![A male Rufous Hummingbird in profile perched on the tip of a budding branch.](https://media.audubon.org/image/engagement-cards/rufous_hummingbird_boebatyapa_1200x657.jpg?width=345&height=219&auto=webp&quality=10&fit=crop&enable=upscale&blur=100)
NEW YORK- The National Audubon Society celebrated the legacy of female leadership in conservation yesterday, by presenting three conservation champions with the Rachel Carson Award at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. The prestigious Audubon award recognizes visionary women whose dedication, talent and energy have advanced environmental and conservation positive change locally and on a global scale.
“Audubon New York is proud to honor Dominique Browning, Rebecca Moore and Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan as the 2016 Rachel Carson Award recipients,” says Audubon New York Executive Director Erin Crotty. “Their compelling vision, adventurous spirit, and fearless leadership embodies the true spirit of the Rachel Carson award by inspiring thousands of women to live a life of purpose and consequence each and every day.”
Allison Whipple Rockefeller, the founding chair of the Rachel Carson Awards Council, spoke at the ceremony with a nod to the award’s namesake and honorees.
"Like Rachel Carson, these women are our great protectors, grand communicators and truth-tellers," said Rockefeller. "They are the doers and the fixers."
As guests dined on a locally sourced vegetarian menu for this event catered by Liz Neumark, owner of Great Performances and member of the Audubon Women in Conservation Council, emcee NBC Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent Anne Thompson, commented on how all three honorees have personally inspired her and the fortune to have worked with each on instrumental news segments.
“The women we are here to honor today all know the value of technology and communication. And, they are using it to change the world,” said Audubon President and CEO David Yarnold (@david_yarnold). Each and every one of you in this room today is what hope looks like to your children.”
Guests included: Dominique Browning, Co-Founder and Senior Director of Moms Clean Air Force, Rebecca Moore, Director of Google Earth, Earth Engine and Earth Outreach, Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator, Anne Thompson, Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent for NBC News, Allison Rockefeller, Founding Chair of Women in Conservation Luncheon, David Yarnold, Audubon President and CEO, Erin Crotty, Audubon New York Executive Director; Rachel Carson Awards Council, Jane Alexander, Laureen Barber, Katie Carpenter, Jayni Chase, Margot Ernst, Jeanine Getz, Marian Heiskell, Fernanda Kellogg, Diane Lewis, MD, Shelly Malkin, Josephine Merck, Laura O’Donohue, Valerie Ohrstrom, Veronique Pittman, Elizabeth Titus Putnam, Deb Rivel, Warrie Price, Susan Cohn Rockefeller, Victoria Shaw, Flo Stone, Gini Stowe, Victoria Rose Whipple
Mission: To recognize outstanding women leaders in today's conservation movement; to support environmental opportunities for girls and young women; and to educate women on important issues related to conservation and the environment. Since its inception, Audubon’s Rachel Carson Award has raised more than $1 million to support Audubon New York’s programs to protect birds and their habitats as well as Audubon’s Women in Conservation Program. For more information visit, http://www.womeninconservation.org
ABOUT AUDUBON: The National Audubon Society saves birds and their habitats throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon's state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon's vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.
ABOUT AUDUBON’S WOMEN IN CONSERVATION
To recognize outstanding women leaders in today's conservation movement; to support environmental opportunities for girls and young women; and to educate women on important issues related to conservation and the environment. www.womeninconservation.org
Contact: media@audubon.org, 212-979-3100