When Birkley unexpectedly passed away, many people began to recognize and talk about the impacts he had on their lives and the way they thought about environmental issues. The conversations we started to have helped us understand how much of an impact he had on the people around him and in part inspired our effort to create the Birkley Heynen Environmental Foundation.
One of the earliest efforts to honor his legacy emerged through communication with the Director of UGA’s Office of Sustainability, Kevin Kirche. Because of the impacts Kevin witnessed interacting with Birkley as an intern through the office, as well as through Birk’s efforts to earn a sustainability certificate, Kevin approached us about creating an annual award in his honor. Kevin proposed the “Birkley Heynen Whale Fall Award” with this description:
“Birkley Heynen Whale Fall Award winners do all they can to help people and the environment in creative, exciting, and communal ways. Birkley Heynen was full of life and lived life to the fullest. He cared deeply about people and the environment, and he did all he could in life to help both. A “whale fall” occurs when a whale sinks to the depths of the ocean floor after death, and its presence creates complex localized ecosystem communities that supply sustenance to the deep-sea for decades. In so doing, the whale fall creates more abundant life.”
The inaugural winners of the award, Elizabeth Finley and Liora McElvaney, both exhibit the qualities this award aspires to represent from our perspective having gotten to know them both. And because of this we are grateful to both of them for agreeing to be on the advisory board for the Birkley Heynen Environmental Foundation. We look forward to meeting future winners and continuing to partner with UGA’s Office of Sustainability in this and other ways moving forward.
Photo credit: Amanda Rugenski
