Tanli Su, a student at Palo Alto High School, was the recipient of the inaugural Lennie Roberts Youth Award given by the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club for excellence in environmental advocacy. The award was given in recognition of Tanli’s superb leadership on the Climate Action Leadership Team’s Anti-Idling Carbon Emissions Reduction Campaign.
Shelly Gordon, who gave Tanli the award at the Guardians of Nature Fundraiser on October 27, 2017, said this about Tanli’s contribution:
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Tanli on the anti-idling ordinance project. She was instrumental in getting the ordinance passed by a unanimous vote in Palo Alto, without a doubt. She gave 2 presentations to city council and even engendered applause which is actually against attendee decorum! She initiated the anti-idling project at Hoover Elementary School in Palo Alto and was asked to speak before the PAUSD sustainability committee to spread the campaign to other elementary and middle schools in the district. And she has supported other anti-idling initiatives in Saratoga, Los Gatos and Los Altos by presenting to the city councils and supporting the efforts of the individuals pushing for ordinances in those communities.
But what I’d like to call out about Tanli is that she does all of this with grace, willingness, ease, good humor and persistence – all great qualities of an effective environmental activist. We need more young women like Tanli to take leadership roles and nurture their talents to carry on this important work.
Tanli has been an inspiration to not just the youths in our Chapter, but also to the many adults with whom she has worked. We look forward to Tanli’s future contributions to the environmental movement, and we thank Shelly Gordon for her excellent mentoring!