skip to Main Content

An evening to honor Karen Dorn Steele – Rich Landers – Julie Titone

Fact-based journalism is essential to protecting waters, forests, wildlife habitats, and cleaning up pollution in the Upper Columbia River Basin

Winter Waters Celebration is jointly hosted by Sierra Club’s Upper Columbia River Group and CELP to recognize and honor individuals, tribes, and organizations who have contributed significantly to protecting and restoring the waters of the Upper Columbia River.

When:  March 2 (Friday) 6:30 p.m. – 9:30

Where:  Spokane – historic Patsy Clark Mansion, 2208 W. 2nd Ave

What:  Honoring our heroes – also music, desserts and other small foods, wines

Tickets: $35 per person (purchase on-line or at the door – but please RSVP)

To help with this event and to RSVP contact:

Why we honor journalism in the Upper Columbia River Region

In the face of Russian propagandistic meddling via social media and the proliferation of “fake news” from individuals and groups with narrow political and social agendas, it is vital that the honorable work of journalists dedicated to truth and the common good be recognized and applauded. In the context of business and political interests concerned only about their bottom line and the commodification of nature and her life-supporting resources, it is essential that environmental journalism have rigorous ethical standards and be of the highest quality. Today as in every age, but particularly confronted as we are with the speed and quantity of what passes as news, we need journalists/reporters who not only are able to write a winsome phrase and paint a convincing verbal picture of our wildlife and landscapes, but who also love the earth and seek to support and honor its intricate web of life.

From asbestos contamination in Libby and lead contamination in Silver Valley to the toxic soup in the depths of Lake Coeur d’Alene and PCBs in the Spokane River, from the over-pumping of aquifers for golf courses and concentrated animal feeding operations to criminal secrecy about the environmental disaster at Hanford, from shenanigans at the waste-to-energy plant to the economic collusion and questionable management by the U.S. Forest Service, the journalists we honor with this year’s Watershed Hero Award have exposed incompetent, illegal, and even dangerous environmental practices to the light of day and advocated for a just and sustainable future.

The work of these three journalists has contributed to a just and intelligent public expectation of what is acceptable in a human-nature ethic. They have held public and private officials to higher standards, and perhaps most importantly, these journalists are a continuing example for others in the face of attacks on journalism and the environment.

_____________________

Sponsors for Honoring Journalism

Upper Columbia United Tribes  *  Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane  *   Eco Depot  *  Linda Greene  *  Suzy Dix  *  Linda Finney and Tom Soeldner  *  Andie Mark  *   Kathy Dixon   *  Fred Christ  *  Jeff Lambert  *  Eymann Allison Hunter Jones P.S.  *  Columbia Institute for Water Policy  *  John & Joyce Roskelley  *  Rachael & John Osborn

Back To Top