Environment Council of Rhode Island Education Fund Announces 2016 Loraine Tisdale
Environmental Education Awards Winners
The award winners and their projects are:
The Met School in Providence: In collaboration with the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council students at the Met School will study their watershed and water quality in the industrial area between their school and Narragansett Bay. Following study the students will educate community members about how cleaner water benefits them all.
Rogers High School in Newport: The students will design and build a rainwater catchment system that will reduce pollution and runoff from the school and provide water to irrigate the school garden.
Kingston Hill Academy in South Kingstown: The students will upgrade the irrigation system at the school and community garden on campus in an effort to conserve water and grow more crops.
Each fall the Environment Council of Rhode Island Education Fund holds an open competition for schools in Rhode Island for the opportunity to be funded for a spring environmental project. Each winning school is awarded $250 to carry out the project in the spring. This year an independent panel of judges decided that The Met School, Rogers High School, and Kingston hill Academy had the projects that were most worthy of recognition and funding. Tisdale Award project coordinator Greg Gerritt noted: Schools and youth programs are taking more and more responsibility for their local environments and the food supply. We had a number of excellent applications this year, and interestingly more and more the projects of interest in the schools are the related to the issues that the advocates in the environmental community are tackling such as managing stormwater, growing food, composting food scrap, and making ourselves more resilient in the face of climate change. I think Loraine Tisdale would have been very happy with this year’s winners – especially their gardens.
Greg Gerritt, representing ECRI's Education Fund, presents Tisdale Award check for $250 to Bethany Borgueta, Rogers High School, Newport, RI to defray costs related to the design and construction of a rainwater catchment system that will help irrigate the school's garden.
The Environment Council Education Fund raises funds for this awards program through the annual ECRI Ed Fund Earth Day Raffle. The award is named after a long time Rhode Island educator and environmental activist, Loraine Tisdale, and honors her work by providing resources to schools combining education with actual improvements in environmental quality in the community.
“Loraine Tisdale, a native Rhode Islander, nurse, and ardent environmentalist, used her skills to lead the Group for Alternatives to Spraying Pesticides during the 1980s and 90s,” said Eugenia Marks, a long time leader in the environmental community. “These projects carry on her legacy to increase awareness and effective action to provide a healthy environment for all.”
We are very proud to be able to support these excellent education programs that will help Rhode Island youth get involved with protecting their environment,” said Paul Beaudette, an activist with the ECRI Education Fund and a former science and math teacher. “An important step toward change is to educate the next generation about the threats to our environment and the opportunities to get involved in the solutions.”
The Environment Council of Rhode Island Education Fund's mission is to enhance the long-term stewardship of Rhode Island's natural resources through research and education, and by supporting the development of new generations of environmental stewards and leaders.