Let's get back to our guest. Laura Turner side Out, chair of Captain Planet Foundation, still with us on the phone
from Atlanta. Laura, you're talking about the foundation. I think you're getting ready for a big event. Tell us a
bit more about what's coming up. And I'm also curious, since you guys have been around for about three decades, I'm curious about the impact that you all have seen in working with a younger generation, especially when it comes to improving things for our environment, really our future, the existence of all yea indeed, and I listened to your program with Katherine hay Hoo and understand you have a teenage daughter might want to check out one of two
events I was hoping to tell you about, obviously our gala coming up, but we just launched the Planetier Alliance yesterday, so this interview comes at a really good time. And basically, uh, it's gen D came to us and said, you know, it's great that you're funding educators and then we're you know, going through the program and working with them, but we want to work with you directly. We want training mentoring resources and a platform to UH to organize and strategize
and share best practices around the globe. And we've been perfecting this platform for the past five years. And it's really interesting. You know. We because of COVID, we had to pivot to everything virtual, which was a game changer and a blessing for the use of this world because we were able to get UH. You know, a couple of thousand UH you know used to come to our trainings and UH and and they're sharing, you know, peer
to peer. They're teaching peer to peer, and these kids are going out and making such enormous change like this Hawaiian UH Dyson t came to our boot camp. He was he was an introvert, self identified as an introvert and shy. And at the end of boot camp he said, Okay, now I understand youth is my power. I've got the confidence, I've got the plan. And he went and stood up three campaigns. One he shut down. He led a youth
campaign to shut down the last cold fire plant. And why he UM is currently shutting down these UH military oils holding tanks that have been polluting the water on a Allahu for a hundred thousand people, and uh, you know, he just is absolutely brilliant and you know, is getting it done. And there's just that case is not unique. There are so many of these hundreds of these youths
that are standing up these campaigns. Chloe May, for instance, in California, UM got three schools to stop, you know, distributing plastics cross at lunch because she went and talked to about costs of of these class the thought that we're going freight in the trash can and you know,
so here she came to our training. And that's what the Planets here, the Planets Here alliance is all about, is like getting these kids, the gen Z and now Jen Alpha to really um look at a broad suite of issues that are facing them from Yeah, I'm wondering. You know, It's funny Carol and I were both nodding along when you explain to us that you know, you've got in trouble for leaving TV on or turning the lights out, because we both grew up in homes like that.
And I'm wondering in a world where companies account for so much of the pollution and other countries account for so much the pollution in our world, what message you have to people who feel like completely overwhelmed with the direction that our planet is going, and what changes that they could actually make in their daily lives when it doesn't actually feel like okay, separating you know the trash from the recycling is actually making a difference, right, You know,
we have to do everything in our power because you know, we it's like a lot of what we've heard and learned over the past couple of decades is that the climate change, the worst of it is coming in. You know that was that was wrong information. We're seeing a
play out before our very eyes. Now, maybe we should pay more attention to what the youth they're trying to do and think about when we make decisions of you know, what we buy and you know, how we consume and and uh and how we recycle and how we voke uh and show up that we're thinking about, like the indigenous people did about the seventh generation, how do our actions today affect their health, their future, their quality of life.
We haven't done enough of that. We focused on fourth coord earnings and the next election, but we're not thinking about them and and and that's just plain wrong. And my dad, you know, pay attention to what he has sat all along. You know, the science is real. We need to take action. We need to figure out how we can engage in every way possible. You know what, in the end, our kids are going to look us
from the eyes and they're been a whole disaccountable. Just just I just went jump in for a second, and I'm just curious. You know, it's in terms of agents have changed. Because you talked about agents of change failing us. Just if you had to pick one quickly, you know, agent of change that could really make a difference with the climate because you guys have been doing this for thirty years and yet the trend lines when it comes to climate change, and you know the forces have been
against everybody because it's just gotten worse. What's one agent of change that if you could flip the switch on, turn it off like our parents told us to do, what would it be. I've been involved with an organization
called League of Conservation Voters. Go online see how your legislators, both federally and asked you know, and locally vote on things related to the environment, vote on climate, on the climate crisis, and make sure that you're calling them and telling them to UH, that it's important for them to pass to Build Back Better Bill because there's a lot of money that will help, uh, you know, with to come up with solutions to the climate crisis that's really
really really important. And also find out what's important to your kids and figure out ways to plug into it. And there's so many amazing nonprofit groups, uh in in our communities, you know, from water keepers, uh that need help, they need support, they need volunteered you know, gardening is really important in community gardens. We have school gardens that captain Planet, you know, funded about the South and of them and have a learning garden program that gets teaches
kids about what's important. Laura La la, Laura gotta jump in and I just because we do only have like thirty seconds left here. There's a lot of people reaching out to me on social media saying Ted Turner, our thoughts are with him. How is your dad doing? Just quickly, you know what He's doing really well under the circumstances.
But so many people have Louis body dementia twice the number of people that have been diagnosed with Parkinson's, and you know, there are a lot of people that have it that might not know about it, and I would just to go to UH the Louis Body Dementia Association and if you have a loved one that is UH, you know, coming down with signs of dementia and watch Robin Williams uh the documentary about his struggle with Louis Body demesia. But thanks for asking, and you know he's
gotten the good fight. We get Laura. We we have to run. And I'm so sorry, but good luck with your event. Our best wishes to your dad, and you are all listening to Bloomberg