Vote for your favorite nominee in the Individuals Category

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Name City-Island Summary
Ada & Bruce Truesdell Cook's Island My husband and I live off-grid on an offshore island. We collect rainwater for our daily use and are EXTREMELY frugal with our energy use. That means no air-conditioning, even in the hottest months.
After Wilma, we replanted only indigenous plants that would need no extra watering.
Our home is a work in progress and in furnishing our home, have reused, refinished and also purchased from recycling stores. Just because it's refurbished doesn't mean it can't be beautiful. I am also a member of GLEE, an Interior Designer that is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional, and a member of the South Florida Chapter of USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council). My husband, Bruce, is a Building Contractor that also tries to use sustainable practices as much as possible.
Alicia & Mick Putney No Name Key We believe that the conservation of resources is imperative if human are going to be able to ultimately survive as a species. Given the current level of technology, conservation is not a hardship and can actually be rewarding. We take sense of pride in our off grid independent lifestyle. We hope by sharing our experiences we will help others realize that each of us can reduce our footprints on this planet without giving up the conveniences we have all become accustom to expecting as a normal part of life. In other words, conservation can be cool and a lot of fun!
Amy Knowles Islamorada This has been a very difficult exercise for me! I am not used to tooting my own horn, and as a matter of fact, don't think that what has been a way of life for me for so long deserves special accolades. As someone who has always found solace and peace in the natural world, doesn't it make sense to also want to do whatever possible to preserve and protect it? Thank you, GLEE, for doing your part, and thank you to the anonymous "admirer" who nominated me for an award.
Annalise Mannix & Val Candy Key West Val, as a volunteer member of the KW Climate Action Team, promoted whole range of climate friendly activities for businesses and residents. Annalise spends much of her free time promoting green activities and adding green elements to organizations she belongs to, including adaptation for climate change. Together they have begun writing a paper on the successful creation of local government climate action plans for organizations working in the sunshine. They have discussed the project with the British Consulate-Generalís Miami office which is interested in how to help Americanís meet the world objectives regarding climate change. They hope to have a presentation to local leaders this year.
Bill & Parlin Meyer Little Torch Key The installation of the cisterns must have been what the nomination was based on. I cannot think of what else would have elicited this action as the other things we do are "normal" environmentally-aware actions.
Brenda Bush Tavernier I believe this nomination focuses on the Art students at Coral Shores mostly. This year they have produced some pretty cool works of art from discarded products. They are learning that you don't have to buy everything to make it "cool". Honestly I think many of them have surprised themselves at what they could accomplish, how they accomplished it, and were very proud of their products.
Carol Ellis Key Largo I am fortunate to be able to live in a beautiful environment, and hope to preserve and protect it for the children and creatures on this earth. It is easy to get overwhelmed by the vastness of our problems on this earth; however a girlfriend put it to me this way which put it all into perspective: She said "Bring it in Carol... bring it in!" She meant, "Think Globally, but Act Locally!" From that moment on I concentrated on what little steps I could make in my life to make a difference. I began to control my yard... it's a start. And it feels good, your energy in, is returned multiple times in satisfaction.
Christi Allen Key Largo I have a radio show called Living Fit every Saturday morning at 8am on 96.9fm and 93.5fm. I use this show to not only promote GLEE, but all those who demonstrate the use of, educate the importance of, and promote all green initiatives . I am the "Green Queen of the Northernmost Territories of the Conch Republic". This fun title I take seriously because I do everything I can to help our residents, businesses and policy makers be better informed so they can make decisions for the betterment of our local and global community. In November of 2010, we will all be celebrating our accomplishments together during EcoWeek, our first Annual Celebration of the Environment. We will be celebrating healthy living, a healthy planet and peaceable and sustainable communities. To me, "greening" our lifestyles is a win-win for us all.
Deborah Curlee Cudjoe Key I have been a full time resident of the Keys for nine years. I totally fell in love with the Keys from day one. I made a personal commitment to help maintain the fragile environment here and try to learn everything I can to further that goal. I worked at a local nursery my first year here to learn about natives. I am a board member of the Big Pine Key Botanical Society, a member of Last Stand, GLEE, the Florida Native Plant Society and the Key West Garden Club. Becoming a Master Gardner has given me access to knowledge, information, resources and countless volunteer opportunities. I try to educate when the opportunity presents itself and try daily to make a meaningful contribution to my community and the whole environment.
