Congratulations, Bonnie Pooley!

Bonnie Pooley at Step Falls.

Hearty congratulations to Bonnie Pooley, who will be honored this week by the Natural Resources Council of Maine; their People’s Choice Award notes “her outstanding success in engaging young people in the work of protecting Maine’s environment.” Bonnie is grateful for all who supported her in this selection and says that the award “means a lot to me. It validates all the work I have been doing over fifty years to make our community (and the world) a better, healthier place to live. I also see myself as a representative of the many, many others who are tirelessly contributing in our small, positive ways.”

Bonnie’s environmental experience began on the very first Earth Day (April, 1970), when she organized her young environmentalist students at Mount Pleasant High School in Delaware for a day of learning about environmental issues.

In 1973 she came to Gould Academy, partly because of Maine residents Scott and Helen Nearing, gurus of the Back to the Land movement, whom she later visited with a group of students. In her 35 years at Gould she organized Earth Day celebrations and started Gould Goes Green. Since her retirement, her passion has been directed toward protecting treasured lands from development through the Mahoosuc Land Trust and growing local food to encourage healthy eating in western Maine communities.

For more information about Western Mountains Senior College visit our website at http://sad44.maineadulted.org/western_mountains_senior_college