38th Annual Smith Nature Symposium Award Ceremony
Honoring the Leadership of Activist Winona LaDuke
LIVE-STREAMED SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 7:00 P.M.
Celebrate environmental leadership at Brushwood Center's live-streamed Smith Nature Symposium Awards Ceremony as we explore climate justice and healing through the power of community!
Join Winona LaDuke, 2021 Distinguished Environmental Leadership Awardee, with our acclaimed hosts, TV journalist Bill Kurtis and producer Donna LaPietra, for a dynamic discussion about climate solutions, focusing on LaDuke's grassroots advocacy with Honor the Earth to stop the 1,000 mile Line 3 oil sands pipeline stretching from Alberta to Lake Superior. The pipeline, which would cross 200 bodies of water, violates U.S. treaties with the Ojibwe people that establish their right to hunt, fish, and gather along the proposed route. LaDuke's vital work to mobilize community and protect these sacred lands embodies the courage, creativity, and tenacity required to build a vibrant future and equitable economy.
The Awards Ceremony also includes songs by Seven Springs Drum, presentation of Brushwood Center's Youth Leadership Scholarship to Waukegan-based Eduardo Flores, and celebration of Brushwood Center's impact in our community.
Proceeds from the Smith Nature Symposium support Brushwood Center’s COVID-19 response and our work to advance equitable access to healing, learning, and empowerment through nature and the arts.
Join Winona LaDuke, 2021 Distinguished Environmental Leadership Awardee, with our acclaimed hosts, TV journalist Bill Kurtis and producer Donna LaPietra, for a dynamic discussion about climate solutions, focusing on LaDuke's grassroots advocacy with Honor the Earth to stop the 1,000 mile Line 3 oil sands pipeline stretching from Alberta to Lake Superior. The pipeline, which would cross 200 bodies of water, violates U.S. treaties with the Ojibwe people that establish their right to hunt, fish, and gather along the proposed route. LaDuke's vital work to mobilize community and protect these sacred lands embodies the courage, creativity, and tenacity required to build a vibrant future and equitable economy.
The Awards Ceremony also includes songs by Seven Springs Drum, presentation of Brushwood Center's Youth Leadership Scholarship to Waukegan-based Eduardo Flores, and celebration of Brushwood Center's impact in our community.
Proceeds from the Smith Nature Symposium support Brushwood Center’s COVID-19 response and our work to advance equitable access to healing, learning, and empowerment through nature and the arts.
Winona LaDuke, 2021 Distinguished Environmental Leadership Awardee
Winona LaDuke is an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development renewable energy and food systems. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a two time vice presidential candidate with Ralph Nader for the Green Party. As Executive Director of the Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. She is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation based non profit organizations in the country, and a leader in the issues of culturally based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy and food systems. In this work, she also continues national and international work to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.
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In 2007, LaDuke was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, recognizing her leadership and community commitment. In 1994, LaDuke was nominated by Time magazine as one of America’s fifty most promising leaders under forty years of age. She has been awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, Ms. Woman of the Year ( with the Indigo Girls in l997) , and the Reebok Human Rights Award, with which in part she began the White Earth Land Recovery Project. The White Earth Land Recovery Project has won many awards- including the prestigious 2003 International Slow Food Award for Biodiversity, recognizing the organization’s work to protect wild rice from patenting and genetic engineering.
A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is a former board member of Greenpeace USA and is presently an advisory board member for the Trust for Public Lands Native Lands Program as well as a board member of the Christensen Fund. The Author of five books, she is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.
A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is a former board member of Greenpeace USA and is presently an advisory board member for the Trust for Public Lands Native Lands Program as well as a board member of the Christensen Fund. The Author of five books, she is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.
Donna LaPietra and Bill Kurtis, Masters of Ceremonies
Donna La Pietra and Bill Kurtis will grace the stage as Masters of Ceremonies of the Smith Nature Symposium. Their contributions to news-broadcasting, documentary film production, and conservation have made them longtime legends in Chicagoland. After starting his career as a journalist, Bill became the news anchor for CBS at Chicago’s WBBM Channel 2, where he met Donna, who would become the channel’s Executive Producer. Bill is also the judge and voice of the popular news radio show, Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! Donna and Bill are known for their documentary film production company, Kurtis Productions, and for their devotion to supporting local non-profits. They are also committed to protecting the environment and increasing educational opportunities around nature. This passion is no better demonstrated than at their home on the North Shore, Mettawa Manor. Donna and Bill have created stunning gardens on the site, restored 25 acres of tall-grass prairie, and protected all but eight acres of the 65-acre property with conservation easements. They continue to host educational programs and scientific research at Mettawa, which is at once an ode to art and nature and a testament to their commitment to the natural world. Donna and Bill both serve on Brushwood Center’s Advisory Board.
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About the Award
The Distinguished Environmental Leadership Award was first presented in 1984 to Roger Tory Peterson, the esteemed American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator. Recent honorees include Bill McKibben and Sue Halpern (2020), Amory Lovins and Judy Hill Lovins (2019), and Robert Redford and Sibylle Szaggars Redford (2018).