Meg McGuire, founder of Delaware Currents, is honored by PennFuture
| July 7, 2021
Meg McGuire, the founder, publisher and editor of Delaware Currents, an online news magazine dedicated to covering the Delaware River and its watershed, has been named PennFuture’s 2021 Woman of Environmental Media, Marketing and Communications.
The recognition honors a person who has established herself as “a credible source for presenting the public with information about climate, water issues, environmental stories and conservation-related current events.” The honoree can be a reporter, blogger, campaign organizer, NGO communications employee or a communications/social media volunteer.
McGuire founded Delaware Currents, a nonprofit news outlet, in 2015. Its mission? “We are better custodians of the river when we understand the river. All voices are welcome to this conversation.”
The site is dedicated to telling the stories of the river from its headwaters in the Catskill Mountains of New York to the Delaware Bay, where it meets the ocean.
At a time when legacy newsrooms in community and larger news outlets have dramatically shrunk and resources dedicated to environmental beats have all but disappeared, Delaware Currents stands out.
It is the only news source entirely dedicated to spotlighting news of the ecology, people, commerce and protection of the 330-mile river and a watershed that spans four states, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. McGuire is also almost always the only news reporter serving as a watchdog to the activities of the Delaware River Basin Commission.
Delaware Currents tells deeply reported, explanatory stories of the river that readers will not find anywhere else, such as the important role of dissolved oxygen and the Atlantic sturgeon, holding the state and federal governments accountable for their contributions to the Delaware River Basin Commission’s budget and explaining the complex moving parts behind a plan to export liquified natural gas from a river port.
McGuire’s prodding and birddog reporting is credited with the creation of a Congressional Delaware River Watershed Caucus that would look out for the basin’s interests.
“I deeply appreciate PennFuture’s recognition of my work,” said McGuire, who lives in Pike County, Pa. “Delaware Currents hosts an intelligent conversation about the river’s future, understanding that there is a natural tug-of-war among its stakeholders and that no one person, organization or business has all the answers.”
PennFuture works to protect public health, restore and protect natural resources and move Pennsylvania toward a clean energy future.
Each year, its Celebrating Women in Conservation Awards honor the accomplishments of women conservationists in Pennsylvania. The awards seek to forge a strong network of women committed to protecting Pennsylvania’s environment.
The 2021 awards celebration, on Sept. 9, will be a virtual/live hybrid online event in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Nominations were considered from: Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne, and Wyoming counties.
Other honorees include:
- Young Woman of Conservation Leadership: Hannah Burke of Schuylkill County, who is a senior at Blue Mountain Area High School and chief executive of Best Buds All Natural Gardening
- Woman of the Environmental Arts: Kelly Finan of Lackawanna County, a science illustrator/designer whose clients include the Children’s Discovery Museum, Clean Oceans International and Harvard University
- Woman of the Watershed: Elissa Garofalo of Carbon County, who is executive director for the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor and a board member of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas
- Woman of Environmental Justice: Rashida Lovely of Lackawanna County, who created the “Science in the Summer” programs for underprivileged families and promotes teaching black/brown/underserved communities how to value the environment
- Woman of Climate and Renewable Energy: Diana Dakey of Lackawanna County, who is a volunteer advocate for the environment and good government, through Protect Northern PA, PennFuture and League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County,
- Woman of Environmental Education: Dr. Jessica Nolan of Lackawanna County, who is professor of Conservation Psychology and director of the Environmental Studies Concentration at the University of Scranton and founder of Green Drinks Scranton
- Woman of Lifetime Achievement in Conservation: Marian Keegan of Pike County, who is president of Grey Towers Heritage Association and director of Community Conservation at Hemlock Farms Community Association
- Woman of Lifetime Achievement in Conservation: Dr. Laurie Goodrich of Schuylkill County, who leads Hawk Mountain Sanctuary’s local-to-global research and professional training programs as its Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science and who co-published Hawk Mountain’s first scientific paper on raptor migration trends
- Woman of Lifetime Achievement in Conservation: Heidi Secord of Monroe County, who is state president and board chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Farmers Union and a board member of the National Farmers Union and former board member for the Pennsylvania State Council of Farm Organizations
- Posthumous Woman of Lifetime Achievement in Conservation: Louise Dunlap (1946-2021), who was a vital liaison between the PA Abandoned Mine Land Campaign, legislators and staffers in Washington, D.C., who helped to advance the Reauthorization of the Abandoned Mine Land Trust Fund and the RECLAIM Act. She served on the boards of the League of Conservation Voters, the Clean Water Fund, Scenic America, the Environmental Policy Institute and the National Clean Air Coalition.