Since the late 1970s, Ecology Action Centre has been giving out awards at its Annual General Meeting to formally recognize the best, worst, and most dedicated in the environmental movement. It’s an opportunity to give some appreciation to all the fantastic people and organizations beyond EAC’s walls who are making vital contributions to environmental progress in our communities.
Each year, EAC’s staff, board and volunteers submit nominations for the awards, which are then vetted and voted on by staff and board. The top three in each category every year are announced at the AGM.
The Sunshine Award is one of the very first awards that EAC ever gave out and it’s awarded every year to a group or an individual who has made a particularly effective effort in an environmental issue in Nova Scotia. This year, EAC is honoured to announce the renaming of the Sunshine Award to The Danielle Moore Sunshine Award, in honour and in memory of Danielle Moore.
Danielle was an enthusiastic and passionate volunteer at EAC for many years. She lived her life full of hope and truly believed in the possibility of a just and sustainable future for our planet. In her 24 years, she touched the lives of countless people across Canada and around the world. She was a courageous leader, a champion for justice, and an environmental activist always keen to carry the hard work of sustainability forward.
Tragically, Danielle’s life was cut short on March 10th, 2019, when flight ET302 crashed in Ethiopia – Danielle was on her way to represent Canada at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya. Her loss reverberated across the country, and throughout the environmental movement around the world.
Danielle left her mark on everyone she met, and that is certainly the case for EAC as well. We believe it’s very fitting to name the Sunshine Award in her honour: Danielle was full of sunshine, and like each year’s recipients of the Sunshine Award, she has certainly left the world a better place.
The Danielle Moore Sunshine Award
The Sunshine Award is given to a group or an individual who has made a particularly effective effort in an environmental issue in Nova Scotia during the prior year.
First Place: Pictou Landing First Nation, Friends of Northumberland Strait, and the fishermen of Northumberland Strait and their families
For finally achieving the closure of Boat Harbour as a toxic dump site and for their staunch opposition to Northern Pulp’s audacious plan to pipe their massive liquid pollution load directly into the Northumberland Strait.
Second Place: School Strike 4 Climate HFX
For mobilizing a historic march of over 10,000 people calling for bold climate action.
Third Place: The Healthy Bays Coalition
For organizing resistance to open-net pen aquaculture and effectively heading off the massive CERMAQ development proposal.
The Tarred Duck Award
The Tarred Duck Award is presented to a group or individual who has acted in violation of environmental issues or advocated for economic development without consideration for the environment.
First Place: Northern Pulp
For failing to propose a socially and ecologically viable plan for dealing with their effluent after the closure of Boat Harbour, effectively throwing their workers under the bus, and then blaming Mi'kmaw people, environmentalists, and the government for the lost jobs.
Second Place: Atlantic Gold
For threatening the health of the beautiful St. Mary's River and surrounding communities with a proposed giant open-pit gold mine.
Third Place: The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada
For essentially rubber-stamping accelerated oil and gas development off the coast of Newfoundland with little consideration of impacts on climate or protected areas.
The Bubby Mooers Award
The Bubby Mooers was a folk artist who carved interesting characters and figures out of wood. He gave very generously of his art and of himself. The EAC’s annual Garden Party auction benefited regularly from Bubby’s humorous and sensitive donated artwork. The Bubby Mooers Award is given to someone who has given of themselves, either over time or in the past year, to environmental issues in Nova Scotia and to the Ecology Action Centre in particular.
First Place: Jane Allin
For her incredible work as a citizen science researcher in mapping and monitoring the health of eelgrass meadows in her home of Port Medway: sharing observations, helping develop and test our survey methods, and collecting valuable data that will inform a detailed map of eelgrass beds in the area for DFO.
Second Place: Jaime Thomson
For being EAC’s IRP expert. Jaime has helped provide the expertise and guidance that EAC staff needed to ask the critical questions throughout the IRP consultations. He’s been instrumental in changing the way that Nova Scotia Power sees the electricity system in Nova Scotia and deserves the recognition for the countless hours that he’s put into the IRP consultation work this past spring and summer.
Third Place: Dale Smith
For his great skills, knowledge, and long-standing dedication to the Blue Mountain Birch Cove Lakes campaign, the Healthy Forest Coalition and nature conservation in general in Nova Scotia.
The Tooker Gomberg Award
The Tooker Gomberg was a master with the media. From Golden Turkey Awards to Burying a Car to dressing as Robin Hood at the Toronto Stock Exchange, Tooker knew how to garner media attention. With Tooker as our "greenspiration", the Tooker Gomberg Award goes to the person or event that most creatively and brilliantly made the news in the past year.
First Place: Elliot Page & Ian Daniel
For their excellent documentary There's Something in the Water, highlighting the ongoing struggle against environmental racism in Nova Scotia.
Second Place: The St. Mary's River Association and Atlantic Salmon Federation
For filming and widely sharing underwater video footage of salmon spawning right in McKeens Brook, right where Atlantic Gold proposes to put wastewater from a proposed giant open-pit gold mine.
Third Place: Don and Anna Osborn and the other residents of Kings County & Nina Newington and Extinction Rebellion Annapolis County and the Municipality of the County of Annapolis
Who camped out at various sites to block glyphosate spraying on industrial forestry land, putting their bodies on the line to protect the forest.