Tom Earnhardt

Tom Earnhardt is a graduate of Davidson College (where he was Student Body President) and UNC School of Law. Tom was one of the first attorneys to work for the state of North Carolina in the “new” area of Environmental Law in 1971. In Governor James Holshouser’s administration he worked with Secretary William Bondurant to protect the New River and to purchase much of the land that is now part of Cape Lookout National Seashore. Tom also spent over 20 years in the classroom, and retired as a full professor. At North Carolina Central University School of Law he taught Property, Business Associations, and Environmental Law.

In Earnhardt’s “other life” he has been, and continues to be, an avid naturalist and advocate for the natural and cultural resources of North Carolina. Tom has been a keynote speaker for many environmental, history, regulatory, civic, university, legal, and science organizations over the years. Earnhardt has received numerous awards for his work with cultural, historical and natural resources, including the Governor’s Award as “North Carolina Conservationist of the Year” in 1994. In 2004 he received Audubon’s “Honorary Warden Award” for protection and preservation of bird habitats. For Earnhardt’s work with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and for championing natural resources, he received the “Order of the Longleaf Pine” in 2011.

Over the past 17 years Tom has criss-crossed North Carolina researching, writing and co-producing almost 100 episodes of the natural science television series, Exploring North Carolina. Earnhardt also completed a book of essays on the natural history of North Carolina for the University of North Carolina Press titled, Crossroads of the Natural World.

Tom currently lives in Raleigh with his wife Dana Jennings. Their son, Izaak, is an attorney and a graduate of Duke University School Law School, and their daughter, Rachel, is a graduate student at the Nicholas School of the Environment, also at Duke.