Stoss receives green award from National Library of Aruba

Environmentalist Frederick Stoss, UB associate librarian and subject specialist for biological and environmental sciences and mathematics, recently received the first Friend of the Biblioteca Nacional Aruba (BNA, National Library of Aruba) Award for his work with the BNA in green education programming and for helping to create the library’s Caribbean Energy, Environmental and Sustainability Program.

The award was made at the third annual Green Education Symposium Aruba, held April 7 to 11 at Cas di Cultura in Oranjestad, Aruba, and attended by more than 2,700 students and experts in many aspects of ecological science and sustainability.

The theme of this year’s symposium, “Sustainable Food Supply,” addressed students’ concerns about nutrition, health, sustainable production and recycling. This year, Aruba imported virtually all of its food.

The event was sponsored by a number of environmental and educational organizations, as well as publicly held Aruban corporations. The opening talk was delivered by Mike G. Eman, prime minister of Aruba.

Stoss’ Aruba connection was made about six years ago when he gave a keynote address, “Sustainable and Green @ your Library,” for the annual meeting of the Association of Caribbean Universities, Research and Institutional Libraries in the French Antilles. Concerned about his “carbon footprint,” he requested and was given an opportunity to give a Caribbean perspective of climate change.

Stoss’ presentation impressed the Aruban contingent, who invited him to be part a speakers’ series hosted by the National Library of Aruba and the University of Aruba. He was invited back a year later for their annual “Green Aruba” conference, and in 2012 he was featured at Aruba’s first environmental education symposium.

Stoss has been a dedicated environmental researcher and advocate since his student days. He holds degrees in biology, zoology and information studies, has conducted a decade of research in toxicology and environmental health, and has dedicated his professional life to sustainability research and environmental advocacy.

As a graduate student, he built the first national acid rain database from the ground up. That project led to his work as a co-editor for “Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change,” the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s award-winning comprehensive global climate change reference work. Stoss worked at Oak Ridge while conducting research at the University of Tennessee. 

He has more than 100 articles and more than 100 professional presentations in the areas of environmental science and library science to his credit, and has been cited as a climate leader in the United States by the Climate Reality Project, which is dedicated to unleashing a global cultural movement demanding action on the climate crisis.

Stoss has planned, written and presented many programs on sustainability for the American Library Association, and has served on the editorial and advisory boards of the Book Industry Environmental Council, Blackwell’s Abstracts on Hygiene and Communicable Diseases (CABI), and Electronic Green Journal.

In September, he was invited to present a lecture on the “Role of STEM Data and Information in an Environmental Decision-making Scenario: The Case of Climate Change” for the Science-Based Policy Development in the Environment, Food, Health and Transport Sectors Symposium at the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting.

His honors include the Outstanding Member Award, Environment and Resources Management Division, Special Libraries Association.