His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I received on Friday the 2019 ECOS® Award for exceptional leadership in environmental protection, Greek Reporter announces.
The Ecumenical Patriarch received the prestigious award in honor of his lifetime of environmental advocacy and global influence on environmental protection.
The Award was presented to the Ecumenical Patriarch at his headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, by Earth Friendly Products’ president and CEO Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks.
Earth Friendly Products®, the maker of ECOS® environmentally friendly cleaning products, established the annual ECOS® Environmental Award to recognize world leaders who are creating powerful impacts to protecting our environment and the health of the earth’s citizens.
This is the third year that the award has been given; previous recipients include and California U.S. Senator and candidate for President of the United States Kamala Harris
It was first established in 2017, as Earth Friendly Products celebrated its 50th anniversary in business.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has played a critical role in environmental advocacy in his role as the leader of the Orthodox Christian Church, proclaiming the importance of spiritual values in determining environmental ethics and actions.
His life’s work to protect the environment earned him the title “Green Patriarch,” coined in 1996 and formalized by then-Vice President of the United States and fellow world leader in environmental protection Al Gore.
In 2008, Time magazine named Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew one of its 100 Most Influential People in the World for “defining environmentalism as a spiritual responsibility.”
Foto credit: EFP
