By Obiabin Onukwugha
Recently some individuals and organisations were given the Connecticut’s 2024 Aquarion Environmental Champion Awards.
The Aquarion Environmental Champion Awards program honors businesses, non-profit organizations, adults and students for their outstanding volunteer efforts in conserving and improving the natural environment.
One of the awardees, Planet New Canaan, is a non-partisan group that is committed to environmental awareness and improving the town’s sustainability.
Some of the organization’s environmental initiatives include TreeCycle and Pumpkins for Livestock, which tackle the annual issue of holiday waste by sending used Christmas trees to be mulched and spread along hiking trails, and old jack-o-lanterns to feed livestock at no cost to local farmers. Planet New Canaan estimates that that TreeCycle has diverted more than 28,000 pounds from landfills and incinerators to date, and in 2023, 15,000 pounds of pumpkins were distributed to farms in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Plant New Canaan’s planting initiative also raises funds to purchase and plant native trees throughout open space in New Canaan. The project, replaces dead or damaged trees to provide better shade and enhance natural habitats.
Additionally, Planet New Canaan’s Food Scrap Collection program receives over 800 pounds of food scraps from residents per week, which are collected and transported to an industrial compost site.
Another awarded, Betsy Graham holds a board position at the Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed, a group formed to foster a community-wide collaboration in the development of a watershed resiliency action plan for the four towns and two tribal nations in the watershed. She is helping to write grants for the Alliance to develop programs to educate the public on the importance of protecting the waters of southeastern Connecticut, create a water quality testing program to assist in recognizing and resolving water quality impairments in the watershed, and to develop a CT State boat launch stewardship program to monitor for inadvertent introduction of aquatic invasive plants.
When not advocating for watershed conservation, she pulls invasive plants from hiking trails, collects litter along waterways, and takes water samples for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Betsy’s goal is “to keep the water as healthy as possible” and educate others about the importance of our water sources. She intends to give the $5,000 grant she won from the Environmental Champion Awards to the Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed to implement a water testing program within the freshwater watershed.
Lastly, Nathaniel Goldschmidy is a student at Hall High School in West Hartford and an Eagle Scout whose passion for environmentalism has created a lasting impact on his community.
As the president of Hall High School’s Environmental Club, he ran a small farm and compost program, as well as a can and bottle program, both of which diverted more than 325 lbs. of waste from landfills to date.
Outside of school, he organized a town-wide Environmental Night, drawing nearly 500 attendees and more importantly, 300 pledges to reduce waste and advocate for a stronger environmental future. Nathaniel also led a team of 40 volunteers on project to build seating in Westmoor Park to increase accessibility and encourage public engagement in the Park’s vital conservation efforts.
Determined to do more, Nathaniel secured a student position on West Hartford’s sustainability commission, where he is a part of the Waste Working Group. This group is currently working to cut West Hartford’s waste production by over 50% and focused on earning Gold Status from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. So far, the program has diverted over 115,000 pounds of food scraps and is expected to increase once the full rollout is complete.
As a young adult, Nathaniel has already accomplished a great deal for the environment and his community, and we are eager to see what he takes on next in his fight for a more sustainable future.
Source; Aquarion Water Company
