The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment today announced the winner of the 2009 Anthony Grassroots Prize, an annual $1,000 Earth Day cash award recognizing outstanding examples of grassroots environmental stewardship. The 2009 Anthony Grassroots Prize winner is Community ORV Watch, along with its founder, Phillip Klasky. Community ORV Watch will receive a $1,000 award from the Rose Foundation, which administers the Anthony Prize.
The Anthony Grassroots Prize was endowed by Juliette Anthony, a lifelong environmental activist who has received wide recognition for her work in protecting the Santa Monica Mountains, banning the toxic gasoline additive MTBE, promoting solar power, and publicizing the negative environmental impacts of ethanol, as well as her work as a legislative and regulatory consultant in renewable energy. Ms. Anthony, who chairs the prize jury, offered the following statement about this year’s selection of Community ORV Watch. “Protecting the desert, both for the native species, plant and animal, who need our watchful protection, and for those who visit the desert for its peace, COW does essential work. We are delighted to award COW this year’s Anthony Prize.”
The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment is a grantmaking public charity dedicated to supporting community-based initiatives to protect the environment and public health. For more information about the Anthony Prize, Prize Chair Juliette Anthony, or the Rose Foundation, visit www.rosefdn.org, or call (510) 658-0702.