I was honored in April to receive a Wirth Award from the Wirth Chair for Sustainable Development at the University of Colorado at Denver’s School of Public Affairs.

Founded 11 years ago by former Senator and current United Nations Foundation President Tim Wirth, the Wirth Award honors programs and people who have made a significant contribution to the state of the environment in Colorado and beyond. This year’s program focused on Pioneers in the New Energy Economy, and included awards to Auden Schendler, Environment Director for the Aspen Skiing Company, Dr. Anu Ramaswami, Director of the IGERT sustainable urban infrastructure program at UCD, John Powers, founder of the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado and Kim Jordan, CEO and Owner of Ft. Collins-based New Belgium Brewing Company. Former Senators Tim Wirth and Gary Hart (the current Wirth Chair Fellow) spoke at the luncheon awards ceremony attended by over 400 people, and Mayor John Hickenlooper presented the awards with UCD School of Public Affairs Dean Kathleen Beatty . Awardees Schendler, Powers, Conover and Ramaswami are pictured above.

The Wirth Chair has notably been involved over the past 18 months in the development of a Presidential Climate Action Plan (PCAP), which has produced strategic recommendations for the first 90 days of the new presidential administration, with the help of a nationally reknowned advisory board, including Interface Carpet Chairman Ray Anderson, Natural Capitalism Co-Author L. Hunter Lovins, Yale School of the Environment Dean and former UNEP and WRI Director Gus Speth and Author/ Oberlin College Environmental Studies Director Dr. David Orr. I participated in the drafting of the PCAP at one of several meetings held at the Wingspread Center in Racine, Wisconsin in 2007