Honoree Receives Audubon/Toyota TogetherGreen Fellowship
New York, NY: A Myakka City, Florida woman is the recipient of a new national fellowship designed to advance the work of individuals with outstanding potential to help shape a brighter environmental future.
Penelope Bodry-Sanders is one of only 40 people selected from competitors nationwide for the TogetherGreen Conservation Leadership Program, part of a new conservation initiative of the National Audubon Society with support from Toyota. Fellows receive specialized training in conservation planning and execution, the chance to work and share best practices with gifted conservation professionals, and assistance with project outreach and evaluation. Each Fellow will also receive $10,000 towards a community-focused project to engage local residents in conserving land, water and energy, and contributing to greater environmental health.
Bodry-Sanders will focus her efforts on expanding the Teachers Institute for Conservation Biology, a program that helps high school teachers develop conservation ecology modules for their students. Held on the Lemur Conservation Foundation’s Florida reserve, the workshop provides knowledge, technological skills, hands-on fieldwork techniques, and cross-disciplinary curriculums (environmental art and music) that teachers can then pass on to their students. Teachers use concepts about lemur ecology and conservation as a way of challenging students to examine regional conservation issues and to become interested in biology and conservation.
Involved in conservation efforts for 25 years, Bodry-Sanders is currently the Executive Director of the Lemur Conservation Foundation. She began her career at the American Museum of Natural History in the early 1980s cutting her teeth on science and conservation as her duties morphed into several opportunities. Among others, she served as Museum archivist and then Education Coordinator for the Museum’s travel/study program. She parlayed those experiences into the creation of the Lemur Conservation Foundation in 1996. Since then, under her leadership, the Lemur Conservation Foundation has become a globally recognized environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the primates of Madagascar through captive breeding, scientific research, education and reintroduction.
Half of the TogetherGreen fellows come from within Audubon’s far-reaching national network; half channel their environmental efforts through other organizations.
“Penelope is the kind of person who can make a real difference in the health of our environment and the quality of our future,” said Audubon President John Flicker. “Each of our TogetherGreen Fellows demonstrates exceptional environmental understanding and commitment, combined with tremendous potential to inspire and lead others. Together, they represent the talented and diverse leadership the environmental community will need to tackle the huge challenges and opportunities confronting us now and in the years to come.”
“The beauty and magic of the TogetherGreen program is the effect of individual leaders and projects coalescing into a huge, powerful force that can help mend and protect our planet home,” said Bodry-Sanders.
Bodry-Sanders’ career has been broad and eclectic: she was a Dominican nun, Broadway actress and recording artist, and author, best known for her biography about one of the 20th Century’s greatest conservationists, “African Obsession – the Life and Legacy of Carl E. Akeley.”She is a member of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, a Fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographic Society in London, and is a frequent lecturer on conservation issues in the United States, Africa, and India.
“Toyota believes in the power of grassroots efforts to develop the environmental leaders of tomorrow,” said Patricia Salas Pineda, Group Vice President, Toyota Motor North America. “These 40 TogetherGreen Fellows will receive invaluable training for the future while immediately making a difference today with on-the-ground community projects.”
A complete list of TogetherGreen fellows can be found online at www.TogetherGreen.org/fellows.
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Myakka City Woman Singled Out for Environmental Leadership
