Muslim Journal Newswire
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 26, 2020) – Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore presented the Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award to global climate activist Nana Firman at the 44th Climate Reality Leadership Corps Global Training, July 26, 2020.
This was a virtual event to train attendees with practical skills and knowledge to build an equitable and inclusive movement for climate action and climate justice. The award honors Climate Reality Leaders who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to their roles as climate communicators and activists.
The latest honorees – Nana Firman, Gloria Kasang Bulus, Ximena Loría, and Tim Guinee – have led efforts to educate their communities about the climate crisis, worked to build support for critical solutions, and collectively mentored hundreds of trainees through the process of becoming a Climate Reality Leader.
Previously called the Green Ring Award, the Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award was recently renamed to honor the life and legacy of former Brazil Branch Director and climate champion Alfredo Sirkis, who passed earlier this year. His family honored his request that he go to his final rest wearing his Climate Reality green ring.
“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, community-based leadership we need to solve the climate crisis and create a better future for ourselves and future generations.”
Nana Firman is the Muslim outreach director for GreenFaith, an international multi-faith partnership that engages faith communities in environmental leadership and action. Since training as a Climate Reality Leader in Melbourne in 2009, she has worked with various organizations to raise awareness of the climate crisis and advocate for improving urban sustainability and building a green economy.
After earthquakes and tsunamis impacted her native home of Indonesia, Nana worked with the World Wildlife Fund to direct green recovery efforts in the country. In 2015, she was named a White House Champion of Change for Climate Faith Leaders by former President Barack Obama.
The Climate Reality Leadership Corps Global Training is the 44th Climate Reality Leadership Corps training, and the first to be held entirely in a virtual format. In response to COVID-19, Climate Reality moved programming online to ensure that climate activists around the world could participate in the movement for climate solutions safely and effectively.
More than 10,000 people signed up for the virtual training, which included educational panel discussions, keynotes, and presentations from world-class scientists, NGO and business leaders, and grassroots organizers.
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 build public awareness of global climate challenges, share the good news about the practical solutions in our hands today, and strengthen public support for leaders at all levels of society, who are committed to climate action.
Climate Reality will hold its next virtual training from August 28–September 3, 2020. For more information about the Climate Reality Leadership Corps program, and to learn how to participate in the next training, please visit https://www.climaterealityproject.org/training.
ABOUT NANA FIRMAN: Nana is a native Indonesian who believes that environmental degradation and climate change can unite the world community to face the challenges together with a deep commitment to sustainability and environmental justice for all people.
She has almost two decades of experience working with awareness-raising on current environmental degradation and climate crisis, advocating urban sustainability for a better future and developing green economy concepts and strategies.
She previously worked with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Indonesia, directing the Green Recovery efforts in the wake of 2004 earthquake and tsunami, and later developed a Sustainable City Initiative as part of urban climate adaptation and mitigation, in which she also engaged with Muslim leaders to create climate resiliency plans.
Upon moving to the U.S. in 2012, she has been involved in developing a community garden and encouraging the American Muslim community to practice eco-lifestyle, which prompted her to initiate Green Masjid Project for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
In 2015, she organized the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change and later co-founded the Global Muslim Climate Network (GMCN), which calls to all Muslim nations to transition from fossil-fuel to clean-energy based development.
Nana was named as the White House Champion of Change for Climate Faith Leaders by President Barrack Obama. And recently, she received a Green Ring Award for climate activism excellence from former Vice President Al Gore.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and a Master of Science in Urban Design from Pratt Institute, New York. Nana is currently the Muslim Outreach Director for GreenFaith, a global faith and spiritual environmental action network.
She lives in California with her husband, Jamal Yusuf Ali, a U.S. Navy Veteran, and an entrepreneur.
ABOUT THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT: Founded by Nobel Laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, The Climate Reality Project is working to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every sector of society.
With a global movement of more than 5 million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Reality Leader activists, we are spreading the truth about the climate crisis and building popular support for clean energy solutions.
For more information, visit www.climaterealityproject.org or follow the organization on Twitter at @ClimateReality.
#ClimateReality