2016 Green Source DFW Sustainable Leadership Award Finalists

Note: Following is a brief description of the finalists. There is a link to the full nomination in cases where more detail was provided by the nominator.

Register for the Green Source DFW Sustainable Leadership Awards Nov. 3 at the Dallas Arboretum.

LARGE BUSINESS OR NONPROFIT PROJECT/PROGRAM

Half-Price Books - Founded in 1972 in Dallas, Half Price Books has been a pioneer in recycling. Today, the family-owned company has 120 stores in 17 states, with its headquarters in Dallas. The stores donate overstock inventory to nonprofit agencies and strive to recycle what they can't donate. In 2015, HPB donated 1.6 million books to local nonprofits and organizations around the world.

Reverse Litter Campaign -  The Tarrant Regional Water District and the cities of Dallas, Denton and Fort Worth fund the Reverse Litter program, which exists to keep trash out of North Texas rivers, lakes and streams and our communities. The Reverse Litter campaign began in 2012. Ads featuring the Ten on Tuesday pledge, an agreement to pick up ten pieces of trash every Tuesday, have appeared on television, radio, billboards, buses and social media periodically since the program began. To date, 21,501 people have taken the Ten on Tuesday pledge, a commitment to pick up ten pieces of trash every Tuesday. Read full nomination here.

The Container Store - With assistance from Balcones Resources, the Container Store’s 1.1-million-square-foot corporate headquarters in Coppell has increased its landfill diversion rate through innovative internal programs. With the installation of a state-of-the-art material handling automation system in 2015, The Container Store has been able to increase their recycling rate, lower its carbon footprint and improve efficiencies throughout their warehouse. Other highlights of sustainability program improvements include: new recyclable materials accepted, transportation efficiencies, internal reuse initiatives, consistent training and awareness campaigns, streamlined vendors and energy savings through LED Lighting. Read full nomination here

NONPROFIT PROFESSIONAL

Lewisville Green Centerpiece Master Strategy Team - The Lewisville Green Centerpiece Master Strategy Team is a group of Lewisville leaders who have developed a plan for cultivating and nurturing green space within its borders. The Green Centerpiece includes more than 6,700 acres and encompasses almost 25 percent of the land within the city limits and includes the 1,900-acre Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area. The team is comprised of city of Lewisville executive staff, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, University of North Texas and Lewisville ISD. The Team carefully put together a funding plan that would see LLELA through the short-term and provide stability for the future. Outcomes include integrating LLELA into Lewisville's extensive parks and recreation system and engaging Audubon Texas to develop a Nature Center. Read full nomination here.

Pankaj Jain, UNT - Dr. Pankaj Jain is an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religion and Anthropology at the University of North Texas. His interdisciplinary focus bridging both departments is sustainability studies and projects. In his last six years, Dr. Jain has participated in numerous conferences locally, nationally and internationally to present his research on non-Western ways of sustainability. His book Dharma and Ecology won two prestigious awards. Dr. Jain raised concern against massive destruction of trees in Coppell/Irving area. And this led Coppell to block all further similar destruction and the green belt is saved in Coppell, at least for now. Dr Jain was the organizer for the first rural sustainability workshop in DFW area by community leaders and organizers from more than ten countries. Local DFW leaders also attended this conference which led to two days of great interactions among all.Read full nomination here.

Dan Lepinski, North Texas Renewable Energy Group - Dan Lepinski, a North Richland Hills-based solar engineer with more than 40 years experience, has been a member of the North Texas Renewable Energy Group since 2001 and was instrumental in restarting the group in 2008. Since 2002, Dan has also provided free solar electricity for dozens of nonprofit events via his upscale mobile solar shuttle and its predecessor both designed by Dan. He has also served on the Tarrant County Community College Engineering Technology Curriculum Advisory Committee. This year, he was selected to conduct 20 free solar workshops held throughout Texas, to train lawmakers, elected officials, code enforcers, real estate professionals and financiers about solar. Dan also led a successful grassroots effort last year to overturn a restrictive solar ordinance in North Richland Hills. Read full nomination here.

SMALL NONPROFIT

Texas Honeybee Guild - Texas Honeybee Guild members are among the most high profile supporters of a broad range of local environmental initiatives - everything from a more citizen friendly Farmer's Market to the Dallas Green Alliance. Their support and leadership has been critical to the success of those initiatives as well as providing a model of ecumenical involvement in a wide variety of good causes. They were critical to the financial success of the Dallas Green Alliance PAC. Their own proselytizing on behalf of bee/pollinators culture is legend. Read full nomination here.

The Great Seed Bomb - The Great Seed Bomb is a 15-mile fun ride along the Trinity Trails launched November 2015, benefiting bees, monarch and other pollinators. Founder Jillian Jordan of Keller saw the news about the disappearing natural habitat for bees and monarchs and chose to act and to create this project to do something about it. During the event, bike riders toss seed "bombs," a mix of clay, compost, native, non-GMO milkweed and wildflower seed along the route to increase pollinator habitat and raise awareness about the pollinator crisis. She and participants are "paving a highway" of flowers for our pollinators to keep them from dying in an urban desert devoid of plant-life from human activities. Read full nomination here.

DFW Solar Tour - The North Texas Renewable Energy Group hosts the annual DFW Solar Tour, a free self-guided tour that showcases homes, municipal buildings and busineses that have solar installations and other eco-friendly features. This is the largest and most comprehensive tour of its kind in Texas! Produced by an all-volunteer team, the tour is celebrating its 7th year in 2016. The tour enables people to learn how their neighbors are using solar energy, wind energy, energy efficiency and other sustainable technologies to save money and consume less of our natural resources. Last year, 800-plus visits were tracked at homes, schools, libraries and other buildings ranging from Allen to Weatherford, from Denton to Dallas, all the way out to a rural off-grid home near Azle. In fact, 2015’s DFW Solar Tour drew people from as far away as Houston & El Paso to see what forward-thinking people in North Texas are doing to build a self-sufficient, sustainable future.