Donna Windle Key West I lobbied the BOCC and got them to create the Green Initiatives Task Force. The scope of the task force is to provide recommendations to the BOCC of environmentally sound practices and techniques to protect the environment as well as make climate change recommendations. I also serve on that Task Force. It is also our goal to bring this information forward for the public to utilize. The members are an incredibly intelligent, knowledgable, and passionate group, who by their own contacts daily spread all the messages of going green.
This is a vision come true for me.
Heidi Golightly Key West Being nominated for a GLEE Green Living award is a great honor for us! We have not only talked the talk, but have walked the walk for the past 15 years. To be recognized for our efforts is truly amazing! We know that if each person does his/her part, the world can and will be a better place! Our hope and dream is to live life to it's fullest using all good ideas to save this earth. This has been an ongoing education for us! It started by us taking care of our bodies through exercise and eating organic food and progressed to everything we touched.! Hopefully, together we can and will be the change we wish to see in the world!
Heindrek Allen Cudjoe Key My name is Heindrek Allen, I'm a high school senior and I work two unpaid full-time jobs in addition to my single paid part-time position. Besides simply being dually enrolled high school and college student I also am the spokesman for the Key West High School Alternative Energy Center where I do it all, literally. I do everything from press interviews to school board presentations to designs for new ways for how to but the 4Rs into practice. In the program I have helped raise over $400,000 (more than 4x the amount of my predecessors). I have helped raise awareness of our program in the community and recently convinced the Monroe County School Board to name our first (of 3) wind turbines after Stephen Colbert and, despite the fact I have been unable to contact him, it has raised a large awareness of our program in our community.
Ike & Karen Beal Key Largo We aren't youngsters - and we see that 'everything old is new again' - sustainablility principals, use less and think
about what you do buy before you decide and conservation are not new ideas. They were
reflected in how we built our home in the 80s with the help of our Whole Earth Catalog and Mother Earth
News magazine. Now, the critical need and awareness has grow along with the amazing resources available on
the internet, but the concept is the same - we still try to limit our impact on our world. And we have so many
talented, energetic people, like GLEE members, who want to help! Living a green life is not hard, it does not require sacrifice - just some thoughtful living and joyful sharing.
Jan Mulvihill Key Largo What goes around comes around! My hope is to connect the future keepers of our environment in visible, lifelong habits of Earth's stewardship. When students compost their daily lunch biodegradable and realize not only the tonnage saved from landfills but also the value in the product being used to feed their garden it becomes part of the natural cycle. Utilizing the underground irrigation and heavy mulching of the garden bed connects with nature's own tree/leaf dropping mulch system ,which works symbiotically as evidenced by the hardy survival of native plants they reintroduced into our community. Gaining an appreciation for the growing process and time involved has also made them more aware of the necessity for recycling our resources in not only our papermaking experience but other recycling venues as well. Having participated in these these experiences students are now engaging in introducing them to other grade levels.
Janet Sullivan Key West The best part of my green living nomination is that I am one person living simply yet I can make a difference in my carbon footprint by being conscious of everyday choices. Being willing to adapt and learn new ways and habits of living that are gentler and greener is a constant mind opener. As an intuitive energy worker, I demonstrate energy techniques for people to optimize their own energy in renewable and enjoyable ways. One Intrinsic Workshop I developed, is called "Activating Your Power!" which gives fun and practical tools to recharge our health, work and life energy beyond the usual consumer choices. It provides life enhancing practices of understanding and appreciating rather than attaining or acquiring.
Jedde & Christina Regante Key West We have devoted our lives, both business, volunteer and personal to making as many changes in the lives of others by living by example and promoting green living and sustainable choices.
Jeff & Rosi Ware Key West With very little effort or large financial outlay we have managed to adopt good Green Living practices where possible around our home, and in our lifestyle, to good effect.
Our major achievements in 2009 were the installation of a Solar Hot Water System and the white elastomeric insulating roof coating to our Old Town property on Olivia Street.
