Agency/Organizations Category

Although the 1st Annual Green Living awards had many well-deserving nominees, voting is limited to the individuals, businesses and policy-makers that turned in a submission. Please choose your top pick from the list of submitted applicants below. For more information about all the nominees scroll below the poll or use the list on right. For a full list of nominees (includes those who did submit applications and those who did not) click here.

The popular vote is in! See below for the final online votes for the 1st Annual Green Living Awards. Click here for the winners in both the "Popular Vote" and the "Green Ribbon Committee" selections, and how each was selected.

Crane Point Museum & Nature Center

Crane Point has been a leader in Green practices since the Florida Keys Land and Sea Trust decided to save the area from development 30 years ago. Since that time, it has continued to promote environmental stewardship to the community and visitors. The staff continues the initial efforts and seek ways to further incorporate "Green" ways into their daily efforts that include educational programs to community youth and future restoration projects. Crane Point will continue to provide a living resource for others that wish to learn about the natural world..

Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park

If being nominated will help get more information on the importance of planting local Native plants then we won already. We started out in 1995 as a restoration nursery for the Park. The last few years we have added educating other. With every event or plant we give away we feel we have helped the process of educating others on the importance of planting Natives.

Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority

The FKAA’s mission is to provide one of the world’s most precious resources to the residents and visitors of the Florida Keys in the most safe, cost effective and reliable manner. The FKAA team takes our responsibility seriously. Our commitment to efficiency, environmental stewardship and educational outreach is demonstrated every day from Key West to Florida City. FKAA’s participation in GLEE, conservation incentive programs, and new Marathon LEED Service Center are the most visible evidence of our support for sustainability. The true magic can be found behind the scenes, as employees at every level of the organization take the next steps in their personal and professional lives to demonstrate the benefits “going green”.

Florida Keys Community College

FKCC boasts the fact that it is located in the National Marine Sanctuary and has America's only living Coral Reef in its backyard. These natural resources set FKCC apart from from other community colleges, by providing students unique "underwater classrooms" and natural laboratories where research and text book knowledge comes alive. FKCC staff, faculty and students desire to protect these resources, and whenever possible, enhance them. For this reason, the college has taken on green initiatives this year under the leadership of new President Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle that include the "Salad Sailor" bio-fuel boat, the hydro-power project, the Vandenberg pre-sinking reef research and the College Road clean up and beautification projects. FKCC is committed to protecting its environment and educating the community about all the wonderful opportunities for individuals to "do their small part" to save our beautiful, natural resources.

Florida Keys Electric Cooperative Association

Florida Keys Electric Cooperative is a progressive, member-owned, not-for-profit electric utility committed to serving its community efficiently and effectively in an environmentally responsible manner. FKEC is proud to be the first fleet operator in the Keys to switch to biodiesel fuel, the first utility to welcome interconnected solar homes, a founding member of GLEE, and an original member and first host of KSAP. FKEC's green iniatitives include a wide variety of contributions, ranging from providing free energy audits and distributing almost 2,000 free recycling bins to the community all the way to planning new solar parking canopies to feed 150 kilowatts of alternative "green" power into the grid. FKEC's board of directors and staff are dedicated to caring for the Keys and are continually investigating new technologies and advancements to make the delivery of power as safe, reliable and eco-friendly as possible.

Habitat for Humanity. Key West & Lower Keys

We strive to provide a positive template for creating sustainable neighborhoods and low environmental impact operations. Through Habitat's visibility in the local and international community, this an opportunity to educate, demonstrate and serve a "trickle up" model of sustainability.

Keys Energy Services

As the public power utility for Key West and the Lower Florida Keys, KEYS has long been growing GREEN initiatives for quite some time. While the aforementioned actions are new, long standing noteworthy programs include KEYS' nationally recognized annual Tree Giveaway, free on-site or online home energy surveys, and KEYS' award-winning Energy Conservation calendar. These programs have long been pillars of KEYS' GREEN efforts and continue to play important roles as lasting environmental changes are sought and new actions take their place beside them. As KEYS enters its 65th year of reliably powering paradise, customers can rest assured KEYS will continue to work toward a greener future.

Key West Association of Realtors (KWAR)

The Key West Association of Realtors is contributing to a Green Key West through operational policies, community information and member education. Over the past two years, KWAR has adopted a number of procedural changes which have reduced our resource usage and this year we will be adopting a complete Green policy which will mandate operational efficiencies. KWAR is identifying and supporting local green businesses through our own business contracts and with our Green Business Showcase, which will be held in conjunction with GLEE's November recycling event. KWAR is sponsoring a training seminar to educate our membership about Green building practices and services so that they may in turn assist homeowners with identifying Green solutions for their homes and our community. Through our community and customer contacts, KWAR plans to be a major player in our Green community.

Monroe County School Board

The Monroe County School District provides an anchor for public education throughout our fragile chain of islands. The genius of our environmental message is that most programs "bubble up" as kids learn about the special place they live, and the impact they make on it. We are pleased that kids, teachers, and community advocates find their voices for a healthy future through our schools. We are ambassadors to that future, and we hope our students will internalize healthy living skills through our strong academic programs. As a School Board Member, I hope to lead by example, but, I'm happy to race to catch up with our kids when needed. They are already thinking in the future tense. As we like to say, "student success, whatever it takes."

Mrs. Givens 5th Grade Class

This year Mrs. Given's science class began a recycling program in the Elementary building. Mrs. Given and Mrs. Mesa wrote, applied for, and received a $1000 grant from Monroe County Schools entitled 'PKS & the 3R's'. The students are so excited and receptive about the 4R's, care so much about the planet, and are passing the word to their families!

Reef Relief

Reef Relief is a grassroots organization headquartered in Key West that works locally, regionally and around the world to empower people from all walks of life to "be the change" that will insure that we all benefit from healthy coral reefs, clean ocean waters and abundant fisheries--things that insure our quality of life and that of future generations.

TRASHED In The Keys

Trashed In The Keys was started by one person. Mike Basham is an Ohio transplant who has taken living in the Florida Keys very seriously. He works his regular job and spends nights and weekends walking the area with his specialty carts picking up trash. To date, with the exception of the sponsorship of Hurricane Hole Marina and Oily's Auto Parts, every dime has come from his pocket. Recognition for his organization would go a long way toward saying someone really appreciates the efforts of Trashed In The Keys.

World Wildlife Fund, South Florida Program

WWF has worked for more than a decade to protect Florida’s world-renowned natural resources from unplanned development, poor water management and quality, pollution, and population pressure. Today, we are setting our sites on a new global force that threatens all we have accomplished to date – global climate change. WWF is working through the Governor’s Action Team to craft an Action Plan to buffer Florida’s marine and terrestrial systems, wildlife, plants, people, and economy from climate change impacts, and with partners at the local, state, and federal level (including academic partners) to investigate how we can increase the resilience of Florida’s coral reefs to those impacts. We bring to the table an impressive record of consensusbased achievements, which we hope will enable us to craft legislative, regulatory, and policy options that are acceptable to stakeholders, but still effective in mitigating this global phenomenon.