Hundreds of clean water supporters gathered on the Hudson River last night for Riverkeeper's Annual Fishermen’s Ball to honor the environmental advocacy of President Bill Clinton and Trudie Styler and Sting.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and John McEnroe were among the notables present, and guests were treated to a special musical performance by Rufus Wainwright. Riverkeeper presented its honorees with the inaugural “Big Fish” Award to recognize their extraordinary contributions to environmental protection.
Funds raised benefit Riverkeeper, New York’s clean water advocate.
President Bill Clinton has kept world attention focused on environmental issues such as climate change, clean water and public health throughout his presidency and in the years since he left office. Through the William J. Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative, President Clinton continues on his mission to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet today’s challenges. Programs such as the Clinton Climate Initiative are applying a business oriented approach to fight climate change and develop sustainable economic growth.
Trudie Styler and Sting continue to work passionately both individually and together in support of human rights and the environment across the globe, fighting for the principle that sound ecosystems are a basic human right. In 1989, Trudie and Sting started The Rainforest Foundation, an organization devoted to protecting rainforests and empowering the indigenous people living there. The organization has since expanded over three continents. During a trip to the Ecuadorian rainforest, Trudie witnessed the devastating pollution left in the region by international oil producers, resulting in the contamination of land and water throughout the region. She immediately galvanized UNICEF Ecuador to join with the Rainforest Fund and the Amazon Defense Fund in a project to install water filtration tanks that now provide clean, safe water to thousands of families for the first time in over thirty years.
For more than four decades, Riverkeeper has been the leader among environmental organizations in protecting the precious water resources that serve the citizens of the Hudson Valley and New York City. The organization has successfully prosecuted hundreds of environmental lawbreakers, prevented pollution of sensitive drinking water reservoirs upon which millions of people rely, and become the proud model for nearly 200 Waterkeeper Alliance programs across the world that now patrol and protect rivers, bays, lakes and streams on six continents.