SMALL BUSINESS

Texas Worm Ranch - Heather Rinaldi, founder of the Texas Worm Ranch, is helping to lead the way locally in the "beyond organic" farming/urban farming movement by offering classes, participating in local farmers markets and operating its own CSA, where customers can get locally grown, vegetables, greens, herbs, fruits with increased nutrition because of the "beyond organic" soil practices followed by the Texas Worm Ranch. Texas Worm Ranch is leading the way in healthier soil knowledge and practices through its daily operations, classes, ongoing research, etc., and its willingness to share with others and the community. Heather also recently launched a Facebook page to connect local famers, food entrepreneurs and people interested in improving the local food system. Texas Worm Ranch is actively involved in educating the public through workshops, participation in local famers markets, community groups and organizations. Read full nomination here.

Snappy Salads - Snappy Salads was started in 2006 and now includes 10 North Texas locations. Founder Chris Dahlander has made an effort to make his restaurants environmentally friendly by using biodegradable take out containers, utensils and cups; milk paint on the walls; reclaimed wood for the tables and detail work; CFLs whenever possible; hemp uniforms; organic tea; earth-friendly cleaners; paper straws and humanely raised meat products. In addition, as a public service, each location recycles CFLs and batteries at no cost and Snappy Salads holds an electronic waste recycling roundup twice a year. This business is a mirror of Chris' environmental commitment, which has been contagious to everyone around him. Read full nomination here.

Sustainable Concepts - Sustainable Concepts is a consulting firm that provides the knowledge and resources that clients need to meet their sustainable building design goals. Company team members stay informed on the best practices and latest developments in the sustainable building industry to help clients improve building performance. Sustainable Concepts offers LEED Consulting services that help their clients create more sustainable buildings. Team members frequently provide presentations to professional and environmental organizations to raise awareness and encourage the adoption of green building practices. Read full nomination form here.

FOR PROFIT PROFESSIONAL

Amy King - Amy King, LEED Green Associate, is the cofounder of GoodWork, an innovative coworking community expected to open in late 2016 in downtown Dallas. It is the anchor tenant and social engine of 1808, a mixed-use building that is on track to become the world’s first WELL-certified coworking space and one of the first LEED-certified spaces in the USA. She is also getting involved in Conscious Capitalism DFW chapter, served as an advisor to Green Source DFW and speaks regularly to the entrepreneurial and business communities in DFW on sustainability issues. Amy also walks the walk in her personal life by living sustainably in her Energy Star Certified Home, tending to backyard chickens, composting and helping her fiancé Gary Olp with the beehives. Read full nomination here.

Beth Johnson - Beth Johnson, Realtor, LEED AP, EcoBroker Certified, Certified Green Professional, NAR GREEN, directly helps clients buy, build, sell or retrofit green housing, as a private for-profit licensed Realtor specializing in green building and as a consultant offering residential green building research and advice. She helps clients who prefer to do business with someone who shares their green-leaning values, regardless of property features they are transacting. She was the first and is the most prominent Realtor to specialize in green building in DFW and the first Texas Realtor to earn the nationally recognized EcoBroker certification that provides training on energy and environmental issues relating to real estate transactions. Read full nomination here.

Anna Clark - Anna Clark is a longtime contributer to the North Texas as well as the national sustainability movement. The founder of EarthPeople, a Dallas-based sustainability consulting firm, she writes and speaks on sustainability, social innovation and American culture. Since 2007, her voice has appeared in Huffington Post, Greenbiz.com, The Guardian, Guardian Sustainable Business, Al Jazeera English, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News and Katy Trail Weekly. Anna’s first full book Green, American Style was published in 2010. She is currently writing her second book and conducting research for her third one. Read full nomination here.

VOLUNTEER

Kenneth Winn -  For a decade, 72-year-old Kenneth Winn has been picking up litter in his Pleasant Grove neighborhood in southeast Dallas. Most days, he cruises the neighborhood in his Litter Patrol truck, outfitted with two waste cans so that trash can be separated from recyclables. He has put out 42 barrels in the area, so people will have a place to put their litter. Ken is on the advisory committee for Toni Rose State Representative for District 110 and is her ambassador for litter control. He works closely with Councilman Rick Callahan on community clean-up programs. He has been recognized by the City Code Department several times.

Chris and Dick Guldi - Chris and Dick Guldi are dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to improve our environment. Their myriad efforts on many fronts in conjunction with the Dallas Sierra Club, Citizens Change Lobby, Public Citizen, North Texas Renewable Energy Group, Downwinders At Risk and Environmental Defense Fund and individual efforts are exemplary. For example, the Guldis organized a group that traveled to Oklahoma City in February to speak at a Bureau of Land Management hearing about flaring and methane rules. The Guldis lobbied against the Seaway Pipeline, visiting politicians and the EPA to voice concerns about the Pipeline. The Guldis maintain liaison with out-of-state environmental groups to disseminate information and support national environmental efforts. Dick and Chris canvas state and local political leaders in both parties on environmental issues, both locally and in Austin. Read full nomination here.

Gonzalez Green Team - The green team at Gonzalez Elementary in Dallas helps educate kids early so they can become enviromental leaders. Their mission is to empower more schools into helping and participating to make our enviroment a better place for our kids. The green team is very dedicated and works really hard to make its goals happen. They attend green teams events to support each other and are contantly doing things that make our environment a better place to live.

Register for the Green Source DFW Sustainable Leadership Awards Nov. 3 at the Dallas Arboretum.


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