The Envelope, Please: Recognizing the Unsung Heroes of Sustainability

What would happen if the same six people won the Oscars every year?

Three things: 1) The Oscars would get so boring that no one would pay attention; 2) the awards would lose credibility; and 3) a lot of very talented people would go unrecognized.

That what’s happening in regard to our national and international heroes of sustainability – the many people who day in and day out demonstrate uncommon persistence in the face of virtual anonymity.

I received a call the other day from someone who wanted me to attend a conference. Her selling point was that her organization was giving an award to one of sustainability’s superstars – someone who already has received considerable honors and attention for his good work.

On one hand, I’m delighted that work on sustainability is rewarded. On the other hand, I suspect that some awards are based not on merit alone, but on the star power of the awardee – his or her ability to attract people to a conference or a fund-raising banquet. The result is that the same sustainability superstars tend to be recognized over and over again, while many lesser luminaries are not.

I’d like to offer this suggestion to the many organizations that organize gala dinners and national conferences on sustainable development, and who wish to recognize somebody in the movement: How about honoring the unsung heroes? The list of nominees is very, very long.

One model is MacArthur Fellows Program, more commonly known as the MacArthur genius awards. Each year, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation gives $500,000 with no strings attached to people – most of them little known outside their fields – who “inspire new heights in human achievement”, “exemplify the boundless nature of the human mind and spirit” and have shown great potential to continue making worthy contributions in the future.

Twenty-five such people were notified by phone last fall that they’d been selected, including a neurobiologist, a saxophonist, a critical care physician, an urban farmer, an optical physicist, a sculptor, a geriatrician, a historian of medicine, and an inventor of musical instruments.

On the other end of the spectrum is The Stranger’s Genius Awards, in which The Stranger, a magazine based in Seattle, recognizes deserving artists. As the magazine explains:

Every fall since 2003, The Stranger has given a check for $5,000 and an obscene amount of attention to a filmmaker, a writer, a visual artist, a theater artist, and an arts organization making startling, original work. There is no application process.

Winners are notified when, at some time and location they least expect, they are presented with a cake decorated with the words, “You’re a Genius”. Sweet.

How about similar recognition for the unheralded heroes of sustainability – if not a genius award, then a “Pretty Damn Brilliant” prize of some kind. Perhaps sustainability conferences in the future can distinguish themselves not by recognizing the usual heroes but the unusual ones. Here are some nominees who in my book should be honored for uncommon dedication to the environment and to all of us, present and future, who live in it:

Betsy Taylor, founder and director of the board of the 1Sky organization and founder of the Center for a New American Dream. Betsy helped organize 1Sky around the idealistic but necessary notion that the many groups working on climate change could rally around a common set of goals and learn to speak with one voice.