Our Mission: Helping People and Communities Improve Our Environment
Our Vision: Thriving Habitats, a Circular Economy, and Climate Balance in Tennessee
Tennessee Environmental Council was founded in 1970 as an umbrella organization that would tie together many different organizations with diverse, but common priorities into focused advocacy in the state legislature on behalf of Tennessee’s environment. Those groups were the League of Women Voters, the Junior League of Nashville, the Tennessee Lung Association, the Tennessee Conservation League, the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, and the Tennessee Botanical Gardens and Fine Arts Center (Cheekwood). We are just as enthusiastic today about taking care of the landscape we call home as we were upon our founding.
The Council has been successful in protecting the Great Smoky Mountains, cleaning up the Pigeon River, reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants, and preventing degradation of high quality streams in the globally significant Duck River Watershed. We have twice been awarded the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award.
Please scroll down to review our most important & recent accomplishments.
Our Vision: Thriving Habitats, a Circular Economy, and Climate Balance in Tennessee
Tennessee Environmental Council was founded in 1970 as an umbrella organization that would tie together many different organizations with diverse, but common priorities into focused advocacy in the state legislature on behalf of Tennessee’s environment. Those groups were the League of Women Voters, the Junior League of Nashville, the Tennessee Lung Association, the Tennessee Conservation League, the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs, and the Tennessee Botanical Gardens and Fine Arts Center (Cheekwood). We are just as enthusiastic today about taking care of the landscape we call home as we were upon our founding.
The Council has been successful in protecting the Great Smoky Mountains, cleaning up the Pigeon River, reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants, and preventing degradation of high quality streams in the globally significant Duck River Watershed. We have twice been awarded the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award.
Please scroll down to review our most important & recent accomplishments.
Top Accomplishments for all 49 Years!
1970s
1977 we initiated & won a lawsuit against TVA to force them to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. As a result, TVA reduced it's acid rain causing sulfur-dioxide emissions by 1 million pounds per year.
1980s
1988 We launched a recycling project which has helped 80 communities throughout the state establish or improve their recycling efforts.
1988 Lead an effort for wilderness designation for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in collaboration with national environmental organizations, beginning a decade-long partnership to protect the park from future development projects
1989 We lead the successful effort to ban lead-acid batteries from landfills and incinerators in Tennessee.
1990s
1990 we lead the effort for Tennessee to adopt stringent solid waste landfill regulations which ensured greater protection of groundwater.
1992 We won settlement which forced the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) to pay $20,000 to Ijams Nature Center and clean up an old landfill leaking toxic PCBs into a creek feeding the Fort Loudoun Reservoir
1995 Won largest settlement to date in a federal Clean Water Act citizen suit — $1.125 million — against the Dana Corporation for violations of its water discharge permit involving the discharge of lead into tributaries of the Duck River
1997 Successfully completed and led 37 organizations in a landmark two-year effort to clean up the Pigeon River on the Tennessee/North Carolina border which was heavily polluted by an upstream Champion International paper mill
2000s
2002 Successfully led an effort to prevent wastewater from a sewage treatment plant from being discharged into Dry Fork Creek (a tier II, high quality stream) and the Rumbling Falls Cave system in Fall Creek Falls State Park
2007 Launched the Tennessee Tree Project
2009 Duck River Opportunities Project received the 2009 Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for Aquatic Resource Preservation in part for planting thousands of trees and repairing about 1500 feet of eroding creek bank
2010s
2012 The Council and Friends of Henry Horton State Park won the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for “Environmental Education and Outreach”
2012 We completed the Duck River Opportunities Project (DROP) and launched the Fish Habitat Restoration Initiative, with the help of countless volunteers we planted 5,000 native trees and stabilized over a thousand feet of creek bank
2013 Hosted our first 10K Tree Day with 600 volunteers including businesses and school groups
2018 Hosted our largest tree day yet with 190, 000 trees planted statewide in one day
1977 we initiated & won a lawsuit against TVA to force them to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. As a result, TVA reduced it's acid rain causing sulfur-dioxide emissions by 1 million pounds per year.
