[OKC] FW: Heinz Foundation Announces $1 Million Heinz Awards

Tue Sep 15 06:04:05 PDT 2009

FYI .

Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 7:26 AM
Subject: Heinz Foundation Announces $1 Million Heinz Awards

Teresa Heinz and the Heinz Family Foundation

Announce $1 Million Heinz Awards

15th annual awards focus on environmental achievements by 10 Americans

PITTSBURGH, September 15, 2009 - Celebrating the noble American ideal that
individuals

have the power and responsibility to change the world for the better, Teresa
Heinz and the Heinz

Family Foundation today announced the recipients of the 15th annual Heinz
Awards, which this

year, focuses singularly on the environment.

Created to honor U.S. Senator John Heinz, the 2009 Heinz Awards commemorate
the late

senator's long-standing commitment to the environment by bestowing $100,000
awards to 10

individuals whose achievements have helped bring about a cleaner, greener
and more sustainable

planet.

"At this unique time in history, when the environment is more important than
ever to our lives,

our economy, our national security and our future, it is only fitting that
we focus exclusively on

this critical topic," said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family
Foundation. "These awards

honor those guardians of our future who value our natural resources, work to
remove toxic

chemicals from our air and water, and create policies and the new technology
that will ensure a

sustainable planet for generations to come. In highlighting the work of some
of our country's

most thoughtful, innovative and creative individuals, we are pleased to
shine a deserving

spotlight on their extraordinary achievements."

Until this year, the Heinz Awards recognized individual achievements in five
distinct categories

- Arts and Humanities, Environment, Human Condition, Public Policy, and
Technology, the

Economy and Employment. While this year's awards focus on the environment,
the nominees

were evaluated through the prism of the traditional five Heinz Awards
categories.

This year's recipients are:

Robert Berkebile, 72, BNIM Architects (Kansas City, Mo.)

For his green building advocacy and promotion of sustainable design and
planning.

As the founder of the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) National
Committee on the

Environment, Robert Berkebile has been one of the central forces behind a
new focus on

sustainable building that has influenced thousands of architects and changed
the face of green

architecture in America. He has devoted himself to improving the world
through his profession,

Heinz Awards, embracing the cause of sustainability and responsible
environmental design practices, helping to found both the U.S. Green
Building Council and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental

Design (LEED) rating system. His sustainable design and planning projects
extend from new

developments to several restorative sites along the Mississippi River
including New Orleans.

P. Dee Boersma, Ph.D., 62, University of Washington (Seattle, Wash.)

For developing greater understanding of the impact of humans on marine
ecosystems.

Dee Boersma is honored for her extensive field studies on penguins and other
sea birds which

she has used to promote understanding of the human impact on marine
ecosystems and for

advocating conservation through education, research and policy. She
considers penguins marine

sentinels, at great risk, sounding the alarm on environmental threats to
ocean ecosystems. Her

research in Argentina has shown that in the last decade, climate-induced
change has forced the

penguins to swim about 25 miles farther during incubation in search of food.
Working with the

Wildlife Conservation Society, she provided the data that resulted in the
government moving

tanker lanes farther from shore to protect the penguins from petroleum
pollution. She founded

and is now the executive editor of Conservation magazine, an award-winning
publication

dedicated to conservation science.

Christopher B. Field, Ph.D., 56, Carnegie Institution for Science and
Stanford University

(Stanford, Calif.)

For his leadership and innovation in carbon cycle and climate science.

Chris Field receives a Heinz Award for his contributions towards
understanding the impacts of

climate change on Earth's ecosystems as well as for his national and
international leadership in

bringing science to the policy process. He has played a critical role in the
emergence of global

ecology as a unique discipline, applying it to diverse questions concerning
the scientific

foundations for a sustainable future. Dr. Field plays a major role in the
Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change (IPCC), where he currently co-leads the international
effort on assessing

climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.

Ashok Gadgil, Ph.D., 58, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the
University of

California, Berkeley (Berkeley, Calif.)

For his work as an inventor and humanitarian.

Ashok Gadgil is recognized for his work as a researcher, inventor and
humanitarian. He is a

professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Berkeley and leads a
group at Lawrence

Berkeley National Laboratory that works to understand airflow and pollutant
transport in

buildings. The work helps to reduce health risks, improve energy efficiency
and enhance the

quality of life in developing countries. Dr. Gadgil is known for creating
simple inventions to

solve fundamental problems in developing countries, such as an inexpensive
and reliable water

purification system and an improved cook stove for Darfur.

Heinz Awards,

Chip Giller, 38, Grist magazine (Seattle, Wash.)

For creating an innovative media platform for delivering environmental
information to new

audiences.

Chip Giller is being honored for founding Grist, an online media platform
devoted to

environmental news and views. Mr. Giller launched grist.org in 1999 to
counter the notion of

environmentalists as dour doomsayers and to spread a new, positive form of
green journalism

with a humorous twist. In doing so, Mr. Giller established a new model for
delivering

independent environmental content free of charge via the web, and other
new-media channels,

reporting on everything from climate change to green celebrity news, and
showing how the

environment intersects with critical issues like poverty, health care and
economic growth.

Deborah Rice, Ph.D., 61, Maine Deptartment of Health and Human Services,

Environmental and Occupational Health (Augusta, Maine)

For research yielding new understanding about exposure to toxicants during
human

development.

