The Tica biologist, Ximena Loría Espinoza, founder and Executive Director of the environmental organization “2 Grados”, received the international award “Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring“. The global award was awarded at the 44th ClimateRealityLeadership Corps Global Training, led by the Nobel laureate and former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore.
This award honors the leaders of the Climate Reality Project who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to their roles as climate communicators and activists. In this last edition -which due to the world situation was carried out virtually-, apart from the Costa Rican, the following people were also awarded: Nina Firman (Indonesia), Gloria KasangBulus (Nigeria) and Tim Guinee (United States).
All four have led efforts to educate their communities about the climate crisis, have worked to build support for critical solutions, and have mentored hundreds of participants collectively in their process of becoming Climate Reality leaders.
“Nana, Gloria, Ximena and Tim exemplify the purpose and heart of what it means to be a Climate Reality leader,” said Al Gore. “Their tireless dedication to educating and mobilizing people around urgent climate action is exactly the kind of inclusive and community-based leadership we need to solve the climate crisis and create a better future for ourselves and future generations,” said the former Vice president of the United States.
Ximena was trained as a Climate Reality Leader in Houston, Texas in 2016. In Costa Rica, she focuses her work on sustainable development and the creation of innovative spaces for public participation, with special emphasis on youth.
“It is a great honor for me to receive this recognition, as the ClimateRealityLeadership Corps is made up of more than 21,000 incredible leaders from around the world. However, the fight against climate change transcends the personal level, since we need to involve each citizen, organizations, private companies, and public institutions, to promote the creation of laws that promote a development model that is economically, environmentally and socially viable, putting aside once and for all the unsustainable idea within the current and future world context of a supposed development based on oil ”, indicated Ximena.
The Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award
Formerly named the Green Ring Award, the Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award was recently renamed to honor the life and legacy of the former director of the regional office in Brazil and climate champion Alfredo Sirkis, who passed away earlier this year. His family complied with his request to be buried wearing the organization’s green ring.
This 44th edition of the Global Climate Reality Leadership Corps training is the first to be conducted entirely in a virtual format. In response to COVID-19, the organization adopted online programming to ensure that climate leaders around the world could participate in this movement safely and effectively. More than 10,000 people signed up for virtual training, which included panel discussions, keynotes, and presentations from world-class scientists, NGOs, business leaders, and grassroots organizations.
Upon completion of the program, participants joined a network of more than 21,000 climate reality leaders from 154 countries around the world. These activists work together to raise public awareness of global climate challenges, share good news about the current practical solutions at our fingertips, and strengthen public support for leaders at all levels of society who are committed to climate action.
