Today, the Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) announced the recipients of the 2024 Environmental Excellence Awards.
Since 2000, Fairfax County has issued the Environmental Excellence Awards to recognize county residents, county employees, businesses and organizations who demonstrate extraordinary leadership within the community and exceptional dedication to the preservation and enhancement of the county’s natural resources. The awards are administered by the Environmental Quality Advisory Council with support from OEEC.
This year’s winners include a Dark Sky advocate who promotes efforts to reduce light pollution, a high school senior who started her own nonprofit organization to train other youth climate champions, three county employees working on waste reduction and plastic pollution initiatives, and a community association dedicated to preserving natural habitats for its residents.
“Fairfax County is fortunate to have climate champions working in our community, and we are proud of this year’s winners for finding innovative and practical ways to promote a healthy, vibrant, and sustainable community,” said Braddock District Supervisor James R. Walkinshaw, Chair of the Board’s Environmental Committee. “This year’s winners show us that efforts in any capacity can help better our environment.”
The 2024 Environmental Excellence Awardees are:
Individual County Resident Category
Eileen Kragie, founder, Dark Sky Friends. Eileen has done frequent light pollution education, outreach, and event support, including launching the DarkSky NOVA chapter and supporting Space Day at George Mason University. She has been active in changing local lighting legislation and was successful in getting Virginia to designate the first week in April as Dark Sky Week. Eileen also coordinated the first ever FireFly and BatFest events at Wolf Trap.
Arielle Kouyoumdjian, a youth climate activist and senior at the Potomac School. Arielle established a non-profit organization called Changing Planet Justice Foundation, whose mission is to empower youth to speak out, share their stories, and inspire action within their communities and beyond. As executive director, she hosts a monthly podcast and has developed tool kits and activity options for youth between the ages of 5 and 18 to help them become effective advocates for sustainability and climate justice.
County Employee Category
Kirsten Buchner, public outreach and engagement specialist, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. Kirsten developed and implemented a bus shelter advertising program for the Solid Waste Management Program that focused on reaching minority populations. The advertising campaign was centered on the Richmond Highway Corridor and generated 1.7 million weekly impressions.
Caroline Hockenberry, coordinator, and Elizabeth (Liza) Moore, marketing and outreach coordinator, Fairfax County Park Authority Farmers Markets. Caroline and Liza have partnered with Clean Fairfax to eliminate single-use plastic bags from the county’s farmers markets. Caroline and Liza have also enhanced the sustainability of the markets by promoting the drop-off compost collection program, which last year collected 120,000 pounds of customer drop-off food scraps for compost.
Organization and Business Category
Hickory Farms Community Association, Braddock District. The association has been active in preserving and enhancing more than 10 acres of wooded, riparian habitat along Rabbit Run, as well as more than 10 acres of urban open space within the community. The association has carried out a program of Resource Protection Area protection and stream remediation. In addition, the association installed an 18-unit Purple Martin colony and established a Bluebird trail consisting of ten boxes which has yielded a significant number of Bluebird fledglings.
The awards will be presented at a ceremony in 2025.
For more information, including a list of past winners, please visit the Environmental Excellence Awards webpage.
Charge Up Fairfax is a program to help residents of community associations, such as homeowners associations (HOAs) and condominium owners associations (COAs), access charging for electric vehicles (EVs). Charge Up Fairfax supports community associations in identifying and overcoming challenges, both technical and financial, to on-site EV charging for residents and their guests.
If you are part of a common-interest community or charitable or nonprofit group, such as a homeowners association, condominium owners association, place of worship providing community services, or other nonprofit or recreational organization in Fairfax County looking to make energy efficiency upgrades, the Energy Conservation Assistance Program for Energy may be for you!
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