Presented by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Dec. 14, 2015) — Christy Lee Brown of Louisville has been presented with the Biological Diversity Protection Award by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (KSNPC).
The annual award is given to an individual or organization that has made a significant contribution to the knowledge and protection of Kentucky’s biodiversity.
“Brown is truly an international leader promoting a holistic understanding and appreciation of the earth and its environs,” said Don Dott, executive director of KSNPC. “She leads and inspires others in the fields of sustainable food production, environmental quality and its fundamental role in human health, the interrelatedness of our natural systems, and of biodiversity protection and the conservation of land.”
Brown is on the board of the London-based Sustainable Food Trust, which is committed to exploring solutions for a food production system that causes the least possible harm to both humans and the environment, seeking to create a global food movement.
She is a co-founding board member of the Berry Center whose purpose is to collect and archive the papers of Kentucky poet and author, Wendell Berry. The Berry Center focuses on land use policy, farm policy, local food infrastructure, urban understanding and misunderstanding about farms, all affect their well-being. The Berry Center is putting Wendell Berry’s writings to work by advocating for farmers, for communities to conserve land and by bringing a spotlight to the central issue of our time: a healthy and sustainable agriculture in this country.
The latest project in Brown’s community service is founding and chairing The Institute of Healthy Air, Water and Soil, whose purpose is to bring about change that will enable people to live healthier lives, by helping people understand how to clean up our natural environment and why it needs to be done.
To further the work of the Institute and KSNPC, Brown provided a grant through the Owsley Brown Charitable Foundation to enable the commission to reprint “Kentucky’s Natural Heritage, An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity.” This second printing of the biodiversity guide includes an attribution by the Institute of Healthy Air, Water and Soil recognizing the book for its inspiration. The Foundation’s grant will spread this inspiration to our youth, making the book available in Kentucky’s middle and high schools, colleges and universities.
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