2025 Environmental Leadership Awardees

A pediatrician at the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Dr. Angelelli is a national leader in sustainable healthcare.  She co-founded Clinicians for Climate Action at UPMC, a grassroots network of over 500 clinicians committed to integrating sustainability into clinical practice. UPMC is the largest non-government employer in Pennsylvania, with a network of 40 hospitals and 100,000 employees. Under her leadership, the group helped shape UPMC’s climate strategy, including signing the Health and Human Services Climate Pledge, committing to a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emission by 2030, and supporting the creation of the UPMC Center for Sustainability in 2022. She applies systems thinking to connect environment, health equity, and community well-being. As a board member of Tree Pittsburgh, she helped bring the One Tree Per Child initiative to the city—planting 4,000+ trees with students in area schools—and is working to integrate urban greening into healthcare as a public health intervention.

The BCH Green Labs program has emerged as a leader in recycling and waste diversion, thanks to the dedication and ingenuity of its members. Through initiatives such as the lab plastics recycling program, a “second life” reuse effort for research ice packs, and an internal E-Waste swap shop, the program is reshaping how labs think about sustainability. Serving as a catalyst for these efforts, Chuck Blanchette has helped grow, inspire, and support this culture of innovation, while ensuring the credit belongs to the teams and partners who make it possible.

Through a multi-year collaborative process that began with a Mayor-appointed citizen Solid Waste Task Force and engaged elected officials, residents, businesses, service providers, non-profit organizations, and a reputable university, the City of Medford redesigned—and is now implementing—a municipal collection system that is reducing waste in support of its climate, community, and environmental goals.

NH Recycles is the nation's oldest and largest cooperative-model recycling nonprofit, partnering with communities to strengthen recycling through economic and environmentally sound solutions. They provide cooperative marketing, education, and technical assistance to their municipal members. Their proactive and timely efforts to increase knowledge of composting and food waste diversion were particularly impactful with the advent of New Hampshire's first food waste disposal ban. Ahead of the ban, NH Recycles developed several key programs including the state’s only Composting & Food Waste Diversion Map, an accessible online tool that makes it easier for residents and transfer stations to find locations for diverting food waste, thereby reducing reliance on landfills.