News Release – Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming
April 20, 2023
Contact:
Zoraida Lopez-Diago
Vice President of Communications, Development & Strategic Partnerships | Glynwood
zlopez-diago@glynwood.org
Office: 845-265-3338 ext 135
Glynwood’s President Kathleen Finlay to be honored as a Recipient of the National Audubon Society’s 2023 Rachel Carson Award
Cold Spring, NY. – The National Audubon Society will honor Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming (Glynwood) President, Kathleen Finlay, with the Rachel Carson Award at the organization’s 20th Women in Conservation Luncheon at Bryant Park Grill in New York City on Thursday, May 4, 2023. Inspired by Carson, whose ground-breaking 1962 book “Silent Spring” helped launch the modern environmental movement, the award recognizes visionary women who demonstrate great leadership and commitment to conservation, both locally and globally.
As a non-profit executive and a connector of feminist leaders, Kathleen is passionate about advancing food, environmental and social justice. She has been a leader in the regenerative agriculture movement for most of her career and is particularly interested in empowering women and historically marginalized individuals to address our most pressing issues, especially humanity’s relationship with the natural world.
"I am tremendously honored to receive the esteemed Rachel Carson Award," says Finlay. "I am especially humbled to be amongst other notable women who have helped grow the conservation movement in so many unique ways and I look forward to furthering this work in a manner that is sustainable, equitable, accessible, and inclusive of all populations, for years to come."
Since arriving at Glynwood in 2012, Kathleen has refined its mission and expanded its impact, helping it become a leading organization in the world of progressive agricultural nonprofits. Under her direction, Glynwood is now a premier learning hub for food and farming professionals, an innovator of programs to increase access to regionally produced food while resourcing BIPOC, women, and LGBTQIA2S+ regenerative farmers, and provides a demonstration and training farm on the 250 acres the organization stewards.
Kathleen also founded and leads Pleiades, a membership organization working to advance women’s leadership in the sustainability movement. Through convenings and resourcing, Pleiades is supporting hundreds of female and genderqueer changemakers across the country.
“Audubon is proud to honor Kathleen as a conservation champion with the 2023 Rachel Carson Award,” said Elizabeth Gray, CEO of the National Audubon Society. “Her leadership in organic farming and commitment to creating a more sustainable future embodies the true spirit of the award. Through her innovative work, she is inspiring the next generation of young women to cultivate a life of empowerment and environmental activism.”
Previously, Kathleen was a Director of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment where she developed and shaped programs to educate communities about the correlation between human health and the global environment. Kathleen holds a degree in Biology from University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Science in Science Journalism from Boston University. She has authored numerous reports and publications and acts as an advisor to various organizations and councils, including Planet Women, Oxfam, the New York State Council for Hunger and Food Policy and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Agricultural Working Group. Kathleen was recently a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy of Rome.
Other recipients of the 2023 Rachel Carson Award are environmental activist Susanne Durst of McEnroe Organic Farm and Laura O'Donohue Founder and CEO Snow Hill Farm, LLC. “Audubon is proud to honor these conservation champions with the 2023 Rachel Carson Award,” said Elizabeth Gray, CEO of the National Audubon Society. “Their leadership in organic farming and commitment to creating a more sustainable future embodies the true spirit of the award. Through their innovative work, these passionate changemakers are inspiring the next generation of young women to cultivate a life of empowerment and environmental activism.”
Previous Award winners include Abigail Dillen President of Earthjustice; Gina McCarthy Former EPA Administrator and Professor of Public Health Practice at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Jamie Rappaport Clark President and CEO, Defenders of Wildlife; and Maya Lin Artist, Architect, and Environmentalist.
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About Glynwood
The Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming is one of the only food and agriculture nonprofits in the country working at a regional scale to transform our food system by serving changemakers and professionals; promoting health, prosperity, and cultural vibrancy; and addressing racism and inequity. Glynwood’s 225-acre working landscape is located in Cold Spring, NY, on the unceded territory of the Munsee Lenape peoples. Glynwood’s campus is home to the organization’s pasture-based livestock operation and certified organic vegetable operation, administrative headquarters, and program facilities. As part of our commitment to environmental health and responsible agriculture, all livestock enterprises are Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW); and cattle are Certified Grassfed by AGW.
Glynwood’s farm serves the community through a 200+ Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership, a publicly-accessible on-farm store, and donations to Hudson Valley food access organizations. All projects and initiatives are organized into two programmatic areas, Farmer Training and Regional Food Programs, which employ our four core strategies: training farmers and supporting future farmers, providing local food for every table, educating stakeholders to advance regional food, and building multi-stakeholder food system coalitions. For more information, visit www.glynwood.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @glynwoodorg
About Audubon Women in Conservation
Established in 2003 in honor of Rachel Carson, author and monumental figure of the modern environmental movement, Audubon Women in Conservation strives to recognize the female environmental leaders who change the world and inspire the next generation of young women who will join them in environmental careers and activism. Proceeds from the Audubon Women in Conservation luncheon support Audubon’s conservation efforts in New York and across the network. For more information, visit www.womeninconservation.org.
About Audubon
The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Audubon works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give Audubon an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, Audubon believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at www.audubon.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @audubonsociety.