1980s
1988 We launched a recycling project which has helped 80 communities throughout the state establish or improve their recycling efforts.
1988 Lead an effort for wilderness designation for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in collaboration with national environmental organizations, beginning a decade-long partnership to protect the park from future development projects
1989 We lead the successful effort to ban lead-acid batteries from landfills and incinerators in Tennessee.
1990s
1990 we lead the effort for Tennessee to adopt stringent solid waste landfill regulations which ensured greater protection of groundwater.
1992 We won settlement which forced the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) to pay $20,000 to Ijams Nature Center and clean up an old landfill leaking toxic PCBs into a creek feeding the Fort Loudoun Reservoir
1995 Won largest settlement to date in a federal Clean Water Act citizen suit — $1.125 million — against the Dana Corporation for violations of its water discharge permit involving the discharge of lead into tributaries of the Duck River
1997 Successfully completed and led 37 organizations in a landmark two-year effort to clean up the Pigeon River on the Tennessee/North Carolina border which was heavily polluted by an upstream Champion International paper mill
2000s
2002 Successfully led an effort to prevent wastewater from a sewage treatment plant from being discharged into Dry Fork Creek (a tier II, high quality stream) and the Rumbling Falls Cave system in Fall Creek Falls State Park
2007 Launched the Tennessee Tree Project
2009 Duck River Opportunities Project received the 2009 Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for Aquatic Resource Preservation in part for planting thousands of trees and repairing about 1500 feet of eroding creek bank
2010s
2012 The Council and Friends of Henry Horton State Park won the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for “Environmental Education and Outreach”
2012 We completed the Duck River Opportunities Project (DROP) and launched the Fish Habitat Restoration Initiative, with the help of countless volunteers we planted 5,000 native trees and stabilized over a thousand feet of creek bank
2013 Hosted our first 10K Tree Day with 600 volunteers including businesses and school groups
2018 Hosted our largest tree day yet with 190, 000 trees planted statewide in one day
Top Accomplishments Of The Last Five Years
2019:
- Distributed 97,100 native trees to all 95 TN counties (and 56 surrounding state counties) for our annual Tree Day which occurred on 3/23/19.
- Engaged over 1000 Tennesseans in composting through our campaign Come Post Your Compost. Over half of the participants had never composted before joining our campaign.
- Completed Phase One of the Lytle Creek Restoration Project in Murfreesboro.
- Launched the American Chestnut Project and installed five demonstration groves at Tennessee State Parks.
- Held our first Zero Waste Block Party in Nashville celebrating the success of Recycle Right Nashville.
- Engaged over 800 volunteers in ecological restoration at the Nashville Greenfield.
- Co-hosted the largest Conservation Education Day in recent years, with the Sierra Club and Tennessee Conservation Voters.
2018:
- Procured and facilitated the distribution of 190,000 native trees planted in all 95 Tennessee counties by volunteers for 250K Tree Day (2/24/2018)
- Launched our food waste diversion campaign -- Come, Post Your Compost -- with the goal of engaging 1000 Tennesseans in diverting 60 tons of food waste from Tennessee's landfills by the end of 2019
- Launched Recycle Right Tennessee with the goal of increasing recycling participation and reducing recycling contamination in Tennessee
- 5000 linear feet of stream repaired at the Lytle Creek Restoration Project in Murfreesboro
- 150,000 honey bees established at the Nashville Greenfield Restoration Project
2017:
2016:
2015:
2014:
- Procured and facilitated the distribution of 100,000 trees to 20,000 volunteers in all 95 counties for 100K Tree Day.
- Engaged with a number of schools including Chapel Hill, and Cornersville Elementary for Project Implementation Days at Henry Horton State Park. As part of this project, 5th graders planted nearly 1000 trees and learned about the health of the Duck River watershed.
