Award Recipients
Each year we rededicate ourselves to our mission by honoring some of our own outstanding real live, environmental super heroes.
This year our Board of Directors chose to present four awards, honoring those who have demonstrated extraordinary environmental stewardship, helping to protect and preserve the natural balance and beauty of our land and actively put forth a significant effort in making the world a better place.
Captain Planet Exemplar Award
President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter Jr.), 39th president of the United States, was born Oct. 1, 1924, in the small farming town of Plains, Ga., and grew up in the nearby community of Archery. He was educated in the public school of Plains, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946.
Jimmy Carter served as president from Jan. 20, 1977, to Jan. 20, 1981. Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and the establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. He championed human rights throughout the world. On the domestic side, the administration’s achievements included a comprehensive energy program conducted by a new Department of Energy; deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance; major educational programs under a new Department of Education; and major environmental protection legislation, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.
Mr. Carter is the author of 27 books, including: “An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections,” “Talking Peace: A Vision for the Next Generation,” 1993, 1995; “An Hour before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood,” and “Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope,” 2007;
In 1982, he became University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and founded The Carter Center. Actively guided by President Carter, the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addresses national and international issues of public policy. Carter Center fellows, associates, and staff join with President Carter in efforts to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent disease and other afflictions. Through the Global 2000 programs, the Center advances health and agriculture in the developing world. It has spearheaded the international effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease, which will be the second disease in history to be eliminated.
President Carter and The Carter Center have engaged in conflict mediation in Ethiopia and Eritrea (1989), North Korea (1994), Liberia (1994), Haiti (1994), Bosnia (1994), Sudan (1995), the Great Lakes region of Africa (1995-96), Sudan and Uganda (1999), Venezuela (2002-2003), Nepal (2004-2008), and Ecuador and Colombia (2008). Under his leadership, The Carter Center has sent 91 election-monitoring missions to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. These include Panama (1989), Nicaragua (1990), Guyana (1992), China (1997), Nigeria (1998), Indonesia (1999), East Timor (1999), Mexico (2000), Guatemala (2003), Venezuela (2004), Ethiopia (2005), Liberia (2005), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2006), Nepal (2008), Lebanon (2009), Sudan (2010), Tunisia (2011), and Egypt (2011-2012).
The permanent facilities of The Carter Presidential Center were dedicated in October 1986, and include The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives. Also open to visitors is the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains, administered by the National Park Service.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteer one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes for themselves. He also teaches Sunday school and is a deacon in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains. For recreation, he enjoys fly-fishing, woodworking, and swimming. The Carters have three sons, one daughter, nine grandsons, three granddaughters, two great-grandsons, and four great-granddaughters.
On Dec.10, 2002, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Mr. Carter “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
CAPTAIN PLANET SUPERHERO FOR EARTH AWARD
Sir Richard Branson
Sir Richard Branson is Founder and Chairman of the Virgin Group. Virgin is one of the world’s most recognized and respected brands and has expanded into many diverse sectors from air and ground travel to telecommunications, health, space travel and renewable energy through more than 200 companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people in 29 countries.
In 2004, Richard established Virgin Unite, his non-profit foundation. It mobilizes the talent and resources from across the Virgin Group and beyond, to tackle tough social and environmental problems in an entrepreneurial way. It is built on the belief that, the only way we can address the scale of the challenges facing the world today is by revolutionizing the way businesses and the social sector work together – driving business as a force for good. Richard has been working closely with Virgin Unite to bring together the right partners to help create new global leadership models to address conflict, climate change and disease.
Richard and his close friend, Peter Gabriel, had an idea about the need for a new leadership model for our ‘global village’. Inspired by the role that elders play in traditional societies, as a source of advice, wisdom and experience, they took the idea to Nelson Mandela and were thrilled when he agreed to help bring a group of ‘global elders’ together. Founded in 2007 with the support of Virgin Unite and a great group of partners, The Elders comprises ten visionary leaders including Graça Machel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan and President Carter. They work both publicly and behind the scenes, collectively and individually, in areas of conflict such as; Kenya, Cyprus, Darfur and Zimbabwe and also work on a number of global issues, such as health and gender equality.
