Sharon Abreu, Executive Director

Irthlingz, arts-based environmental education (501)(c)(3)

Sharon Abreu has been combining music and environmental education for several years. She began doing volunteer work for the environment when she joined New York ’s Hudson River Sloop Clearwater in 1992. From there she got involved in other environmental causes like the Redwoods and global climate change.

As a Clearwater member, Sharon was a volunteer crew member on the Sloop, participating in teaching the water chemistry, plankton and fish stations on the boat. She also taught water chemistry for Clearwater and Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater ’s Traveling Environmental Festival. Sharon was vice-president of New York City Friends of Clearwater and co-editor of that organization’s Enviroblurb newsletter for four years.

Sharon has given presentations on climate change for the Green House Network at colleges and universities, and at ABC-TV in New York . In June 2001, she had a feature article on energy published in the Clearwater Navigator. She learned about the economics of energy and climate change from ecological economists Winifred Armstrong of Regional Plan Association and Eban Goodstein of Lewis & Clark College .

In November 2000, Sharon traveled to Paris and Brussels to help develop and promote the World Harmony Network for Sustainable Development, which arose out of the UN-CSD. She also performed for ecology students at Cambridge University in England and attended the energy expo at the COP6 (Congress of the Parties) climate meeting in The Hague .

Sharon has appeared with legendary folksinger Pete Seeger in concerts to benefit the Delaware Bay Schooner Project and the Ships to Save the Waters conference, and in public schools. Pete told Sharon , “You have a good strong voice. Go out there and get people singing!” This is a charge she does not take lightly. She shares Pete’s belief that inspiring and empowering people through music and song, communicating directly to the heart, is the way to unite people and engender love and caring for the natural environment. It’s an uplifting way to foster creative thinking toward the goal of sustainability.

In 1998, Sharon ’s vocal quartet was hired to sing at the United Nations in New York for a trade union ceremony during the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development (UN-CSD) in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Being a trade union member (North American Traveling Musicians Union), Sharon became a member of the trade union delegation to the UN-CSD. She performed her original compositions at this ceremony during the UN-CSD in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Sharon sang for trade union and non-governmental organization events in Johannesburg , South Africa , as part of the World Summit for Sustainable Development, in August 2002. She worked with both the Trade Union and Energy Caucuses of the UN-CSD during the Summit in Johannesburg , and continues to serve on those Caucuses.

In 2000, Sharon performed her song "Change in the Climate" and spoke about the importance of public education at a special meeting for the New York City Metro Region Input to the New York State Greenhouse Gas Action Plan. She has performed for, among others:

Citizens Awareness Network (CAN), Connecticut

People's Action for Clean Energy (P.A.C.E.), Connecticut

March for Peaceful Energy in Washington , D.C.

Millstone Anti-Nuclear Rally, Connecticut

Earth Day, New York City

Plight of the Redwoods Campaign, California

Redwood-Sequoia Congress, California

T.O.E.S. (The Other Economic Summit ), New York

Climate Change and the West Conference, Colorado

Navigating Our Future Conference, Friday Harbor , Washington

Storming the Sound workshops for environmental educators, People for Puget Sound ,

La Conner & Seattle , Washington

National Jobs for All Coalition, New York City

United Nations Association, benefit honoring Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs

Sergio Vieira de Mello

"Human Rights Day" at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, Brooklyn , New York

In 1999, Sharon and Michael Hurwicz co-wrote Turn the World Upside Down, an interactive musical show based on Hudson River Sloop Clearwater's Classroom of the Waves, teaching kids about recycling and keeping the water clean. They performed the show at the New York Aquarium with Emmy winner Bill Nye The Science Guy, on Manhattan and Brooklyn cable television, and in the New York City public schools through the Brooklyn Arts Council. They re-wrote the show for a special performance on Orcas Island in Washington State to address the unique ecology of the San Juan Islands , and recently completed a new show entitled The Great Climate Caper, a musical about global climate change. This show was premiered by middle school students in Washington State in May 2002. In 2001, Sharon and Michael gave a benefit concert for Friends of the San Juans at The Living Room in Eastsound , WA .

Sharon has been featured on Joel Landy 's nationally award-winning Songs of Freedom cable television show in New York City and the Earth Matters cable television show in Connecticut . She appeared with folksinger Charlie King on Good DAY Dallas on the Fox television network. Her original songs have been played on, among others: WFUV (Woody's Children), WBAI, WUSB, WJFF in New York, WFDU in New Jersey, WMBR in Massachusetts, WRUW in Ohio, WGLT in Illinois, KUNI (Live from Studio One) in Iowa, and KMUD (Women on Wednesday) in California.

In June 2001, Sharon was invited to apply for a grant from The Celebration Foundation of Portland, Oregon, which she received in January 2002 to fund her work as a singer and environmental educator. In July 2002, she became executive director of Irthlingz, a tax-exempt nonprofit that uses the arts to inspire and educate people to become stewards for the Earth.