Christopher Gavigan Envisions A Healthier World
A dedicated environmentalist in both his personal and professional life, Christopher Gavigan is the Executive Director and CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World, the nation’s leading non-profit in the area of children’s environmental health for nearly two decades. This year, Christopher celebrated the birth of his first child with wife Jessica Capshaw in 2007; his book Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home hit stores in 2008. A founding member of the EcoStiletto Advisory Board, Christopher took time out to share his thoughts on being old-school green.
ES: When did you first become aware of the green movement?
CTG: It was back when I first came out to California from Connecticut. I was 17, on my way to Santa Barbara to major in Environmental Sciences. It was a classic cross-country drive with two guys. It was really foundational because along the way we were climbing in the Rockies and hiking in the Grand Canyon and I was overcome with the importance of these spaces.
Then in college we were talking about global warming and carbon offsets—this was 1993, so these are all concepts I’ve been living with for a long time. It’s so great to see the level of consciousness rise to where people are having dinner table conversations about this stuff. I’ve been talking about it for a long time, I’ve always felt responsible to be a leading voice, so it’s great to see that on a mass level now. I’ve always felt that I needed to take action daily—buying organic, supporting local organic farming. I helped restore natural habitats in college, then went on to teach ecological sciences in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s been a part of who I am and a part of my personal education for a long time.
ES: What kinds of green changes have you made or do you plan to make in your life?
CTG: I just became a father. Parenthood is a huge responsibility but I want to step back and be a role model, not a preacher. That is how I like to teach—through example. He’s coming into this world, he has his own soul and spirit and drive that I want to foster, but I also want to teach him to respect and honor and acknowledge our space in the ecological web of life.
Right now we’re renovating a home that we’ll move into soon. We’re buying materials that are more sustainable and ecologically conscious like salvaged hardwood flooring, all FSC woods, solar paneling. We’re salvaging the old roof tiles by laying the new roof underneath and putting the old tiles back on top. It’s an old home—it’s been there for 80 years—so yes it has toxic elements that I’m trying to remove like lead paint and asbestos, trying to update the home with greener and safer options, just like we talk about at Healthy Child Healthy World.
This year, I got rid of my hybrid and bought a biodiesel VW station wagon. It’s safer and I believe in supporting domestic crops and getting off the petroleum grid. The decision has started a debate among a lot of my friends about whether it’s better to be a vegetarian driving a hummer or a carnivore driving a Prius—it’s taking the debate our of the context of lithium [in hybrid batteries] versus petroleum and expanding it into the world of food and the impact of food on the land, agricultural systems, world markets, the way the transport systems that we’ve created to transport the food create carbon emissions. The debate is a good one. Decisions about the foods we eat are just as important as those about the cars that we drive—all are decisions that we make every day.
ES: Who are the people who have inspired you?
CTG: In the green movement, everyone knows about Al Gore, but there are some incredible minds like Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson who wrote Silent Spring, Teddy Roosevelt was an amazing environmentalist, John Muir, poets of the ‘70s and ‘80s like Gary Snyder, E.E. Cummings. If people are looking for perspective on the green movement these people have supported and taken action on it.
It goes back to my experience in that first cross-country drive—we have these jewels in our country, these open spaces that people have had to work very hard and fight for, for the benefit of the people and for the land, for our enjoyment and for species to endure. This movement has been around for a long time—it’s not a new thing, it’s an old thing—and it’s getting a nice resurgence.
It’s an interesting time but also leads me to wonder is it just green consumerism? I like to think it’s not. I try to remind people you don’t have to buy everything new, you can reuse and salvage and these things are just as high-quality, or even more high-quality and less toxic, because a lot of it was made 20 or 30 years ago before we developed additives and preservatives that are toxic. We can all buy green but should challenge ourselves to buy less. When I buy I only buy quality products that are made by values-based companies. That’s what Green Girl Guide is all about—selecting products that are good for the planet and good for the people. If you’re going to buy anything, buy with those values and thoughts in mind.
ES: What’s your favorite eco-friendly tip our readers should know about?
CTG: This month it’s find a green dry cleaner. If you’re going to dry clean your clothes, get away from the toxic chemicals. We live in California, where these chemicals are being phased out, but there are green non-toxic dry cleaners across the country now.
ES: And, finally, what’s the best green advice you ever got and who gave it to you?
CTG: Don’t eat meat. This started out as nutritional advice but I’ve been a vegetarian for 15 years now and it’s grown increasingly more important to me as I learn about its environmental impact. Meat production in particular has a huge footprint on water resources and agricultural crops—two-thirds of corn and wheat grown in this country is redirected into livestock feed, particularly for cows.
My grandmother used to say, “Better safe than sorry.” That applies so well to what we’re talking about today. If an ingredient in your sunscreen might affect your health why not take a more precautionary approach and choose one that doesn’t have chemicals? Why not take preventative action—you’re not sacrificing anything and you’re not spending more money. It just makes sense.
