Judy Wicks issued a call to action for Philly’s sustainability community at the inaugural SustainPHL

Rhetorical Q: Could Philly’s sustainability community love Judy Wicks any more?

A: Probably not, as evidenced by the whoops and cheers she got during her big speech at the inaugural SustainPHL awards event on Thursday night.

The White Dog Cafe founder was surprised with the Sustainable Pioneer award on the WHYY stage before delivering a call to action for local businesses to collaborate in the fight for citywide sustainability.

“I realized it wasn’t enough” to simply run a sustainable business, said the so-called Founding Mother of Sustainability about her own entrepreneurial journey. “If I really cared about the people of Philadelphia getting access to healthy, local foods, instead of keeping our suppliers to ourselves, I would share that proprietary information with my competitors, and in that way, build a whole local food economy that shared these values.”

“I realized there was no such thing as one sustainable business,” she said. “We can only be part of a sustainable system, and we have to cooperate in order to build that system.”

Cue applause.

Here are all of your 2016 SustainPHL winners:

• Sustainable Pioneer — Judy Wicks
• Locavore Champion — Rad Dish Co-op 
• Neighborhood Champion — Sam Holloschutz of Fairmount Civic Association
• Impact Business Leader — Wash Cycle Laundry
• Unsung Hero — Nic Esposito of East Kensington Neighbors Association and Emerald Street Urban Farm
• Local Advocate — Saleem Chapman of Sustainable Business Network
• Civic Sustainability — Morris Holland Derry III of No More Pain Inc.
• Sustainability Communities — School District of Philadelphia’s GreenFutures
• Climate Hero — Green City Clean Waters of the Philadelphia Water Department
• Activist of the Year — Leroy Fisher of Hunting Park United
• Sustainability Mentor — Lamar Gore of John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge
• Business Innovation of the Year — GoodCompany Ventures
• #FuturePHL — Bicycle Coalition of Great Philadelphia

P.S. GoodCompany’s Garrett Melby had the crowd do Usain Bolt ‘s signature celebratory arm gesture. It looked pretty good, too.

Good effort, team. (Photo by Julie Zeglen)