Bellmon Award Winners – Leaders in Sustainability
Congregation B’Nai Emunah, Tulsa Zoo, Tulsa Community College, and Covanta honored at quarterly Business-to-Business Event
(Tulsa, OK – December 17, 2018) Sustainable Tulsa hosted their quarterly Business-to-Business series on November 29th at the University of Tulsa. The event honored this years’ Bellmon Sustainability Award winners Congregation B’Nai Emunah, Tulsa Zoo, Tulsa Community College, and Covanta as top performers in the sustainability field in lowering their triple bottom line: people—profit—planet.
Bellmon winners were selected from a group of Sustainable Tulsa Scor3card™ verified companies, in small, medium, large, and overall winner categories. The Scor3card™ is Tulsa’s first business sustainability assessment tracking tool. The award is named after Henry Bellmon, the first governor of Oklahoma, and later a two-time U.S. Senator. In addition to being a great statesman, Bellmon was a farmer and conservationist and was considered a pioneering champion of sustainability, long before the term became part of our common lexicon.
Henry Bellmon’s daughter Ann Denney was on hand to present the awards. “My father was a passionate environmentalist and I am honored to continue his legacy with the presentation of this year’s Bellmon Sustainability Awards,” said Denney.
“The Scor3card™ validates what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” stated Overall Bellmon Award Winner, Matt Newman, director of Business Management at Covanta, which converts waste from the City of Tulsa and surrounding communities and businesses into clean, renewable energy. “The tool helped us focus on ways we can continuously improve in all aspects of sustainability – people, planet and prosperity. For example, we made an investment in LED lighting. It’s a lot brighter and the work environment is safer – that’s the people part. The change also benefits the planet by saving on electricity and adds to our prosperity by allowing us to sell more energy to the grid. Newman indicated that Covanta has been focusing on sustainability for 30 years. “At Covanta, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do,” concluded Newman.
“Sustainability is an essential part of every business, every industry, every organization,” stated Robert Katz, professor of Music & Humanities at Tulsa Community College. TCC won the Bellmon Award in the large business category. “The Scor3card™ addresses people, planet, profit. From a profit standpoint, we’ve been able to save 1.2 million dollars over the past two years,” claimed TCC President, Leigh Goodson. “Sustainable Tulsa’s Scor3card™ puts a specific number to the efforts we’ve been able to maintain. The tool is invaluable.”
Tulsa Zoo, Bellmon winner in the medium-size business category, approaches sustainability and green practices as a fundamental value that moves them toward their goal of environmentally neutral operations. “Just in the last 2 years of our Scor3card™, TZMI has invested $15,000 in a lighting upgrade initiative, resulting in over 800 new LEDs now in place and reflecting a substantial 85% reduction in overall lighting energy use and annual savings of $175,000,” stated Special Projects Manager, Jarrod Wyatt. “One of the key components for our success is both employee and community engagement and cooperation,” said Curator of Conservation & Scientific Advancement, Ric Kotarsky.
Bellmon winner in the small business category is Congregation B’nai Emunah. “We’ve
diverted one ton of food from dumpster to compost in first month of being in Sustainable Tulsa’s Scor3card™ program,” said Rabbi Dan Kaiman. “Sustainability is an enactment of Jewish values,” continued Kaiman. “Our goal is to model sustainable behaviors and practices for our congregation and staff. We hope this fosters changes in their businesses and homes as well.”
Over 32 winners have been honored between 2010 and 2017. In 2018 the event was renamed the Bellmon Awards and presented solely by Sustainable Tulsa.
