2012 Environmental Award Winners

Teacher: Ellen McGrath

Student: Brian Kunkemoeller

Citizen: Regina Faulkner

Business: Cincinnati Metro

Government: Dept. of Environmental Quality

2011 Environmental Award Winners

Teacher: Megan Guldne

Student: Alan Hagerty

Citizen: Rhiannon Hoeweler

Business: Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden

Government: Hamilton County Recycling and Solid Waste District

2010 Environmental Award Winners

Teacher: George Bens

Student: Samantha Berten

Citizen: Lisa Frye

Business: Park + Vine

Government: ORSANCO

2009 Environmental Award Winners

Student: Chandler Stevens
Chandler is a senior at Madeira High School. He is involved in many activities around school. One of the activities he is involved in has made a large impact on the school. Chandler is one of the initating forces that runs the school's recycling program. This year the National Honor Society let go of the recycling program. Chandler continued it. He met with the school principal and was able to secure funding for a recycling can he could use to take recycling materials to the large recycling bin outside. The school guidance counselor wrote "I have watched Chandler use his lunch hour and time after school to empty the school's recycling materials while other have rushed off to be with friends. Chandler isn't influenced by what others do, he just takes care of what he feels is important. This is just one example of Chandler's environmental leadership.

Citizen: Marycarol Knapp
Marycarol Knapp is being recognized for her significant contributions to the Greater Cincinnati Earth Coalition and US EPA's Earth Day celebrations at Sawyer Point. For many years, Marycarol has worked tirelessly with students from tri-state area schools to put on a puppet show during the Earth Day event. She wrote the original script, created the stage setting and worked with the students to not only learn about recycling but also create their own puppets from recycled materials. The students then conduct the puppet shows throughout the day so children of all ages can learn the importance of recycling. The annual costume contest for third and fourth graders from area schools is also the creation of Marycarol. She developed the criteria for the students to study recycling, collected recycled material and designed a costume that is modeled on stage during the Earth Day event. The students also give a poster presentation of the costume while the judges are evaluating their project. The students love to be involved with this competitive way of learning about recycling.

Business: Sanitation District #1 of Northern Kentucky
Sanitation District # 1 of Northern Kentucky is responsible for the collection and treatment of Noarthern Kentucky's wastewater, as well as regional storm water management. The district serves 33 communities in the Northern Kentucky area of the tri-state region. SD1's Public Service Park is dedicated to those who enhance Northern Kentucky's quality of life through public service. The park is an aggressive approach to empower and educate the public and development community on the vital importance of protecting our waterways for future generations to come. More than 3000 students a year visit the Public Service Park (an environmental learning center) which allows students to follow a drop of water through the park. SD1's state of the art headquarters in Ft. Wright is designed to specifically address some of the key issues required for post-construction run-off control. The facility incorporates numerous BMPs including a vegetated roof, riparian zone restoration/preservations, storage practices such as wet and dry detention basins and a cistern, porous pavements, oil/water separators and vegetated infiltrations ditches. SD1 generates performance data on these controls that have proven to be extremely valuable in promoting the use of such cutting-edge practices throughout the community, By providing the opportunity to see real-world applications of innovative storm water control techniques, SD1 serves as a model to stimulate more widespread use of Best Management Practices and has caused new and improved techniques to be developed throughout the region. SD1 has also initiated a rain barrow program which is part of their commitment to a "living green environment."

Teacher: Bonnie Fancher, Switzerland County High School, Vevay, IN
Bonnie Fancher and her AP Environmental Biology students have worked to improve and evaluate water quality in the Indian Creek Watershed with a Section 319 Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Under Bonnie's leadership and with the support of a local environmental lab, their group has monitored 12 sites on Indian Creek and its tributaries using both chemical testing and comprehensive macro-invertebrate studies. Taking their commitment even further, they have held several public meetings and reported their data to IDEM to receive impaired status for E. coli bacteria on Indian Creek. They have also started a watershed management plan to improve recreational and agricultural uses and wildlife habitat for the watershed. For the past ten years, her students have also collected Ohio River water quality data for RiverWatchers, a volunteer monitoring group for the Ohio River and its tributaries. In addition, Bonnie has organized roadside litter cleanups to positively impact the watershed, started a school recycling program, and won first place in the nation for their school's FFA green projects for 2008.

Government: Mayor Mark Mallory
In mid 2006 Mayor Mallory signed the mayors Climate Protection Agreement, the local equivalent to the Kyoto Protocol , in which he agreed to reduce the City of Cincinnati's carbon footprint to below 1990 levels. To support his commitment, in 2007 he established the Office of Environmental Quality (OEQ), hired a professional director and by November established an executive level steering committee and civic task teams to create a plan for reducing greenhouse gas emission. The Green Cincinnati Plan was completed in April 2008, and with the Mayor's urging, council passed it for implementation in July of last year. The Plan made 80 recommendations for improving sustainability for the city encompassing energy, transportation, advocacy, waste, land use and food. He then supported funding to staff the plan's implementation. The plan is currently in the implementation phase with 60 active initiatives. Additionally, to demonstrate leadership for the community, he set a 10% within-four-year energy reduction goal for the City administration for non-utility operations. An Energy Management Team was established to oversee its achievement. Energy performance contractors are being evaluated.

The Mayor's Neighborhood Recycling Challenge is also part of the Green Cincinnati initiative. The challenge was designed to encourage neighborhoods to sign up as many new recyclers as possible The Mayors young Kitchen Cabinet worked with community councils to develop strategies to promote the challenge to residents. They recruited mover than 4,700 new recyclers

2008 Environmental Award Winners

Government: Clermont County Office of Environmental Quality
The Clermont County Office of Environmental Quality, under the direction of Paul Braasch, is improving the efficiency of recycling within the community.  There are currently 35 recycling centers throughout Clermont County that accept all types of mixed paper, glass, and aluminum cans.  OEQ’s efforts help to save taxpayer money and ensure recyclable materials don’t end up in landfills.

Business:  Emersion Design
Emersion Design is an architectural and engineering firm that appreciates the link between the built and natural environment.  The firm operates from a LEED certified building and employs two LEED accredited architects, both board members of the local U.S. Green Building Council.  Their work in sustainable design includes the University of Cincinnati Student Recreation Center, the largest LEED certified facility in Ohio.  Emersion Design also makes a difference in the workplace; employees help remedy landfill overflow with a vermicompost, where worms eat their coffee grounds and other leftovers.

Student:  Liz Trotta, Archbishop McNicholas High School
Liz Trotta, a senior at Archbishop McNicholas High School, applied for and received a $500 grant from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful to aid the school’s recycling program.  Since October 2005, the student-run program has recycled almost 30 tons of paper.  This effort has saved over 500 trees from being cut down, over 7,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, and 11,248 gallons of oil – a total savings of $26,000 in crude oil.

Teacher: Dr. Virginia Rhodes, principal, Aiken University High School
Halfway through its first year with a specialized environmental science course, Aiken University High School is establishing a standard for “green” education. The environmental courses link students to similar courses at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and job possibilities at government agencies and environmental businesses. As the principal and mastermind behind the revamped science effort, Dr. Virginia Rhodes is building a new generation of workers with credentials in math and science. Some students are even learning about career options they never knew existed.  Eventually, the goal is to have lessons on sustainable design, environmental preservation, and resource management included in the curriculum.

Citizen: Brianne Fahey
Brianne is the founder and lead contributor of the “Live Green Cincinnati” website. The website provides an important service to the community with links to articles, local events, green resources, and ideas for “living green.” By inspiring, informing, and inciting change and action, Brianne is building momentum for the green movement in the city of Cincinnati.