Rockhurst Senior Honored for Climate Protection Advocacy

Rockhurst senior Katie Scanlon was recognized by the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce with an Energy Booster Award for her work advocating for climate protection. She received the award Aug. 12 at the Chamber’s second annual Energy Policy and Climate Protection Symposium.

Among the three recipients of the Chamber’s Energy Booster Awards were Scanlon, right, and William Downey, president and CEO of Kansas City Power & Light. Photo by Bruce Mathews.

Scanlon spearheaded the organization of the Mayors Climate Protection and Sustainability Conference at Rockhurst last November. The event brought mayors from throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area together to talk about issues of sustainability and climate change. When area officials first planned to launch the mayors climate protection organization in Johnson County, Scanlon helped the Kansas leaders reach across the state line to include Missouri mayors in the program. The event culminated in the largest single-day signing of the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in the United States.

“We are hoping to create a regional change in terms of trying to do something to increase sustainability efforts,” Scanlon said. “Every city can do its part but a bigger impact on the problem requires regional support.”

Scanlon implemented plans for the conference with the support of Rockhurst’s Voices for Justice student organization, for which she serves as vice president and chair of the sustainability committee, and her father, Mike Scanlon, who is city manager of Mission, Kan.

“This is really a shared vision of a lot of people trying to move forward and work on the climate problem any way they can,” Scanlon said. “There is a problem, but there are solutions and it takes everyone thinking creatively to bring about a change.”