Helen & Art Tanderup
Art Tanderup was honored at Earth Day Omaha 2018 with the “Lifetime Achievement” Friend of the Environment Award
Art & Helen Tanderup in front of the solar array on their farm in Neligh, NE.

Art Tanderup — a Nebraska farmer and retired teacher and union rep. — as well as Pipeline Fighter, Water Protector, Ponca corn-planter, solar booster, tractor–crop–artist, Washington Monument reflecting pool-wader, and host of the famous “Harvest the Hope” #NoKXL benefit concert with Neil Young and Willie Nelson — was honored at this year’s Earth Day Omaha celebration with the “Friend of the Environment Award” for Lifetime Achievement.

Congratulations to Art and Helen Tanderup and family on this much-deserved honor!

Here were Art’s remarks upon receiving the reward:

We are honored and humbled to receive this award. Our deepest appreciation Earth Day Omaha and all involved. Events like this do much to educate about the crisis that our Mother is facing.

Around 30 years ago, I spent much time on the hill behind you, learning, teaching and becoming. It is so crucial that our schools, colleges and universities continue to teach a full curriculum that includes science, problem solving and critical thinking.

Helen and I have always believed in being good stewards: however, protecting Creation became our number one priority in May of 2012. A foreign corporation declared war on the natural resources, the water, the people, and the creatures around us. It has not been easy, but there are many like us. We will continue to stand up to the greed that cares not what it destroys.

Our Mother is screaming at us to change our priorities. She says we must:

Reuse and recycle.
Grow flowers and trees and don’t kill the bees.
Protect our water. That includes our precious Ogalalla Aquifer.
Move rapidly from fossil fuels to renewable energies.
Create healthy soils that sequester carbon.
Move to regenerative agriculture that sustains healthy food and fiber.

Yes, we can! And much more.

Our friend Neil Young once sang out across the heartland, These words:

“Who’s gonna stand up to save the earth?” You could hear it for miles across the prairie. “Who’s gonna stand up to save the earth?” The most beautiful sound was 8600 people answering the call “We will, we will!” So I ask you today, Who’s gonna stand up to save the earth?

WATCH: Neil Young “Who’s Gonna Stand Up?” at Harvest the Hope concert on Tanderup Farm (9/27/14)

WATCH: “Nebraska Farmer Politely Schools Fox News Host On Dangers Of Keystone XL Pipeline”

WATCH: Sacred Ponca Corn Planting on Tanderup Farm, 2017.

Rosebud Sioux member Wizipan Little Elk and Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup risk arrest by walking into the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument with a #NoKXL banner during the “Reject & Protect” rally in 2013. (Photo: Mary Anne Andrei)
Art marches alongside Neil Young at the “Reject & Protect” rally in Washington, D.C. in 2013.
Postcard featuring Art and his family on their land inside the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route. Thousands of the postcards were sent to President Obama and key figures in his administration. (Photo: Mary Anne Andrei)
A huge crop art image protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline covers an 80 acre corn field on the Tanderup farm outstide of Neligh, Nebraska on April 12, 2014. The image, which lies on the proposed pipeline route that crosses the Ponca Trail of Tears, was created by the farmers, ranchers and Native American tribes of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance in collaboration with artist John Quigley. Photo by Lou Dematteis
“Climate Legacy” crop art created by Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup on his farm near Neligh, NE in collaboration with artist John Quigley/Spectral Q, urging Pres. Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline and secure a climate legacy.
Nebraska farmers in Keystone XL battle carve a massive crop art message into an 80-acre cornfield on the Tanderup farm near Neligh, NE calling for 100% clean energy for all. (Photo by Tom Simmons / Spectral Q)
Helen & Art Tanderup with their children and grandchildren in front of their snow-covered solar array on their farm in Neligh, NE.
Ponca Spiritual Camp in the path of Keystone XL on the Tanderup Farm in Neligh, NE, November 2013 (Photo by Mary Anne Andrei / Bold Nebraska)
Amos Hinton and Mekasi Horinek of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, and farmer Art Tanderup during the 2014 planting of sacred Ponca corn on the Tanderup farm (Photo by Mary Anne Andrei)
Harvest of the Sacred Ponca Corn on the Tanderup farm, 2015. (Photo: Mark Hefflinger)
Sacred Ponca corn planted on the Tanderup farm, in the path of KXL and on the historic “Trail of Tears”. (Photo: Mark Hefflinger)
Helen and Art Tanderup with Bold Nebraska founder Jane Kleeb.