- We also partnered with Christiana Middle School on tree education and planting of 20 trees on school property.
- Urban Gardening Event: We partnered with AKA Sorority Inc. by planting vegetables and herbs for residents of Mission Haven Retirement Home in Nashville as part of our Sustainable Tennessee Program.
- 11th Annual Policy & Practice Forum: The Council convened a gathering of sustainability leaders statewide and identified the top 5 priorities for a more Sustainable Tennessee. These priorities as voted on by our constituents will be shared with the General Assembly in 2018.
- Lytle Creek: We hosted a Rain Garden Workshop, planting 30 trees and shrubs; and co-hosted a Community Day with MTEC, planting 200 trees along Lytle Creek.
2016:
- 50K Tree Day: One of our favorite 2016 highlights was engaging more than 6,000 volunteers in planting 50,000 trees in 92 counties during 50K Tree Day. This was our second annual 50K tree-planting event, earning us the 2016 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award –our third in the past 10 years!
- Veterans Day/Arbor Day: The Council organized our second annual event on 11/11/2016, giving away 1,500 native tree seedlings across Tennessee to honor the dedication of our nation’s veterans and public servants. More than 250 veterans were named as honorees from these trees.
- 10th Annual Policy & Practice Forum: The Council convened a gathering of sustainability leaders statewide and identified the top 5 priorities for a more Sustainable Tennessee. These priorities as voted on by our constituents will be shared with the General Assembly in 2017.
- Dozens of State-Wide Education Events: The Council delivered presentations to hundreds of individuals at schools, community groups and the General Assembly on water quality, rain gardens, recycling, riverbank restoration, sustainability, and of course, the value of trees.
- Nashville GreenField Restoration Project: (a 120-acre ecological-restoration project in West Nashville): The Council team, volunteers and community partners made significant progress, including establishing a certified Level 1 Arboretum; identifying 46 species of birds, and removing 10 acres of invasive plant species, making way for a living, thriving example of Tennessee’s biodiversity.
2015:
- 50K Tree Day: resulted in 52,000 trees distributed statewide to more than 3,000 volunteer planters in hundreds of planting events scheduled for this day. All trees were provided at no cost to participants.
- Arbor Day: Statewide, dozens of volunteers planted trees provided at no cost by the Council to plant in honor of US Military Veterans.
- Conservation Education Day: members of the Tennessee Environmental Council and other environmental activists, leaders and concerned citizens from across Tennessee gathered to meet with members of the Tennessee General Assembly.
- 9th Annual Policy & Practice Forum: More than 40 stakeholders from across Tennessee gathered at our annual Policy & Practice workshop for a Sustainable Tennessee
- Regional Sustainability Forum: at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens Tennessee attracts more than 40 students and members of the local community to discuss the topic of Sustainability in their community, on campus and throughout Tennessee. Results from this and all Regional Sustainability Forums are used to update our Priorities for a Sustainable Tennessee — a working document we update year after year.
2014:
- Long-time Council board member and former chairman Don Safer is invited by Nuclear Regulatory Committee to testify in DC about benefits of investing in alternatives to nuclear power, as well as present a community-activist perspective on negative consequences of nuclear power in Tennessee.
- 10K Tree Day in March makes national news from San Fran to DC
- Council staff, volunteers, friends and partners plant more than 30,000 native trees in Tennessee, including our 100,000th tree since 2007
- Council proposal to attempt world record tree planting within next three years is approved by Guinness World Records.
- Council is awarded “Friends of Forestry” Award by TN Division of Forestry
- Conservation Education Day on Tennessee Capitol Hill draws organizations and activists from across Tennessee to meet their legislators and advocate for sustainability policies.
- Council coordinates regional sustainability forums in Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga — gathering the best ideas of a Sustainable Tennessee, and updating our Sustainable Tennessee Agenda for 2015.
- Council publishes “Citizen Action Guide to Watershed Restoration”
- Council-led settlement with industry cleans up stormwater runoff in Nashville