The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality revealed the winners of the prestigious Texas Environmental Excellence Awards on Friday, March 1, 2019. Governor Greg Abbott and TCEQ commissioners jointly selected the ten winners—based on recommendations from a Blue-Ribbon Committee—in nine categories.
EcoRise is thrilled to be honored in this the 27th-annual award ceremony and especially to be joining such an influential group of people and organizations. TEEA winners have created programs that promote water and energy conservation, that inspire and educate the public to respect and protect our natural resources, that reduce pollution and waste, and all-around create a more sustainable future for Texas.
“This award is attributable to our incredible community of dedicated students and teachers,” said EcoRise Founder and President, Gina LaMotte. “Their passion and creativity has been amazing to witness over the last 10 years. The movement is just getting started and we can’t wait to see what environmental solutions our students continue to envision for Texas!”
Since 2008, EcoRise has served over 126,000 students in 517 schools across Texas. “EcoRise would be unable to provide high-quality sustainability curricula and resources to our educators without the support of our partners and funders. We’re so grateful and energized by everyone who has joined forces with EcoRise to empower young environmental stewards and leaders” said Gina.
EcoRise’s Texas Program partners include Applied Materials, Austin ISD, Balcones Resources, City of Austin Office of Sustainability, City of San Antonio, The Environmental Fund of Texas, Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, H-E-B, Meadows Foundation, North East ISD, Rackspace, The Reese Foundation, Tomball ISD, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6.
Watch the inspirational video the TCEQ created in honor of our award at www.bit.ly/TEEA-EcoRise.
Here are the TEEA categories and the honorees for each:
- Pollution Prevention: Huntsman Petrochemical LLC
- Education: EcoRise
- Civic/Community: The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment
- Environmental Educator of the Year: Candace Printz, Art Instructor at El Dorado High School
- Environmental Educator of the Year: Linda Dunn, Education Manager at the John Bunker Sands Wetland Center
- Innovative Operations/Management: BAE Systems, Inc.
- Technical/Technology: City of Lago Vista
- Youth: Texas 4-H Youth Development
- Agriculture: Texas Native Seeds Program, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
- Water Conservation: Texas A&M University, Texas AgriLife Research
Read more about this year’s winners here.
TEEA winners will be recognized at a banquet on May 15 as part of the TCEQ’s Environmental Trade Fair and Conference at the Austin Convention Center.
View the original press release here.
