HKS represented at Green Carpet Awards

Kermit the Frog has nothing on Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) when it comes to being green. Several members of the HKS community are being honored at this year’s Green Carpet Awards.

The annual event celebrates staff, faculty and students who have made significant contributions to on-campus sustainability initiatives, including greenhouse gas emission reductions.

The winners are chosen based on leadership, creativity, innovation, their ability to influence many people and the duplicability of their efforts.

Lester Brown, M.P.A. ’62, will be honored with the Harvard Office for Sustainability’s first-ever Distinguished Service Award. Brown founded the Earth Policy Institute in 2001 to work toward an environmentally sustainable economy. Described by the Washington Post as “one of the world’s most influential thinkers,” Brown has been a prominent voice in interdisciplinary approaches to global-scale resource issues. He addresses political and natural tipping points in his most recent book, “World on the Edge.”

A student award goes to Illac Diaz, M.P.A./Mason Fellow 2012. Diaz is the founder and executive director of MyShelter Foundation. MyShelter is aiming to shed light on one million homes in the Philippines by 2012 through Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light), a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-friendly solar bottle light bulb to homes and communities around the world.

Dinali Abeysekera and Sharon Johnson are receiving staff awards at this year’s Green Carpet celebration.