Shel Horowitz receives the National Environmental Hall of Fame Award for Environmental Stewardship from Judith Eiseman.
Transcript of Awards Ceremony
My name is Judith Eiseman and I’m the former Executive Director of the Kestrel Trust here in the Valley. Today, I am representing the National Environmental Hall of Fame, which is giving a national award to Shel Horowitz.
The National Environmental Hall of Fame has honored top environmentalists nationally, including Harrison Ford, Pierce Brosnan, Art Linkletter, Ed Begley, Jr and William McDonough. Over 30 communities, mayors and sustainability officers have also received awards on behalf of their sustainability initiatives. Hope Awards (Hero of Planet Earth Awards) have been given to over 300 students with sustainable and environmental science fair projects.
Today, we honor Shel Horowitz, of Hadley, Massachusetts, for 40 years of writing, organizing, and advocacy for the environment. Shel has many accomplishments in this arena, going back to his teenage years. I’d like to mention a few of them:
Shel is the author of eight books, most of them with a strong focus on the environment. His most recent book, the award-winning and Environmental category best-selling Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, shows businesses how to go green profitably and market their green commitment effectively. It has been translated into Italian and Turkish, incidentally. He has spoken around the country and in Europe on the interplay of business and environmental issues.
He’s also written a consumer e-book, Painless Green: 111 Tips to Help the Environment, Lower Your Carbon Footprint, Cut Your Budget, and Improve Your Quality of Life—With No Negative Impact on Your Lifestyle.
Following the accident at Fukushima, Shel’s first book, on the problems with nuclear power, originally published back in 1980, was just republished in Japan with a new introduction by Shel.
When the so-called “experts” said there was nothing we could do, Shel organized a massive and powerful citizen action group to save the Mount Holyoke Range from an extremely inappropriate housing development. In just 13 months, the original proposal for 40 mansions was reduced to just two, and several pieces of legislation were passed to protect the Range forever more.
Shel is also directly responsible for the first nonsmokers’ rights regulations in Northampton, and one of the first in the state.
And for 40 years, Shel has been a major voice for clean-energy alternatives that can eliminate both polluting, greenhouse-gas-causing fossil fuels and toxic, dangerous nuclear power. He even brought the Gray Panthers into a borough-wide safe energy coalition in Brooklyn, back in 1979. Shel has helped to give voice to the true visionaries whose solutions will reduce our energy and water consumption, and develop clean and renewable sources of power for our remaining energy needs.
Shel Horowitz, thank you for making the world a better place. It is my pleasure to present you with this award.
– Judith Eiseman
