Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Receives the 2019 ECOS® Environmental Award
Earth Friendly Products®, Leading Green Cleaning Products Manufacturer, Recognizes the Global Spiritual Leader for His Lifelong Advocacy for Environmental Protection
Cypress, CA (August 5, 2019) – His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, on Friday received the 2019 ECOS® Award for exceptional leadership in environmental protection. The Ecumenical Patriarch received the prestigious award in honor of his lifetime of environmental advocacy and global influence on environmental protection.
Earth Friendly Products®, the maker of ECOS® plant-powered 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 the highest-ranking woman in U.S. history, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and California U.S. Senator and candidate for President of the United States Kamala Harris.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has played a critical role in environmental advocacy in his role as the spiritual leader of the second-largest Christian faith, 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” by then-Vice President of the United States and fellow world leader in the environmental movement Al Gore. Time Magazine named Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew one of its 100 Most Influential People in the World (in 2008) for “defining environmentalism as a spiritual responsibility.” He famously said that “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin.”
The 2019 ECOS® Environmental Award was presented to the Ecumenical Patriarch at his headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday by Earth Friendly Products’ President and CEO Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks (https://youtu.be/ewak5LghNJA).
Vlahakis-Hanks said, “His All-Holiness is truly one of the greatest environmental advocates in the world today, with a tremendous influence that is building greater awareness of the urgent environmental crises we face and clarifying our moral obligation to create real change for our planet.”
Also in attendance at the award ceremony was Mike Manatos, an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and President of Manatos & Manatos in Washington, D.C., who said, “We are honored and humbled that this pioneer in environmental protection through faith has received the ECOS Award. We are excited to also announce the establishment of the `Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Environmental Scholarship’ — a $1,000 scholarship, sponsored by ECOS® and Manatos & Manatos, that will be given each year to a student from his childhood home of Imroz, Turkey, who writes the best essay on the importance of protecting the environment.”
A family-owned and operated company for over 50 years, Earth Friendly Products® is a sustainable manufacturer that is the first to achieve the “trifecta” of carbon neutrality, water neutrality, and TRUE Zero Waste Platinum certification. The company uses 100% renewable energy to make its ECOS® plant-powered
cleaners at its U.S. facilities in California, Washington, Illinois, and New Jersey. ECOS® products are sold in over 60 countries, and since 2018 Earth Friendly Products® operates a manufacturing platform to service Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.