Been There: Official Blog of TheMotherhood.com

On Friday I attended the Teresa Heinz conference, Women's Health and the Environment, here in Pittsburgh.

First, I have to say, Teresa Heinz is a personal hero. She is a truly remarkable, brilliant person who is hell-bent on making this world a better place. And, you know, you have GOT to love that.

In her opening remarks, Heinz told the story of one of the country's first environmental activist organizations, a group of mothers, The Ladies Health Protection Association, right here in Pittsburgh. Almost 150 years ago, the mothers, as Heinz said, connected the dots and noticed the air in the "Smoky City" was making the children sick. Since they were women, with no rights, and no vote, they had men represent them in public debates. Because of the Ladies' persistence, they were responsible for the nation's first smoke abatement measures.

And, here we are, with so much more to do. These sites have some awesome information about what we need to know and where we can start:

Women's Health and the Environment

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment

Women's Voices for the Earth

Children's Health and Environment Coalition

While at the conference, I had the very cool opportunity to meet and spend time with a genius, Marty Kearns, who is also hell-bent on changing the world. Thank you to my friend Cynthia Samuels, for making that meeting with Marty happen. (I love networking almost as much as I love the internet.)

During the course of our chat, Marty told me about the "I Love Mountains" campaign, which is tearing up the internet these days. It is a remarkable story - mountaintops all over Appalachia are being blown off, essentially killing the mountains, and the valleys and streams below, so that coal mines can get to coal easier, and without using miners. Nice on so many fronts, right?

Oh, there is so much TO DO out there. We need to channel those "Ladies Health Protection Association" mothers big time.