Deborah Rice is chosen as a Heinz Award laureate for her research into
neurotoxicology, the

study of the interactions of chemicals within the brain and nervous system.
Her seminal work

has created enhanced understanding of the potential impact of toxicants on
human development,

demonstrating that early exposure to major environmental pollutants - lead,
methylmercury and

PCBs - can plant the seeds for later deficits in cognitive, sensory and
motor function. Dr. Rice's

work has also led to national and state policies that regulate exposure to
developmental

toxicants.

Joel Salatin, 52, Polyface Farm (Swoope, Va.)

For creating alternative, environmentally friendly farming techniques.

Joel Salatin, farmer, author and lecturer, is honored for creating
alternative, environmentally

friendly farming techniques, spawning a movement towards local, sustainable
agriculture that

has been replicated by family farms around the country. Mr. Salatin has
developed a new

paradigm for sustainable agriculture by successfully challenging the
commercial production of

chickens and beef by food industry giants of the 1970s. His pioneering
agricultural practices

inextricably and beautifully interweave a food system with the land and have
been embraced by

farmers throughout the country.

Kirk R. Smith, Ph.D., 62, University of California, Berkeley, (Berkeley,
Calif.)

For exposing the relationships among household air pollution, fuel use,
climate and health.

Kirk Smith's research documents the dangerous relationships among household
fuels, public

health and climate. Dr. Smith was the first to recognize and quantify the
magnitude of the

pollution exposure received by the poorest women and children in developing
countries as a

result of cooking indoors with solid (wood, coal or other biomass) fuels. He
has pioneered ways

to measure and compare the effects, showing both the tremendous costs of
ignoring the problems

of indoor air pollution and pointing the way to inexpensive solutions for
protecting health and

Heinz Awards,climate. Throughout his career, Dr. Smith has advised major
international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, and is
routinely cited by other scientists who use his work as a

standard.

Thomas Smith, 59, Public Citizen - Texas (Austin, Texas)

For his advocacy of wind and solar energy efficiency.

Thomas "Smitty" Smith is honored for his work as one of the most effective
renewable energy

advocates in Texas. He has been an essential player in the key pieces of
legislation that have

addressed both energy efficiency and the development of renewable sources of
energy. His work

in crafting and passing the Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is now
being adopted in

other parts of the country and has made Texas a leader in wind energy
creation, putting it on the

path to lead in solar energy as well. Since 1985, Mr. Smith has served as
director of the Texas

state office of Public Citizen, a consumer and environmental group active in
areas concerning

energy, environment and other socio-economic issues.

Beverly H. Wright, Ph.D., 61, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
(New Orleans,

La.)

For her work as an environmental justice advocate.

A leading scholar on and advocate for environmental justice, Beverly Wright
is honored for her

work on behalf of communities, especially those in Louisiana's "Cancer
Alley." As head of the

Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University in New
Orleans, she has been

tackling issues of environmental racism and is working to raise the profile
of environmental

issues in poor and minority communities nationwide. For more than two
decades, she has

directed numerous grassroots, community-initiated programs and provided
opportunities for

communities, scientific researchers and decision makers to collaborate on
programs and projects

that promote the rights of everyone to be free from environmental harm.

* * *

Mrs. Heinz said today: "The notion that our environment is indeed threatened
and needs

collective action to fix has, thankfully, for the most part been won. People
are now seeing the

true link between them and their surroundings, bypassing and dissolving
traditional categories

and labels. It is a real step, but still only the first one. The sense of
urgency so many of us share

to heal what's broken and to right what's been wrong will not diminish in
the years to come. It

is growing stronger every day in large part due to the amazing people we are
honoring this year.

They are builders, farmers, inventors,-a new breed of smart, gritty and
enlightened people who

are connecting the dots for us all and showing us the new path to a better,
more sustainable

environment."

"The Heinz Awards seeks to find those individuals who are quietly and boldly
working to

improve this world. Our recipients this year have already accomplished so
much, but there is

still important work left to do. This year's recipients give me great hope
that a transformation is

underway, that it will continue and that it will grow and ultimately succeed
in preserving our

common home."

About the Heinz Family Foundation

The Heinz Family Foundation, one of the Heinz Family Philanthropies, began
as a charitable

trust established by the late U.S. Senator John Heinz. His widow, Teresa
Heinz, established the

Heinz Awards in 1993 to honor and sustain the legacy of her late husband.
The awards recognize

exceptional leadership and accomplishments in areas of special interest to
Senator Heinz. "The

most important investments - and the most profitable," he once said, "are
investments in

people."

In addition to the Heinz Awards, the foundation directs a grant-making
program that is active in

a wide range of issues, principally those concerning women's health and
environment, health

care costs and coverage, as well as pensions and retirement security.

Nominations for the Heinz Awards are submitted by an invited Council of
Nominators, all

experts in their fields, who serve anonymously. Award recipients are
selected by the board of

directors for the Heinz Awards upon recommendation by a blue-ribbon panel of
jurors.

Past recipients of Heinz Awards include author Dave Eggers, medical
anthropologist Paul

Farmer, "environmental watchdog" Thomas FitzGerald, marine biologist Jane
Lubchenco, Paul

Anastas, a leader in the "green chemistry movement," and physicist John
Holdren, who is now

director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive
Office of the President.

In addition to the $100,000 award for their unrestricted use, recipients are
presented with a

medallion inscribed with the image of Senator Heinz on one side and a
rendering of a globe

passing between two hands on the other. The Heinz Awards will be presented
at a private

ceremony in Washington, D.C. on October 28.

Additional information about Teresa Heinz, the Heinz Family Foundation and
each of the

recipients is available online www.heinzawards.net
<http://www.heinzawards.net/>  or by request to jnewman at hodgespart.com.

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