NRDC & LEXICON OF SUSTAINABILITY
ANNOUNCE THE “VOICES OF SOIL” ESSAY & VIDEO CONTEST
US Residents Ages 18-28 Encouraged to Submit Original Essays And/Or Videos
for National Contest
July 8, 2015 - Today the Lexicon of Sustainability and Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) announced the “Voices of Soil Essay and Video
Contest” in celebration of 2015, the International Year of Soils. The
contest is open to US Residents* ages 18-28 who are pursuing an education
or career in agriculture, environmental science, or other related fields,
and appreciates the value of healthy soil.
“Essentially, all life depends upon the soil...There can be no life without
soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together” (Charles E.
Kellogg, USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, 1938).
How the Contest Works
The contest will be open for submissions July 8, 2015 on the Soil Contest
page of the Lexicon of Sustainability website. Entries must answer one or
more of the following questions:
1. WHY IS SOIL HEALTH IMPORTANT TO YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY?
2. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND
A HEALTHY CLIMATE?
3. WHY IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOIL AND WATER IMPORTANT?
A panel of judges, representing the leading voices in agriculture, will
select eight contest winners by mid-September. A total of $5000 in prizes
will be awarded as follows.
One (1) grand prize winner will receive $1000 for best overall written
essay.
One (1) grand prize winner will receive $1000 for best overall video essay.
$500 will be awarded each for best written and video essays addressing
prompt 1.
$500 will be awarded each for best written and video essays addressing
prompt 2.
$500 will be awarded each for best written and video essays addressing
prompt 3.
In addition to cash prizes, winning essays and videos will be publicized by
Lexicon of Sustainability, NRDC, and our partners through online and social
media.
About Lexicon of Sustainability
The Lexicon of Sustainability gathers the most compelling ideas and
sustainable solutions in food, farming, water and energy and translate them
into short films, information artworks, traveling exhibits, books and
educational curricula that are designed to change the way people use our
most valued resources. By distributing these stories through grassroots
networks, social media and across the web the Lexicon delivers powerful
tools and momentum to the hard working groups and individuals creating real
change in the environmental movement. Our goals and objectives are to
activate changes in behavior by introducing a powerful, solution-oriented,
consumer motivating, community-building, industry-uniting tools: words.
About NRDC
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit
environmental organization with more than 2 million members and online
activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental
specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public
health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington,
D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing.