Roanoke’s Diana Christopulos Earns Cox Conserves Hero Award

Posted on October 29th, 2019

Roanoke’s Diana Christopulos is the top winner in the 2019 national Cox Conserves Hero program.

The mainstay in the Appalachian Trail Club and Blue Ridge Land Conservancy gets $60,000 for environmental nonprofits. Winners are selected by state and then voted on nationally.

From Christopulos on Facebook: “We won the national contest!! $50,000 from Cox Conserves for protection of lands along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia (on top of $10,000 for winning state of Virginia). Rascals from Cox, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Blue Ridge Land Conservancy and of course Rupert Cutler (who nominated me) surprised me at Mill Mountain coffee shop in Salem – and all the local media were there. Wow. Thanks again to all who supported me. We got twice as many votes as last year’s national winner.”

Here’s what Cox Conserves had to say about her in announcing the award:
“Why Diana? People in her community and across the country voted for Diana because of her passion for the environment and the wide scope of her volunteer work. Along with serving on the Presidents Leadership Council of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club, Diana is also helping support sustainability as:
    • President of the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy, the region’s largest private land conservation organization.
    • Co-Founder and Past President of the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, which led the campaign to have local governments determine their carbon footprints and reduce their energy consumption.
“Diana’s a leading voice to reduce the region’s carbon footprint, save public and private open spaces and minimize the adverse environmental impact of development projects. She frequently educates the public on conservation issues, often through op-eds in the Roanoke Times. She even helped persuade the Mountain Valley Pipeline to relocate its pipeline route to mitigate the environmental impact.”
Learn more in her Cox Conserves video here.