DuPage resident wins Sierra Club Special Achievement Award but turns down free trip
When environmental activist and long-time Lombard resident Lonnie Morris won the Sierra Club's highly competitive Special Achievement Award, she could have accepted the Club's offer of a free trip to San Francisco for herself and her husband Andrew Cohen with luxury accommodations and a glitzy awards ceremony. She could have worn her slinky red dress and silver shoes.
But to minimize her carbon footprint, she opted instead to receive the award locally at Sierra Club's Moving Planet Day which will take place on Sept. 24 at Rugaard Gazebo in Villa Park.
She will ride her bicycle to it. No red dress.
Morris said the local, less environmentally impactful presentation was fitting because she received the award for her work as chair of Illinois Sierra Club Cool Cities, a program that encourages towns and counties to reduce their carbon footprint.
“I am thrilled and honored to receive this award,” said Morris. “But it makes sense to receive the award in DuPage County at Moving Planet Day, which is all about getting beyond carbon-based fossil fuels. On Sept. 24, we expect at least 350 participants to ride their bicycles to Rugaard Gazebo to express their hope that this country will invest in technologies and infrastructure that reduce our use of fossil fuels.”
Two round-trip flights for Morris and her husband from O'Hare International Airport to San Francisco International would have produced 1,014 Kg of CO2, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization's carbon footprint calculator.
Morris, who owns a Prius but leaves it at home most the time, choosing to ride her bicycle to such places as the grocery store, post office and book club, said getting 350 people to participate in Moving Planet Day is symbolic because 350 part per million of carbon in the atmosphere is what most scientists consider safe for the planet. Beyond 350 ppm, scientists predict catastrophic climate change.
Morris has been an environmentalist all her life but her activism kicked up when she became the Illinois' Sierra Club's Cool Cities chair. In all, 55 towns in Illinois have become Cool Cities by pledging to reduce their carbon footprint and implement a sustainability plan. Behind each of these pledges was a community coalition that Morris helped organize. Each town that became a Cool City did so because they were approached by a Cool Cities Coalition that asked them to sign the Cool Cities pledge.
“Lonnie Morris has done an incredible job building the Sierra Club's Cool Cities program,” said Jack Darin, Illinois Sierra Club director who will present the award to Morris. “Her work has empowered hundreds of ordinary people who care about the environment to make a difference right in their own town. She is brilliant at mentoring volunteers and providing them with the resources to be successful.”
Darin will also present a Cool Cites award to the towns of Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, Villa Park and Westmont for making progress reducing their carbon footprint.
Aside from her state-wide role as Cool Cities chair, Morris is the chair of the River Prairie Group, the Sierra Club's DuPage County group. She is an avid gardener, bicycler and prairie restorationist. In addition to husband Andrew, she has three sons: Adam, Stephan and Max Morris-Cohen.