Laura Dern Says Being a Mother Inspired Her to Warn Teens About the Dangers of E-Cigarettes

Laura Dern is sharing how her role as a mother has inspired her latest partnership with the American Lung Association.

While recently chatting with PEOPLE about the organization and its new Vape-Free Schools Initiative, the 54-year-old actress opened up about why she is speaking out in support of educating teens about the dangers of e-cigarette usage.

As the mother to two teens — son Ellery and daughter Jaya, whom she shares with her ex-husband, Ben Harper — Dern tells PEOPLE exclusively that she knows the dangers that vaping currently poses to her kids’ generation. “We are in a terrifying time as we look at the growth alone that has occurred in the last four years with vaping amongst our youth and in this country,” she says.

“I am raising teenagers and around a lot of teenagers that I know and love, and it is so shocking to witness a group of kids who were the first generation to say … when they saw a parent with a cigarette, when they were five, six years old, ‘What are you doing? You’re going to die,’ ” she continues. “Because the messaging, thanks to an organization like the American Lung Association, and culture itself, this was the generation that knew smoking kills and addiction to nicotine is terrifying. We felt like we were at the end of a tragic crisis.”