For Immediate Release: September 27, 2010
Contact: Orli Cotel 415 977 5627
Sierra Club Announces 2010 National Awards
SAN FRANCISCO – The Obama administration’s new EPA administrator, a congressman who has a long record of advocating for environmental protection and a photographer who helped raise awareness of overconsumption are among those receiving national awards from the Sierra Club this year.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is receiving the club’s Edgar Wayburn Award, which honors outstanding service to the environment by a person in government.
“In her first year, Administrator Jackson has established herself as the most consequential and effective EPA Administrator since William Ruckelshaus launched the agency,” said Sierra Club President Robin Mann.
“She has reversed in a little over a year the overwhelming majority of the anti-public health and environmental regulations left in place by eight years of Bush appointees. New health standards have been established for conventional air pollutants; the agency had moved aggressively to begin carrying out the Supreme Court decision that the Clean Air Act requires regulations of greenhouse gasses; important progress has been made in establishing stringent restrictions on pollution from mountaintop removal mining; and the federal program to regulate commercial chemicals, which had been long ignored and languishing, is beginning to move forward again.”
Norman Dicks, a congressman from Bremerton, Wash., is receiving the Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes individuals in public service for strong and consistent commitment to conservation. Dicks has represented Washington’s 6th Congressional District since 1976 and has used his position on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to pass several key pieces of environmental legislation, including a landmark bill that created a new federal lands conservation trust.
Chris Jordan of Seattle, Wash., is receiving the Ansel Adams Award, which honors excellence in conservation photography. His latest book, Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait, brings to life through photography some of the startling statistics related to American consumerism − statistics such as the fact that 1 million trees are cut down every year and 2 million plastic bottles are used every five minutes.
Jeff Biggers, author of the 2010 book Reckoning at Eagle Creek, is receiving the David R. Brower Award, which recognizes outstanding environmental reporting or editorial comment that contributes to a better understanding of environmental issues. Biggers writes extensively on issues related to coal mining and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, Grist and Salon.com.
The Club’s top award, the John Muir Award, is going to Dick Fiddler of Shoreline, Wash., who has provided outstanding conservation leadership for the Sierra Club at the chapter, regional and national levels for more than 40 years.
The Club’s highest honor for administrative work, the William E. Colby Award, will go to Doris Cellarius of Prescott, Ariz., who also has been an active Club leader for more than 40 years at the group, chapter, national and international levels.
Others receiving 2010 Sierra Club awards include the following:
EarthCare Award (Honors an individual, organization, or agency that has made a unique contribution to international environmental protection and conservation): Anna Rose of Sydney, Australia. Rose founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, which has been a major partner with the Sierra Student Coalition in its efforts to build an international youth climate movement.
Environmental Alliance Award (recognizes individuals or groups that have forged partnerships with other non-Sierra Club entities): Jose Menendez of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Menendez partnered with other organizations to create an ecotourism micro enterprise that has helped nearly 200 fishermen support their families.
Ida and Denny Wilcher Award (recognizes outstanding achievement in membership development and/or fundraising): The Sierra Club Puerto Rico Chapter, which has recruited 1,300 new members since it was established in 2005.
Joseph Barbosa Earth Fund Award (recognizes a club member under the age of 30): Members of the Washington University Climate Justice Alliance. This group has worked to educate their fellow students and the general public about the hidden costs of “clean coal.” The award includes a $500 prize that they will use to defray the costs of a four-day symposium titled “Global Energy Future” that is being held at Washington University next month.
Madelyn Pyeatt Award (recognizes work with youth): Matt Nelson of Tucson, Ariz., and Chris Bachman of Spokane Valley, Wash. Both have worked with the Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings program in their communities. Their local ICO groups will each receive $250 to continue their outreach.
Oliver Kehrlein Award (for outstanding service to the club’s outings program): Susan Estes of Richmond, Calif. Estes is a national outings leader for the Sierra Club.
One Club Award (honors club members who have used outings as a way to protect or improve public lands, instill an interest in conservation, increase membership in the Sierra Club, or increase awareness of the Sierra Club: Norma McCallan of Santa Fe, N.M. McCallan has sponsored outings and hikes to introduce policymakers and activists to several areas in New Mexico that are worth protecting.
Raymond J. Sherwin International Award (honors extraordinary volunteer service toward international conservation): Larry Williams of Washington, D.C. Williams has served as chair of the Club’s International Committee and has particular expertise on international banks and the environment.
Special Achievement Awards (for a single act of importance dedicated to conservation or the Sierra Club): Lisa Cox of Beaufort, N.C., and Lynn Ryan of Arcata, Calif. Cox served as chair of the club’s Chapter Fundraising Task Force and Ryan helped secure passage of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act, which became law in 2006.
Special Service Awards (for strong and consistent commitment to conservation over an extended period of time): David Dow of East Falmouth, Mass.; Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera of San Juan, Puerto Rico; Barry Kohl of New Orleans, La.; Martin Mador of Hamden, Conn.; and James Rickard of Afton, Minn. Dow has been involved with issues ranging from the cleanup of the Massachusetts Military Superfund Site to offshore renewable energy and ocean and fisheries management. Herrera is working to save a strip of coastal land in Puerto Rico known as the Northeast Ecological Corridor. Kohl has worked to reduce levels of mercury in Louisiana and has been an important science advisor to the Sierra Club and others on the consequences of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Mador has worked with other environmental organizations to further the Connecticut Chapter’s legislative agenda. Rickard has been a spokesperson for protection of the St. Croix River, which serves as a natural boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Susan E. Miller Award (honors administrative contributions to Sierra Club groups, chapters and regional entities): The Angeles Chapter GIS Committee and Betsy Grass of Miami, Fla. The GIS Committee has provided computer-based mapping to support Angeles Chapter conservation and political efforts. Grass has been active in the Miami Group and the Florida Chapter for 35 years.
Most awards were presented Sept. 25 during the Sierra Club’s Annual Dinner in San Francisco.
For more information on the Sierra Club awards program, visit www. sierraclub.org/awards.
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