On September 17, Stroud Water Research Center in Chester County hosted more than 250 guests filled the Galleries Reception Atrium at Winterthur and listened as His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco began his speech:
“‘Water is the principal element of all things. All things are water,’ said Thales of Miletus many, many years ago. It is for this reason that water should bring us together — because water, after all, allows us to identify the majority of dysfunctions in our world, to understand them, to measure their impact, but also to remedy them.”
After his remarks, Stroud Water Research Center presented Prince Albert with the Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence.
The award honors individuals, institutions, or organizations whose work contributes broadly to the conservation and protection of freshwater resources and ecosystems, to improving the quantity and quality of fresh water on the planet, or to developing policies and practices which help perpetuate clean fresh water for future generations and wildlife.
Stroud Center President and Distinguished Scientist Bern Sweeney, Ph.D., said, “We are extremely pleased to tell you that tonight’s awardee, Prince Albert II of Monaco, has contributed to all three of these areas. … A sustainable supply of clean fresh water is absolutely fundamental to all of life in our watersheds as well as in our oceans. The three primary areas of interest of Prince Albert and his foundation are water, biodiversity, and climate change, and oh, by the way, they happen to overlap completely with the mission of Stroud Water Research Center.”
Since 1967, Stroud Water Research Center scientists and educators have been working to advance new knowledge about how healthy streams and rivers function, studying more than 2,000 rivers and streams around the world, teaching several thousand children and adults about freshwater science and stewardship each year, and working with landowners to restore healthy waterways in the Delaware River Basin and beyond.
Sweeney continued, “This award to Prince Albert really celebrates our common commitment to the environment — the Stroud Center being a fact-finding, non-advocacy organization, and His Serene Highness being an enlightened leader supporting exemplary environmental actions and policies in Monaco and around the world. We know that he has pushed for the development of very specific things like public transportation, ecological vehicles, renewable energies, high-quality environmental buildings, and so on and so forth. And we know that progress on all those fronts saves enormous quantities of fresh water and goes a long way in protecting the quality of freshwater resources.”
The award ceremony was held in conjunction, as it is every year, with the Stroud Center’s annual fundraising gala, The Water’s Edge. This year’s event was momentous, as it was the 15th annual gala, with Wilmington Trust as the presenting sponsor, and the 50th anniversary of Stroud Water Research Center.
(Photo: Bern Sweeney, PhD, Stroud Water Research Center President and Distinguished Scientists presented His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco with Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence.)
For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the Stroud Water Research Center website, Click Here to become a Friend Of Stroud Research, Like them on Facebook, Follow on Twitter, include them in your Circle on Google+ and visit their YouTube Channel.
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