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You're invited! Join us for an online awards ceremony for the winners of the Fourth Annual Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions Sustainability Champions Awards, where we highlight people and organizations that have made significant contributions towards the FACS mission of creating moral and equitable solutions to climate change in Northern Virginia.
Individual: Karen Campblin
Karen is a member of the Fairfax County Tree Commission, the Land Unit J Task Force, the Joint Environmental Task Force, and the Virginia's Council on Environmental Justice. Karen serves as the co-director of the Green New Deal Virginia, the Transportation and Smart Growth co-chair of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Environmental and Climate Justice chair of the Virginia State Conference NAACP, and the president of the Fairfax branch of the NAACP.
Faith Community: Rock Spring United Church of Christ
Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ is a community that believes that climate change is real and so is their ability to respond to it in transformative ways. Visible proof of this is Rock Spring’s strong commitment to become a Net Zero congregation, a major accomplishment supported by a congregational vote of 97%. Rock Spring’s plan includes insulation improvements, solar power installation, window upgrades, and automation. Becoming a Net Zero church is a big step forward, but only the latest action in Rock Spring’s decades-long commitment to address climate change. Under the guidance of the Eco-Justice Committee our congregation engaged for more than a decade in many green actions, including native gardens, tree planting, Rock Spring’s Plot Against Hunger, and changing out light bulbs. With their actions, they hope to lead by example and inspire other congregations.
Local Business: OmMade Peanut Butter
Radhika Murari is the owner of OmMade Peanut Butter. What started out as a healthy homemade snack for her son and experimenting with unique flavors has transformed into a product with national acclaim and a manufacturing grant from the state and local governments, recognition in People magazine, and a best seller in the Virginia Living Store. She creates her all natural gourmet peanut butter with an eye to sustainability and environmentally sound practices, such as choosing locally sourced Virginia peanuts, organic ingredients whenever possible, plastic-free packaging, and biodegradable and compostable shipping materials.
Elected officials:
Local: Elaine Tholen, Dranesville School Board Representative
For eight years Elaine managed the Fairfax County Public Schools Get2Green Program. This district-wide, preK-12 program promotes environmental stewardship among students and staff. She managed the district Sustainability Team and led FCPS to having a nationally acclaimed Green School program.
Tholen is a founder of NoVA Outside and has co-chaired their Student Environmental Action Showcase for the past 10 years. The Showcase is hosted in collaboration with George Mason University and allows over 500 regional students to showcase their work. Prior to her work with FCPS, she worked 10 years for SAIC managing a staff focused on large environmental cleanups for the US Department of Energy.
State: Delegate Kaye Kory
Kaye Kory is a leader in the Virginia legislature who sponsored passage of a bill enabling the creation of local Green Banks throughout the Commonwealth. Kory has been a delegate in the Virginia legislature representing Fairfax County’s 38th district since 2010. From 1999–2009, she was a member of the Fairfax County School Board. As chair of the House of Delegates’ Counties, Cities and Towns Committee, Kory showed skill and determination in passage of the Green Banks legislation.
We're excited to have the Rev. Dr. Jim Antal joining us to speak during the awards ceremony. Rev. Dr. Jim Antal is a denominational leader, climate activist, author and public theologian. He serves as Special Advisor on Climate Justice to the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. Antal’s book, CLIMATE CHURCH, CLIMATE WORLD, was featured in the Chicago Tribune on Earth Day 2018, and in Christian Century Magazine on Earth Day 2019. Antal received the 2019 Steward of Creation award from the National Religious Coalition for Creation Care, joining the Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley and Prof. Katharine Hayhoe, and previous awardees HAH Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Bill McKibben, the Sioux Nation, James Hansen and Wendell Berry. Learn more about our keynote speaker.