Providing the state’s newspapers, niche publications and blogosphere with strong voices on behalf of Michigan’s natural resources is a critical component of the Michigan Environmental Council’s work. We stand ready to provide professional communications and media relations advice to member groups.

More than 100 legislators, legislative staff and MEC member group representatives gathered Jan. 30 for the Michigan Environmental Council’s biennial Legislative Breakfast.

A life spent researching mollusks and microbiology might have suited Rosina Bierbaum just fine. We’ll never know. A timely series of interventions redirected her ambitions from marine biology to the chaotic intersection of politics, science and public policy. In that arena—working for employers as lofty as the President of the United States, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the University of Michigan—Bierbaum has carved out a definitive role in shaping public policy and training young people to make positive impacts on resource protection.

Blair Miller’s life is a contact sport. He’s scrapped with what he describes as the “good old boy network” in rural Vermontville Township, where he was elected to the township board before getting broomed in a recall election. He learned to fly planes in three weeks—insisting on landing at Chicago’s Midway Airport during training because: “If I’m going to fly, I’m going to learn how to do it in the busiest place.” And in response to a running dispute with the University of Michigan, Miller once mowed a massive block “M”—framed by a circle with a line slashed through it—in the fallow field outside his home. Private planes would fly by to see the oversized protest.

Please join us on June 20 at the Ann Arbor City Club to celebrate the vision and achievements of two outstanding environmental champions! We are proud to honor Rosina Bierbaum with this year’s Helen and William Milliken Distinguished Service Award. Blair Miller, nominated by the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, will receive the 2012 Petoskey Prize for Environmental Leadership.

As clean air standards are debated in Congress this year, a Michigan environmental group has hired two dynamic residents to help ensure our children will be guaranteed clean and safe air.

A grassroots drive to convince Amtrak to accommodate bicycles on passenger trains has generated thousands of online petition signatures and excitement among rail advocates.

A suite of solar panels installed this winter at Michigan Energy Options’ (MEO) East Lansing office and energy demonstration center is the latest example of the organization’s commitment to “walking the talk” in regards to renewable power and energy efficiency.

From the Grand Canyon to Michigan’s outstanding wilderness areas, tangible results of the Sierra Club’s successes are everywhere as the organization celebrates big anniversaries in 2012.

The schedule just keeps getting packed with more good stuff here at the Michigan Environmental Council. Following our successful annual awards celebration in June, MEC hit the road for its five regional meetings.Each year, we meet with our member groups to let them know what we're doing and hear what they are working on. Each meeting has a program designed to address the interest of members groups and allies.

Peddling beneath a canopy of West Michigan trees, Michigander Bicycle Tour cyclists hit the trails July 16-22 for the 20th annual Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance two-, six- and seven-day bike tours.

Each year the Michigan Environmental Council honors a pair of outstanding environmental leaders by awarding the Helen and William G. Milliken Distinguished Service Award and the Petoskey Prize for Environmental Leadership. Once again, we have two great honorees: Becky Humphries and Ken Smith, respectively.

The Helen and William Milliken Distinguished Service Award and the Petoskey Prize for Environmental Leadership are given annually by the Michigan Environmental Council.

In each issue of the Michigan Environmental Report, we celebrate accomplishments by MEC and member groups.

At the beginning of each legislative term, the Michigan Environmental Council hosts a breakfast to introduce new and returning lawmakers to member groups. This year, the Feb. 9 event took place in the Anderson House Office Building near the State Capitol. Some 126 people attended, including 22 legislators, 18 legislative staff members, 64 member group representatives and three members of Gov. Rick Snyder’s cabinet.

Gala on the RiverWalk: Two extraordinary women are honored at MEC awards event

MEC's 12th annual Environmental Awards Celebration to honor duo June 9 at a ceremony on the Detroit RiverFront

The Michigan Environmental Council has awarded Detroit RiverFront Conservancy President Faye Alexander Nelson the state’s highest environmental award, the Helen and William Milliken Distinguished Service Award, for her work on the Detroit RiverWalk project. Detroit community activist Margaret Weber earned MEC’s award for grassroots work, the Petoskey Prize for Environmental Leadership.

Living in America’s largest city without curbside recycling, Margaret Weber just wanted to do her little part. That, she has.

Big picture and long-term thinking were the order of the day at the Michigan Environmental Council’s 2009 annual meeting held Dec. 11 near Lansing. The day focused largely on gathering input for the development of a far-reaching, 50-year vision for Michigan. Participants from MEC member organizations broke into small groups to brainstorm ideas on what a vibrant, clean, healthy state should look like in 2060, and how best to reach that goal.

