From the CVSC Board Chair On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of Conservation Voters of South Carolina, I welcome you to the 2021 Green Tie Awards. The men and women we honor this evening are champions of our environment and have each demonstrated the progress that can be made when our leaders and communities come together in support of a common goal – protecting South Carolina’s air, land, and water. Their efforts have helped bridge political, economic, racial, and geographic divides to help build a safer, healthier, and more prosperous Palmetto State. We are thankful for their work, their leadership, and their vision. We know that their commitment to protecting South Carolina’s most precious natural resources will inspire not only those of us here virtually tonight, but also future generations of leaders who will work to protect the South Carolina we love. CVSC is a political and uncommonly bipartisan conservation organization. We educate candidates and the voters who elect them; we hold our elected leaders accountable; and we help unify the voices for conservation across the state, all toward protecting clean water, clean air, abundant wildlife, family farms and forests, and promoting efficient and clean energy. In 2021, CVSC’s work was guided by our organization’s core values: being an influential voice in the South Carolina Statehouse; bipartisanship; environmental justice and equity; and the advancement of climate solutions. We drove bold, forward-looking policy conversations about conservation. We helped pass landmark legislation with the Santee Cooper reform bill and were once again able to push back against risky industries trying to avoid environmental oversight. Our successes in 2021 are a testament to conservation’s bipartisan appeal and approach that CVSC and our partners were able to make progress on big conservation issues during a legislative session overshadowed by the impacts of COVID-19. Advancing pro-conservation policy in the General Assembly can be done only with a strong conservation network across the state. Despite the challenges of the past year and the political turmoil facing our state and nation, South Carolina’s conservation community stands together, stronger than ever. Thank you for standing with us.
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