Oct 08 2009

The Envelope, Please...

Posted by: Katie Romans

It's that time of year again. Yesterday, PG&E held its annual Richard A. Clarke Environmental Leadership Awards Ceremony to recognize PG&E employees that have made outstanding contributions to PG&E's environmental leadership efforts.

Nominations included more than 500 employees in 75 different departments across the company. Nominations ranged from efforts in compact fluorescent lamp recycling, to climate change studies on California's declining snowpack, to an Avian Protection Plan Training team, to a Bike to Work Day team.

Leonard Robinson, federal liason for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control delivered the event's keynote speech, concluding with a nautical metaphor for the audience. "As we sail in this green economy, we need to think of the three ships: leadership, partnership and stewardship. But, no matter what the ship, we're all in the same boat together." 

With this, Mr. Robinson provided a fitting transition to presenting the Clarke Award finalists and winners. Winners received a plaque made from recycled glass and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood and a $10,000 contribution to an environmental or environmental justice nonprofit organization of their choice.

PG&E Corporation CEO Peter Darbee, Clarke Award Winner Jan Grygier and PG&E Utility President Chris Johns

The 2009 Clarke Award winner for individual environmental leadership is Jan Grygier for waste minimization at PG&E's General Office. Jan "trash talked" his way to the gold by conducting employee demonstrations in which he dug through break room trash cans to educate employees about composting, recycling and waste reduction. Jan chose to contribute his $10,000 donation to San Francisco Save the Bay, the largest regional organization working to protect, restore and celebrate San Francisco Bay.

Jan's fellow Clarke Award finalist for individual environmental leadership is JD van Wyhe for his Hydrogen Fuel Cell program, which provides cleaner back-up power for some of PG&E's telecommunications sites and automatically powers up during outages to keep company assets like radio and fiber optic equipment operational.

The 2009 Clarke Award winner for team environmental leadership is the California Academy of Sciences partnership team for collaborating with the Academy to support the grand opening of its world-class facility through environmental and sustainability education, with the goal of inspiring Californians to take steps to fight climate change. In her award acceptance speech, Team Lead Andrea Gooden noted PG&E's history with the California Academy of Sciences, which stretches back to the early 1950s. The California Academy of Sciences Partnership team chose to donate their $10,000 contribution to none other than the Academy of Sciences.

The team's fellow Clarke Award finalists for team environmental leadership include the Business and Consumer Electronics program team, which launched the nation's first program to address the growing energy load from electronics. Joining this team as a finalist is the Green Supply Chain program team, which boasts a voluntary engagement of more than 35 suppliers that have joined PG&E in implementing a variety of innovative projects not only to reduce the environmental impact of their operations, but also to generate bottom-line cost savings.

Left to Right: Peter Darbee, Stephanie Isaacson, Ken Brennan, Karalee Browne, Robert Parkhurst, Susie Martinez, Mariana Hernandez, Hal La Flash, Andrea Gooden, Brandon Hernandez, Barbara Contreras, Chris Johns

Congratulations to all PG&E's 2009 Clarke Award winners for their exceptional environmental leadership!

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