An innovative new program of the Michigan Land Trustees (MLT) aims to use sales of organic garlic as a catalyst to help small organic farmers become better established in Michigan.

For Legacy Land Conservancy, 2009 ended with a bang—six projects completed in 2009, all during the month of December!

Fire isn’t always a destructive force, as the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM Sisters) demonstrated recently when they harnessed it as an agent for regeneration.

The Ecology Center of Ann Arbor was among recipients of the state’s first Green Chemistry Gubernatorial Awards at a ceremony in Detroit this fall. The Center was acknowledged in the “public” category for its work advocating for Green Chemistry policy in Michigan.

After 31 years of operating as Urban Options and a few years as Urban & Northern Options, the organization has officially changed its name to Michigan Energy Options.

In celebration of its tenth year as a Michigan environmental nonprofit, LocalMotion has refreshed its name and logo and is launching an exciting new website: www.localmotiongreen.org. The organization’s new name is LocalMotionGreen.

A grassroots Michigan group declared victory on behalf of the state’s water resources in July after a protracted nine-year battle with an international corporation’s water bottling operation in West Michigan. Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC), an MEC member group, stopped Nestlé Waters North America from pumping more water from a stressed stream in Mecosta County as part of a settlement agreement announced July 7.

When I was at the University of Michigan, Dr. Greg Daneke taught energy policy. Besides introducing us to amazing ideas and cutting-edge thinkers (e.g., Amory Lovins), he taught a concept called “teleological planning.” That was and still is my $64,000 phrase.

City-to-city passenger railroad service in Michigan may become the bright spot in the state’s transportation system.

Dowagiac Woods Nature Sanctuary in Southwest Michigan is a living example of how forests were when the early settlers beheld them—and with the recent addition of 149 acres, it’s growing!

While bureaucratic boundaries are important for politics, they are not heeded by ecosystems, landscapes, rivers or wildlife. Taking its cue from the landscape, the Washtenaw Land Trust has worked beyond the borders of Washtenaw County for years.

Lana Pollack is at home in the boisterous halls and backrooms of the State Capitol. Rusty Gates is more comfortable wading in the cold clear waters of the Au Sable River. Both have made innumerable contributions to environmental protection in Michigan.

Lana Pollack has been chosen for the state's highest environmental honor and Rusty Gates is 2009's citizen hero

Chris Kolb assumed the presidency of the Michigan Environmental Council on Jan. 1, 2009.

With one month under my belt, what can I share with you in my first column? First, I want to publicly thank the Board for the opportunity to lead the Michigan Environmental Council. It is a great honor to be chosen president of such an outstanding organization.

“Michigan’s Magnificent Birds” is the theme for Michigan Audubon’s 105th annual conference March 6-7 at the Kellogg Center on Michigan State University’s campus.

The legal battle of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC) v Nestlé has taken another turn.

Michigan Environmental Council President Lana Pollack steps down at the end of 2008 after a 12-year tenure overseeing unprecedented growth, tremendous victories for the state’s natural resources and an increasingly robust influence in the corridors of power at the State Capitol.

Chris Kolb is a man I’ve long liked and admired—and an excellent choice for the next Michigan Environmental Council president.

Michigan has a new natural area on state land for the first time in 20 years—and members of the MEC member group Michigan Natural Areas Council (MNAC), among others, are delighted with the good news.

A blueprint for a cleaner, healthier, cheaper way of handling Detroit’s waste is being considered by Detroit Mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. in the wake of the city’s decision to stop burning garbage at the expensive, polluting Detroit incinerator.

West Michigan Environmental Action Council has started Project Light Change, a program to engage businesses and individuals in the use and recycling of CFL bulbs.

WMEAC, one of the Michigan Environmental Council’s founding organizations, was among the first environmental education and advocacy groups to emerge in the country in the late 1960s.

Three Michigan land conservancies—Chikaming Open Lands, Leelanau Conservancy, and MEC member group Washtenaw Land Trust—have the distinction of being among the first conservancies in the country to be awarded the Seal of Accreditation.

A new book by an MEC member group on meditative walks in nature will guide readers to heal, transform and connect themselves more deeply with God through the community of creation.

Welcome to your new and improved Michigan Environmental Report! This issue marks a new beginning for the Report, which brings you the highlights of issues affecting the health, beauty and economic vitality of our incredible Great Lakes State and the efforts of MEC and its 70-plus member groups to enhance those attributes.