When you’re Robert Mosier, it’s easy to be green. He’s a native of Greensburg, Kansas; the community totally leveled in 2007 by a devastating tornado and rebuilt “green” by USDA and other federal agencies, state and local entities, nonprofit organizations and individuals like Mosier.
Mosier is involved in an impressive number of green activities. He is a board member of Greensburg Green Town, a non-profit that promotes green building and living; he has started local recycling programs; and he travels the U.S. promoting and educating people on “going green,” green building and green living.
Now this “green” Kansan is being nationally recognized for his volunteer work to improve the environment. An independent committee recently named Mosier the national 2011 Earth Team Individual Volunteer Award winner by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Earth Team volunteers—more than 32,000 last year—assist NRCS with its conservation work on private lands across the United States.
Mosier has been recognized as a conservation leader in south central Kansas for many years, and he has been a member of the Earth Team since 2006. Mosier volunteers through two NRCS offices: Sunflower Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) council, which is involved in locally led environmental and economic projects, and the Greensburg Field Office, which works with private landowners on soil and water resource concerns.
As an RC&D volunteer, he led in the establishment of the Sunflower Regional Recycling Program and he aids in the collection of electronic waste in Kiowa County. He also assists with the collection of bicycles to be refurbished and recycled in the “Bikes for Youth” program and participates in the “Kansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry” program by distributing processed and frozen deer meat.
Kansas NRCS State Conservationist Eric B. Banks praises Mosier’s selection, saying, “His work shows great innovation and environmental passion. As a member of our Earth Team volunteer program, he is helping Kansas and the nation green-up, recycle, and grow.”
Earth Team is the official volunteer arm of NRCS. Nationally, in 2010, Earth Team volunteers donated 641,549 hours of service to NRCS worth $13.4 million. Since being formed in 1985, over a half-million Earth Team volunteers have donated $327 million worth of time, in 2010 dollars, to help NRCS with its conservation mission.
