Before working full-time on environmental and political issues, David worked in the entertainment industry. She began her career in New York City as a talent coordinator for Late Night with David Letterman. Four years later, she left to start her own management company, representing comedians and comedy writers.
David also produced several comedy specials for HBO, Showtime, MTV, and Fox Television. Upon moving to Los Angeles, she became vice president of comedy development for a division of Fox Broadcasting and developed sitcoms for 20th Century Fox Television. After leaving to raise her two daughters, she executive produced An Inconvenient Truth, which won an Academy Award.
David wrote two popular cookbooks on healthy eating and the importance of family dinner, The Family Dinner, and The Family Cooks. She co-wrote The Down To Earth Guide To Global Warming. Most recently she co-wrote Imagine It! A Handbook for a Happier Planet published by RandomHouse Rodale.
Activism
Climate change
Laurie David has worked publicly on projects aimed at stopping climate change. She founded the Stop Global Warming Virtual March[7] with Senator John McCain and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. David has produced other projects to bring the issue of climate change into the mainstream popular culture, including the release of her first book, Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You!, and the comedy special, Earth to America! for TBS, which aired on November 20, 2005.
In an interview with The Guardian in November 2006, David admitted that owning two homes on opposite sides of the country and flying in a private jet several times per year is at odds with her message to others. In the interview, she notes "Yes, I take a private plane on holiday a couple of times a year, and I feel horribly guilty about it. I probably shouldn't do it. But the truth is, I'm not perfect. This is not about perfection. I don't expect anybody else to be perfect either. That's what hurts the environmental movement – holding people to a standard they cannot meet. That just pushes people away."[8]
Campaigns
As a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council and a founding member of The Detroit Project, David has spearheaded numerous public education and action campaigns urging Congress and auto-makers to raise fuel efficiency standards and make higher mileage cars. In January 2004, the NRDC opened the David Family Environmental Action Center.
In 2003, she was honored by the Riverkeeper organization.[citation needed] She also received the Los Angeles-based Children's Nature Institute's Leaf Award in 2003 for her commitment to the environmental education of young children.[9]
In October 2006, David was featured in Glamour as one of its "Women of the Year".[10] She received the Gracie Allen Award for Individual Achievement by the American Women in Radio & Television and the NRDC's 2006 Forces for Nature award for her work against global warming.[citation needed]
David's book The Family Dinner was published in 2010, with recipes by Kirstin Uhrenholdt, a foreword by Harvey Karp and an afterword by Jonathan Safran Foer. The book advocates a return to the domestic tradition of an evening meal (sometimes called supper) shared around the family table.
Her second cookbook The Family Cooks was published a few years later. She co-wrote a book on climate for kids called The Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming. In 2021, she co-wrote Imagine It! A Handbook for a Happier Planet published by Random House/Rodale.
