My passion for the environment began at the age of 6 on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. As part of that great event, my first grade class crossed the street from Spring Harbor Elementary in Madison, Wisconsin, to take a “nature walk” in a small wooded area. During this welcome escape from the classroom, wearing the green and white ecology button passed out by my teacher, I learned to look at the world around me with heightened appreciation. I was hooked.

After graduating from Vanderbilt University, I attended Tulane Law School where I joined the Environmental Law Clinic representing clients from Greenpeace to the Audubon Society. I graduated from law school with honors in 1990 and moved to Los Angeles to prosecute environmental and other crimes in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. In 1997, I was recruited by Mark Gold to be Heal the Bay’s Director of Law and Policy.

In 2005, I became a member of Heal the Bay’s Board of Directors and Chair of the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. For the past seven years, I have served as Co-Chair for Heal the Bay’s largest annual fundraising event, raising over 5 million dollars during that time period. In 2006, Heal the Bay honored me with its highest volunteer award, the Super Healer Award.

I am currently on the Board of Directors of Trash for Teaching and Heal the Bay.

In addition, I am a co-founder of Plastic Pollution Coalition.

Blog Entries by Lisa Kaas Boyle

Recycling Plastic: What a Waste

2 Comments | Posted September 16, 2009 | 03:52 PM (EST)


Our Toxic Burden from Plastics

Every day, single-use plastics ("SUPs" bottles, bags, packaging, utensils, etc.) made from petrochemicals are thrown away in huge quantities after one use, but they will last virtually forever. SUPs are the largest component of landfills and ocean pollution. While Fresh Kills landfill in New York...

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California Battles to Ban BPA from Baby Bottles, Sippy Cups and Infant Formula

2 Comments | Posted August 25, 2009 | 12:33 PM (EST)


BPA: From Plastics and Cans to Your Body

You may not be familiar with the chemical bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, but there is an excellent chance that BPA is very familiar with you. BPA, a hormone-disrupting toxin, is widely used in plastics and epoxy resins, including those...

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Urgent Need for an Underwater Park System

1 Comments | Posted August 7, 2009 | 02:05 PM (EST)


National Parks: America's "Best Idea"

"[Our national parks system is] the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, [our national parks] reflect us at our best rather than our worst." Wallace Stegner, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian.

The National Park System, an American first, began with the creation of Yellowstone...

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Desperate Bottled Water Industry Battles Trend Toward Tap (VIDEO)

77 Comments | Posted July 21, 2009 | 10:41 AM (EST)


Demand for Bottled Water Evaporating

As concerns mount over bottled water's impacts on the environment and human health, bottled water sales are beginning to dry up. In America, Nielsen reports that bottled water sales fell 3.3% in the US last year.

Evian reported that its 2008 profits...

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Media Catches the Boat to Pacific Garbage Patch

3 Comments | Posted April 30, 2009 | 05:24 PM (EST)


A potent symbol of large scale waste and consumer greed has been making the media rounds lately. This symbol is a physical and hard to ignore: the "away" of our throwaway society turns out to be, in part, a giant patch of broken plastic bits swirling around the Pacific Gyres...

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