Women are amazing, powerful change agents who too often don’t toot their own horns…although Sheryl Sandberg and Lean In seem to be raising interest in changing this….! On May 29th, at the invitation of one of our amazing Climate Mama friends, children’s author Jeanine B. Getz, I attended the National Audubon Society’s, 10th Anniversary Women in Conservation Luncheon and the 2013 Rachel Carson Awards. It was SO inspiring to see SO many women who are making such a tremendous difference in changing our world for the better; and in particular to see them GET their just reward and recognition!
According to the Audubon Society: “The Rachel Carson Award honors American women whose work has greatly advanced conservation locally and globally. The Award was established in honor of Rachel Carson – a monumental figure in the 20th century and an undisputed founder of the modern environmental movement alerting the public to the life-destroying dangers of indiscriminate pesticide use and fallout from nuclear testing, Rachel Carson’s international best-selling book, Silent Spring, forever changed the world and behavior of the chemical, agribusiness and nuclear industries. Ultimately, her work resulted in the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and later the ban of DDT. ”
Recipients of the Award over the past 10 years include: Kay Kelly Arnold, Entergy Corporation; Kathleen Bader, NatureWorks; Frances Beinecke; NRDCThe Reverand Canon Sally Grover Bingham, Interfaith Power and Light; Majora Carter, Sustainable South Bronx; Bernadette Castro, New York State Parks; Jayni Chase, Green School Advocate; Lynn Chase, Wildlife Artist; Jean Clark, Norma Dana, Marguerite Purnell and Phylis Wagner – Central Park Conservancy Women’s Committee; Laurie David, Author and Producer; Sylvia A. Earl, Deep Search Foundation; Marian S. Heiskell, Conservationist; Deirdre Imus, Deirdre Imus Environmental Center; Mae Jemison, BioSentient Corp; Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior; Fernanda M. Kellogg, The Tiffany & Company Foundation; Teresa Heinz Kerry, Philanthropist, Suzanne Lewis, Yellowstone National Park, Maya LIn, Artist; L. Hunter Lovins, National Capitalism Solutions; Bette Midler, New York Restoration Project; Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam, Student Conservation Association; Maria Rodale, Rodale Inc; Isabella Rosselini, Environmental Activist; Margie Ruddick, Landscape Designer; Janette Sadik-Khan; New York City Department of Transportation, Peggy Shepard, West Harlem Environmental Action: Beth Sevens, The Walt Disney Company; Alice Waters, Chef; Sigourney Weaver, Actress, Margaret Wittenberg, Whole Foods Market; Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Central Park Conservancy. MANY OF THESE WOMEN ARE PICTURED ABOVE (how many can you recognize?)
Please visit the Women in Conservation Website to learn more about the tremendous accomplishments of each of these amazing honorees, and share what you learn with both your sons and your daughters.. We love what the Audubon’s Women in Conservation Program is doing and strongly believe in it’s goals and ideals. We hope that through our work at ClimateMama we can also help to promote and foster the principal components of this program which include: creating a “space” for girls and women to discover the world of conservation and connect with the best and brightest women leaders in the environmental movement. The program promotes education on important environmental issues, like climate change, clean air and water, wildlife preservation, and environmental justice.
As Allison Whipple Rockefeller the Founding Chair of the Rachel Carson Awards Council said so well:
“Women have always understood nurture and nature, connection and protection, commitment and care.”
Humbly Yours,
Climate Mama
