Wirth Chair honors catalysts for sustainability
Graduate School of Public Affairs
The Wirth Chair at the Graduate School of Public Affairs has announced the winners of the ninth annual Wirth Chair Awards. The awards program honors excellence in media coverage of sustainability issues, community projects and people who advance sustainable development, and businesses who incorporate sustainable strategies in their daily operations.
The Advisory Board of the Wirth Chair has voted the Denver Post as the print media award winner for its series “Liquid Assets: Turning Gold into Water,” by David Olinger and Chuck Plunkett. The electronic media award went to Good Dirt Radio, Durango, a grassroots audio program reporting stories about people helping to solve environmental challenges. A special award was given to Harumi Kato of Yamagata Broadcasting Company’s Denver office for a video made for broadcast in Japan, Little Steps in Colorado for Sustainable Living.
Community winners include a team lead by Rick Gilliam, whose efforts helped assure the passage of Amendment 37, which required that 10 percent of Colorado’s electricity be derived from renewable resources by 2015. Members of the team are Morey Wolfson, Ron Larson, Ron Lehr, Matt Baker, Ken Regelson, Robin Hubbard and Stephanie Bonin. Denver’s Sustainable Development Initiative, “Greenprint Denver,” created to advance and support the integration of environmental impact considerations into the city’s programs and policies, will receive a certificate of achievement.
FrontRange Earth Force, a Denver-based program that encourages students to solve problems in their schools, community and environment will receive a special recognition award.
In the business category, Whole Foods, the first U.S. company to convert all its energy needs to green sources in its stores, facilities, bake houses, distribution centers and national headquarters, took the prize. Whole Foods chose Boulder-based Renewable Choice Energy as its exclusive supplier of renewable energy credits.
Ralph Curtis, water and soil conservationist in Alamosa, will receive the Chair’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and David Schaller, sustainable development coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region VIII, will receive the Chair’s Distinguished Service Award.
The awards will be presented at the ninth annual awards luncheon, noon-2 p.m. April 12, 2006, at the downtown Denver Marriott. Program participants will include University of Colorado President Hank Brown, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, United Nations Foundation President, the former U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth, and the former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, the newly appointed scholar-in-residence at the Wirth Chair. Tickets are $30 per person. For more information or to RSVP, call 303-352-3764.