In 2009, Richard brought together a group of the world’s top entrepreneurs to initiate the Carbon War Room. The vision is to mobilize capital, innovation, expertise and international collaboration to increase the effectiveness of climate change efforts already underway and to focus on filling any gaps. These keen entrepreneurial minds will work together to help speed and scale solutions that will deliver a low carbon economy.
Richard and Virgin Unite also support a number of initiatives that lead to economic empowerment and healthy communities. These initiatives range from; the creation of sustainable healthcare models in Africa, to supporting young entrepreneurs through the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in South Africa, to creating opportunities for disadvantaged young people in the US and the UK.
Richard is married to his wife Joan and they have two wonderful children, Holly and Sam.
Captain Planet Green School Award
Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA)
THE MAKING OF AN ENVIRONMENTALIST IN WALDORF SCHOOLS
Waldorf educators know…
by cultivating a personal relationship with the Earth and her resources,
young people can develop a genuine ecological consciousness.
Waldorf students are engaged in experiential learning that fosters their potential to be thoughtful, caring, and active stewards of the Earth. Waldorf schools work with an awareness of where all things originate as gifts from the Earth: paper from trees; crayons from bees, color from plants, and so on. The teachers lead students in daily practice of remembering these gifts with gratitude and in exercising care for how the Earth’s resources are used. This builds inner habits that prepare the children for being environmentalists on the deepest levels. The Waldorf students learn about the ways in which the Earth is threatened and how they can take action to help: recycle trash; tread lightly when in the wild; bring awareness to their energy use and purchases; educate others; identify problems and imagine solutions. To this imagination they bring a deep feeling for the Earth that has been cultivated during their Waldorf years.
About Waldorf Schools
Waldorf schools offer a developmentally appropriate, experiential approach to education. They integrate academics and the arts for children from preschool through twelfth grade. The aim of the education is to inspire life-long learning in students and enable them to fully develop their unique capacities. Founded in Germany in the early 20th century, Waldorf education is an independent and inclusive form of education based on the insights and teaching of the Anthroposophist, artist, and scientist, Rudolf Steiner. Evolving from a profound understanding of the human spirit and human development, Waldorf education is regionally adaptive and has grown to include hundreds of schools worldwide.
About AWSNA
The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) was founded to assist Waldorf Schools and Institutes in working together to nurture Waldorf education so that it can manifest more widely in the world. AWSNA provides leadership to the more than 250 schools, early childhood programs and Institutes in North America by facilitating resources, networks and research as they strive towards excellence and build healthy school communities. The Association performs functions that its member schools and institutes could not do alone – outreach and advocacy; accreditation and school support; professional development; and research and publications.
AWSNA also initiates and maintains relationships with groups seeking the revitalization of education for all children and provides a “voice” for Waldorf Education in national advocacy groups. AWSNA provides strength through collaboration.
Patrice Maynard, M.Ed., is the leader for Outreach and Development of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). She was a class teacher as well as a music teacher, taking one class through a complete cycle of eight grades and a second class through 5th grade at Hawthorne Valley School in upstate New York. Her background before teaching was in management, development, and public relations. Ms. Maynard is the parent of three Waldorf graduates and a passionate advocate for the renewal of education and pluralism in our republic.
For more information about Waldorf education CLICK HERE.
Special recognition of previous CPF grantee, the Linden Waldorf school, Nashville TN
The Captain Planet Foundation will make a second donation to Nashville’s Linden Waldorf School in Alison Krauss’ name to support environmental initiatives at their school which cultivates, in each student, a connection with nature and nurtures wonder, stewardship and reverence for the Earth.
Also recognizing Protector of the Earth Award
The Honorable Lisa P. Jackson
