ASPEN, CO (July 27, 2010) The Aspen Institute last night awarded its 2010 Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Award for Non-Governmental Organization to the BlueGreen Alliance, a national strategic partnership of eight major U.S. labor unions and two of America’s largest environmental organizations working to expand the number and quality of jobs in the green economy.

“We are deeply pleased to receive the Aspen Institute’s 2010 Energy and Environment Award,” said David Foster, Executive Director of the BlueGreen Alliance. “In a tightly connected global economy, where the imperative to solve the climate crisis is interwoven with the aspirations of 6 billion people for a better life, any individual success of either the labor or environmental movements is now dependent upon their mutual success.”

According to The Aspen Institute, the awards “recognize and reward excellence for those making a real contribution to innovation, implementation, and communication of energy and environmental solutions,” and were presented during a special ceremony on July 26, 2010, during the Aspen Environment Forum, a public gathering of more than 300 thought leaders taking place July 25-28, 2010, in Aspen, Colorado.

Additional award winners included Amyris Biotechnologies for Corporate Innovation, The Building and Construction Authority of Singapore for Government, Architect Shigeru Ban for Visual Art and Design, and Stanford University Professor of Biology Gretchen Daily for Individual Thought Leadership.

“Workers across America are already building the infrastructure for the clean energy economy – whether producing the steel and manufacturing the parts for wind turbines or weatherizing our homes and retrofitting our businesses,” continued Foster. “Investments in our most pressing environmental challenges are the only viable solution to our systemic economic challenges – creating jobs while protecting the environment for future generations here in America and around the globe.”

-30-