Champions of Nature #1

Frank Holleman

Welcome, friends, to a new feature in “Rx Nature.”

This is a series of flash interviews with people I admire, people who are doing something— anything, a lot of things—for the Earth. These folks walk the walk, each of them in their own way, using their own unique skillset. They dedicate their energy, their time, and their hearts to a crucial cause: the preservation of this precious planet we call home.

Please join me in celebrating these Champions of Nature. Every couple of weeks, I will post a new one, each time asking the same five questions. If you have a suggestion of someone I should interview for an upcoming Champions of Nature, let me know!

Courtesy of Frank Holleman

Frank Holleman and I have known each other since childhood. We were born in the same small burg in upstate South Carolina—but Frank traveled far afield from there in his educational and professional life. He holds degrees from Furman University, Harvard, and the London School of Economics. Frank’s career has encompassed the law and politics at both state and national levels, all in the spirit of service to humans and other living things. In the early 2000s, he served in the Clinton administration as Deputy Secretary of Education. Later, as an environmental lawyer, he has litigated against utility companies dumping coal ash in fragile ecosystems. Frank also fights to preserve native plants. On random Saturday mornings, you might find him in the woods with friends “rescuing” (aka digging up and relocating) native flora that are growing in the path of development. That’s him in the photo above, scouting a glorious patch of the mountain wildflower, Oconee Bells.

Frank and his wife Anne live in Greenville, S.C. They reared three children and have five grandchildren. I’ll let him provide more details about his devotion to protecting wild and natural areas.

1.     Tell me about some of your early experiences in nature.

We lived on the edge of successional fields and woods when I grew up and I spent time wandering in the woods and looking for bird nests. I grew up during the awakening of the environmental movement and was an Audubon member from childhood.

2.     How did those early experiences shape your relationship with the natural world?

Those experiences left me with a commitment to do what I could to protect nature and our environment.

3.     How do you connect with nature now … through your work or leisure or both?

My work life for the last 12 years has been to protect the environment as a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. My principal volunteer activity over the last 20 years has been as a Board member and President of Naturaland Trust, which works to protect lands and habitat in South Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains and the Piedmont.  My spare time is spent mostly on activities with the South Carolina Native Plant Society, or gardening, or in the woods.  When we travel, we often choose natural sites or birdwatching trips.

4.     What are your biggest fears for the future of our planet?

The constant pressure of human consumption on the biosphere, global climate change, and the difficulty of getting humanity to act on the steps that are necessary to protect life on the planet.

5.     What is your biggest hope for the future of our planet?

We have made a great leap forward since 2021 with policy changes in Washington to push us toward cleaner energy and stronger environmental protections, and locally communities and policymakers are waking up to the need to protect the landscape before it is lost forever.

Thank you, Frank, for being a Champion of Nature!