Each year, during Women’s History Month, Americans remember and celebrate women from all walks of life who have shaped our nation.

March 13, the League of Women Voters of Island County and the Friends of the Coupeville Library, honored women, not in history, but in the present.

Environmental issues have become a national priority, and local women were celebrated for their sustainability efforts at the Coupeville Recreation Hall.

The honorees were Linda Bartlett, Rosehip Farm and Garden owner; Susan Berta, Orca Network co-founder; Karen Bishop, Whidbey Conservation District; Maribeth Crandall, City of Oak Harbor environmental educator; Cathy D’almeida, WSU Island County Extension Coupeville sustainability coordinator; Britta Eschete, People for Puget Sound; Judy Feldman, WSU Island County Extension acting director; Janet Hall, WSU Island County Extension WasteWise program coordinator; Val Hillers, Island County Planning Commission; Gretchen Luxenberg, National Park Service; Sarah Martin, WSU Island County Extension Beach Watchers program coordinator; Joyce Peterson, citizen active with National Park Service; Jan Pickard, Ebey’s Landing Trust Board president; Pat Powell, Whidbey Camano Land Trust; Vicki Robin, Transition Whidbey; Martha Rose, Island Transit director Sarah Schmidt, Whidbey Island Audubon Society president; Nancy Scoles, Whidbey Watershed Stewards; Sandra Stipe, Saratoga Community Housing; and Peg Tennant, Farmer’s Market.

At the event, “Women Taking the Lead to Save the Planet,” the women shared the personal and emotional connections to their work.

“Saving the planet means loving our planet. Seeing the special places and species on this planet begins with each of us finding that special connection, feeling the resonance within our hearts and acting with love and care to preserve what is left of this wonderful planet,” Susan Berta, co-founder of the Orca Network said.

Janet Hall, WSU Extension Wastewise Coordinator said, “When people have a connection to where they live, they want to take care of it and protect it as best they know how.”

The evening followed with a showing of the film “A Sense of Wonder” a play based on the life of Rachel Carson, environmentalist and activist. She first entered the public eye with the 1962 novel “Silent Spring” which addressed the dangers of chemical pesticides. Posthumously, Carson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.

“The women of our local community, both those honored and those who work without recognition, mirror the strength and passion with which Rachel Carson helped launched the modern environmental movement across our nation,” Sarah Martin of WSU Beach Watchers said in a press release.