About Shel Horowitz, Environmentalist, Frugalist, and Author of Painless Green

Shel is a lifelong environmental activist whose earliest memories include an environmental direct action in his own house, at about age three. The first of his seven books (three of which have won awards) was on why nuclear power is NOT the answer to the energy crisis. He participated in both the Seabrook occupation of 1977 (which turned the safe energy movement into a mass movement) and the Black Hills Gathering of 1980, where he became aware of water-use issues). He has helped achieve significant victories on safe energy, sustainable/appropriate development, and nonsmokers’ rights, and has also worked on community food self-sufficiency, sustainable transportation, water conservation, and other environmental issues. In 1999, he founded Save the Mountain, which saved the Mount Holyoke Range in Massachusetts from an extremely inappropriate development project after all the “experts” said the project was terrible but there was nothing they could do to stop it. In 2004, he launched the international Business Ethics Pledge, which includes a strong environmental component. Shel has also reported on a number of environmental conferences, including Bioneers-By-The-Bay and SolarFest, for the Sustainability section of his Down to Business webzine, and profiled environmental leaders and trends on his radio show, Principled Profit, and in his books, websites, and newsletters.

For his “day job,” Shel runs a copywriting, marketing consulting, and book publishing consulting company; he’s also a popular speaker and writer. Of his eleven websites, the three most popular are FrugalFun.com, FrugalMarketing.com, and PrincipledProfit.com.