Riverkeeper's David Whiteside: The making of an environmental activist
Eric Fleischauer, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
Mar. 6—In first grade, David Whiteside — now 43 and executive director of the Decatur-based nonprofit Tennessee Riverkeeper — was engaged in a class discussion triggered by a Weekly Reader article about pollution.
"We talked about it for an hour or two and I was very passionate in the class. I remember this vividly: The teacher was like, 'We're not going to solve this problem. Let's move on.' I was very upset about that. I said, 'Hold on. What do you mean we're not going to solve this problem? This is terrible. We've got to figure it out.'"
So began Whiteside's career as an environmental activist, a career that recently has been pivotal in a 3M Co. settlement over dumped toxins valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, an ongoing $165 million project by Decatur Utilities to reduce sewer overflows by replacing 1 million feet of sewer pipe, dramatic environmental concessions by Mazda Toyota Manufacturing and a pending sewer-overflow lawsuit against Hartselle Utilities.