John & Gail Perrotti Key Largo The best parts of our Green Living Nomination are our Solar Water Heating and Solar PV Array. It is very exciting to think that much of the energy used to run our home comes from the sun. It is very satisfying, while taking a hot shower, to know that the water was heated from the suns rays. We have always tried to teach conservationism to our children. This project, which turned out to be much more involved than either of us imagined, has gone a very long way to showing them how important it is to do as much as you can to help protect the earth, and the finite resources she has to offer.
Karen Sunderland Strobel Islamorada/Plantation K I am honored to be nominated for this award. Before and during the remodeling of my home in 2009 (itís almost finished), Iíve been enthusiastically sharing with my friends my research and constant updates on my house, showing off my fiberglass-framed windows and most recently the solar water heater. I also appreciate the knowledge I have learned from both your organization and friends that have also pursued energy efficiency and green building products.
Kathy Denworth Plantation Key Getting Green should not scare people! I am not Nature Girl or a Tree Hugger (not that there is anything wrong with that!) I am a life form on this planet who believes that we can each make a difference. I believe in starting with the basics. I believe that if Everyone picks a piece of trash, if Everyone turns off the lights and fans when they leave a room, if Everyone turns off the water when they brush their teeth, it will make a big difference.

My goal is two fold. To encourage the our local MLS board to more prominently make buyers aware of Green features in homes, and to find a way to get government to co-operate with condominiums and businesses to allow them to install/adapt energy and water saving devices with minimal government red tape.
Kristie Killam No Name Key I am greatly appreciative that GLEE takes the time to recognize people for promoting green living practices and I hope you get countless applications for this award. The more people working together and moving forward with great ideas will make these ideas all the more effective and understandable for our Keys community.

I like to think that I have been an environmentalist since I was a kid, so I have been doing a lot of the GLEE practices for decades. Although I am very proud that I live in a home powered partially by the sun, and to know that I have done my best to recycle, conserve water and live lightly on the earth, I think that looking at this application my highlights have been the opportunity to educate others about the importance of "green living".
Les Faust & Sherry Phillips Big Pine Key To us, the future of this planet depends upon what we are willing to do today. The willingness to take a little extra time and personal energy to do the right thing in all aspects of our lives is paramount in insuring that future generations have a healthy planet. We do not have children but it is about all living beings and unselfishly giving time and resources to insure that we can make as small a footprint as possible.
Lisa & Kelsey Morris Key West Growing up in Appalachia, Reduce, Reuse and Rot was an ingrained part of life! Nothing went to waste, so we had little trash. Because of this background, and our limited budget, we have always lived energy efficiently. Continuing education about the detrimental effects of fossil fuels and waste on our planet has only strengthened this plan. I don't think I realized in how many numerous, varied ways this is present in our life, until I was asked to complete this application. I am so happy that Kelsey is growing up with these values, and also that through our work with the Girl Scouts, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Key West children's classes and GLEE we are able to share the fun, easy and budget-saving ways we've found to help keep our planet healthy!
Lisa Ostroff Key West I consider most of my "green living" to have been learned growing up on our farm in Pennsylvania with my Scot/Irish parents. We lived simply, economically and in harmony with our land. I am by no means a radical ecologist, but I do try to think about everything I do and make wise choices.
Marianne Schippereit Key West I am by choice and disposition not a "leader" in the Green Living movement, but a "foot soldier". I am not charismatic, but a hard worker. I believe that I can make a difference by living a life that respects the environment and shows those around me - who wish to listen and see - small things that can be done to improve the sad state of our Island's disposable society. I care about my fellow man and, hopefully, show by word & deed that I want to make things better for us all. I am committed to the Keys and lament the neglect that has caused its beauty to be degraded since we lived here in the 1970s. I really liked the addition (by the Zero Waste speaker) of the 5th "R" - repair, and think we should include that in our thinking here in Key West.
Mark A. Praught Cudjoe Key Hydrogen Fuel generated by electrolysis of water is cleaner and more efficient than any hydrocarbon based fuel in existence. Hydrogen is the most abundant fuel in the world and a never ending supply. Surprisingly, the thermal BTUs in a gallon of water are equal to that of 3.5 (approx) gallons of regular gasoline. For several years, I have been studying and using the gas produced by splitting water through electrolysis in my vehicle, I advocate it for others interested in this technology to explore it and contribute to the online community of knowledge. I also advocate that naysayers are for a variety of reasons are against this fuel and its technology. By submitting my name I take a stand against them and their vested and or ignorant reasons.
