[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 183 (Tuesday, November 29, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S6851]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO GREG GERRITT

 Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I rise today to honor an 
important advocate for environmental preservation and addressing 
climate change, Greg Gerritt. Mr. Gerritt has worked for the past 20 
years for the Environmental Council of Rhode Island, retiring in 
January of this year. He served as the coordinator for the Compost 
Initiative, which earned a 2012 EPA Region 1 Merit Award, and founded 
the Rhode Island Compost Conference. Last year, the Environmental 
Protection Agency awarded him an Environmental Merit for Lifetime 
Achievement.
  Mr. Gerritt grew up in New York City before earning a bachelor's 
degree in anthropology from University of Maine. He organized his high 
school's first Earth Day and has since continuously engaged across 
communities to support a sustainable green economy in Rhode Island. He 
founded and served on the board of the Environmental Justice League of 
Rhode Island, began the Buy Nothing Day Winter Coat Exchange, which has 
occurred on the day after Thanksgiving for over 20 years, and ran for 
mayor of Providence as a Green Party candidate. Mr. Gerritt also 
founded and is the watershed steward for Friends of the Moshassuck, an 
organization dedicated to preservation, restoration, and revitalization 
of the Moshassuck River. He created a wetland habitat by restoring a 
small stormwater drain in the North Burial Ground in Providence and, 
for over a decade, has produced about 1,500 videos documenting wildlife 
in this urban landscape and at locations around the Seekonk River.
  I am pleased to recognize Mr. Gerritt's accomplishments in 
environmental advocacy, justice, and preservation of natural resources 
and extend my appreciation for his work for our State and 
environment.

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