Trees for Life founder receives the prestigious 2001 Schumacher Award
Alan with the 2001 Schumacher Award - a pottery oil lamp with a well-known saying from Gandhi on it: "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness".
Photograph by Kate Bewick.
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28 October 2001
The Schumacher Society has announced that its prestigious Schumacher Award for 2001 is being given to Alan Watson Featherstone, the founder and Executive Director of Trees for Life.
This top environmental award honours people and grassroots organisations in the UK whose work is making a significant contribution to human scale sustainable development, and will be presented to Mr. Featherstone at the Bristol Schumacher Lectures on 28th October 2001, in the presence of a capacity audience of 700 people.
The award is being given to Alan Watson Featherstone in recognition of 'his inspirational and practical work on conserving and restoring degraded ecosystems'. Since the founding of Trees for Life in 1985, the conservation charity he leads has planted over 420,000 native trees in the Highlands of Scotland, and has involved thousands of volunteers in its work.
Its long-term vision is to restore the Caledonian Forest to a contiguous area of 600 square miles, as a significant contribution towards returning the Highlands to a condition of ecological health and balance.
More recently, Mr. Featherstone has launched the Restore the Earth project, which aims to stimulate practical action for the restoration of the planet's degraded ecosystems, recognising that this is the essential task of the 21st century if we are to achieve real sustainable development.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Featherstone said:
"I'm honoured and delighted to receive this important and celebrated award. It is a tribute not just to me, but to all the staff, volunteers and supporters who have made Trees for Life so effective and successful in its work of ecological restoration."
"This award highlights the fact that we can all make a significant contribution to healing the wounds in the global environment. I hope that it will inspire people everywhere to take positive and practical action to create a truly sustainable future for humans and all other species."
Notes to Editors:
- The Schumacher Award is presented each year to an 'unsung hero' of the environmental movement in the UK. The presentation ceremony takes place at the Bristol Schumacher Lectures, which have been described as 'Britain's premier environmental gathering' (The Guardian), and in 2001 these are being held on Sunday 28th October at the Victoria Rooms in Bristol.
- Trees for Life has previously received a number of significant awards for its conservation work. In 2000, it gained the Millennium Marque Award as a project which 'demonstrates environmental excellence for the 21st century', while in 1991 it was declared the UK Conservation Project of the Year. It has also twice received the the Transco Grassroots Environmental Award, and awards from the Shell Better Britain campaign.
- The Restore the Earth project forms the focus of a major international conference, Restore the Earth!, which will be held at Findhorn during Easter Week, March 30 - April 5, 2002. Organised by the Findhorn Foundation and Trees for Life, it will bring together well-known international environmental leaders and delegates for an event which aims to catalyse significant practical action for the healing of the planet's ecosystems.
- The Schumacher Society carries forward the pioneering work of E.F. Schumacher, through the publication of special Schumacher Briefings and the annual Schumacher Lectures, which this year are being in Bristol, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and in Massachusetts (USA).
Further information is available from:
Alison Pritchard, Schumacher Awards
Tel: 01491 652346 - Fax: 01491 651804 - Email: pritchard@tp2000.demon.co.uk
Alan Watson Featherstone, Trees for Life
Tel: 01309 691292 - Fax: 01309 691155 - Email: trees@findhorn.org - Website: www.treesforlife.org.uk
Richard St. George, Schumacher Society
Tel/Fax: 0117 903 1081 - Email: schumacher@gn.apc.org - Website: www.schumacher.org.uk
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