Michele M Sutter Tavernier I feel strongly about being a good steward of this amazing diverse planet in which we live and grateful to have spent 26 years making the Keys my home. I am fortunate to be able to work with youth from many schools and youth organizations and encourage them to do the same. My mission is to help them to develop to be socially responsible, environmentally sensitive and aware, and to become lifelong learners that continue to give back to their communities wherever they go. I teach through experience and modeling the strategy that they can work alongside community organizations and agencies, government entities, and other community members to accomplish mutual goals that not only benefit the entire community, but will protect our environment and our future.
Roberta DePiero Key West I have been a green living person since "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" campaign came out. I have always recycled, reused and I hope reduced my waste. I donated my time for the calendar project for both the cover shot as well as Miss August so there would be more awareness for the community gardens and expansion of community gardens. Not only is growing our own food more healthy for our bodies and minds but for the environment as well. We have retrofitted our cistern so that we use the water for various uses from watering the yard, washing our vehicles to filling the hot tub. When not driving my hybrid car, you'll find me on my bicycle.
Ruth Schrader-Grace Key Largo Over the last year being more green has struck a cord with me. Ignorance is not bliss once you have knowledge. To ignore what you've learned especially when it involves others is negligible at the very least. That is my opinion. We only have one planet and if as a collective, people don't come together to change how we treat it, it will be even more damaged if not die. That idea in itself is very sad! I'm honored that someone who knows me thinks I'm doing something to be green or more green. I know so many others who are much more involved then I and should be given awards for their efforts. However, if just one person thinks I'm doing such a great job at being green that they nominated me then that's good enough for me. It shows me that I'm on the right track, going forward, with the right idea!
Sandi Cornell Key West Great pleasure has been provided to me through green living. Doing my part and teaching others has taught me that I can make a difference. I have great hopes for Key West and our country.
Shelly Blunt Cape Coral, FL How can you begin to list all of the things you do that are green that have become a daily habit. More than a list of your actions, I believe it is a mindset. What can I do differently? Turn it off, unplug it, reuse it, recycle it, educate. These are the cornerstones of my life and what I try to instill my daughters, family, friends, church and business. If you can see success from green people you know that it works, it helps and it is so very important.
Steve & Jackie Grasley Marathon Steve & Jackie have long been proponents of self sufficiency and green living. Not only did they look forward
and move to the Keys in 2001 to invest in one of the Keys only alternative energy businesses, they have built
a model home that adheres to every green design principle & technique currently available. Steve, as an
engineer, has been involved in GLEE since it's inception and is currently a board member. He and his company Solaria consulted and designed many alternative systems installed in the Keys and Caribbean. As one of the few true local "experts", he has spoken to foundations, organizations & municipalities about the technical aspects of green systems & energy conservation.
Susan Goracy Tavernier/Plant. Key I'm truly surprised & honored that someone would nominate me for a GLEE Award! Thank you. :-) I think it's because of my desire to have a greener place to work, and with all the beverages being consumed there, it makes so much sense to have recycling efforts, amongst other *green* possibilities, in place throughout the entire resort! I'm not sure I can take all the credit as it takes a "team" to make things happen. I may have had the idea & approached the right people with that idea, but there are others who have contributed to pulling things together and making it a reality. :-) Being *Green* allows us ALL to take care of the earth that we were given... keep it clean, keep the waters clean & clear for all the inhabitants as well as ourselves, make the planet a better place to live, and be creative with & recycle our resources, for now and into the future.
Susan J. Grant Layton For the past 3 years, as a local Contractor, I have worked hard to acquire a lot of knowledge on Green Building Practices by becoming a LEED Accredited Professional, an ARCSA Accredited Professional, and a Green Home Verifier for the NAHB. I joined 3 Green organizations, & continue to support them. When looking for work this past year, I focused on pursuing a new Green Homes project, as the construction manager, with the intention & ambition of "making a difference" in our community. I try to share my personal experiences and day to day green practices with friends, co-workers, & neighbors, and in turn, I ask them what they are doing & how they are doing it, so I can learn from others as well. I have made a life long commitment to contribute to green organizations and make day to day efforts to live as 'green' as possible and support my local community.