Marilyn Mehlmann

Marilyn Mehlmann is awarded the Rachel Carson Prize 2011 for her longterm efforts to involve individuals, companies and NGOs in acting sustainably.

Originally from England, Marilyn is a long-time resident of Sweden. She has since 1995 been General Secretary of Global Action Plan International, a network of NGOs that empowers individuals and organizations to act increasingly sustainably.

Global Action Plan started in 1990 with a program organizing participating households into Eco Teams to provide group support in learning to live more sustain-ably. Since then the network has acquired member organizations in more than 20 countries; and the basic empowerment program has diversified into more than a dozen programs for schools and youth, programs to engage employees in sustainability work, and most recently on-line programs using social media. Dutch and British research shows these programs to be uniquely effective in bringing about long-term behaviour change.