From the Annual Meeting
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June/July 2000
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Features
Cleaner Air Coming to Detroit
Henry Ford Hospital to Close Incinerator
by Mary Beth Doyle
Selling Their Future Short?
Engler Panel Ignores Doctors' Advice
by Dave Dempsey
Recycling Land
Brownfield Redevelopment is a Balancing Act of Priorities
by Mike Tolinski
Dumbing Down the Children
Michigan, Other States Ignore Federal Lead Testing Law
by Peter Montague
Columns
Tiny Township Turns Down GM
Rural Milan Residents Reject Rail-Car Yard, by Aretta Schills
Diet, Health, and the Environment
An Interview with John Robbins, by Rachel Shaw
Healthy Home and Garden
Energy Star Products Save Cash and Power, by Kristi Jacques
Huron Valley News
Webster Township Holds Sprawl Forum, by Ernie Becker
Science for the People
Pesticides Linked to Decreased Fertility, by Mary Beth Doyle
E Editor and Clean Car Author Keynotes Meeting
Nearly 100 friends of the Ecology Center braved winter weather to honor environmental activists, elect new board members, and learn about the latest in "clean car" technology.
Automotive journalist and environmental editor Jim Motavalli spoke about the future generation of hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles, and about the political, social, and technological forces behind their development.
Motavalli, editor of E Magazine and author of the recently published Forward Drive: The Race to Build the Car of the Future, said that the new cars will dramatically reduce emissions of smog, other tailpipe pollutants, and greenhouse gases. Given that our reliance on private passenger vehicles has contributed to other major environmental problems, such as urban sprawl and nonpoint source pollution, some people argue that no car can be "clean." Motavalli argued that we shouldn't sneer at the anti-pollution benefits of the new cars, although he strongly endorsed transit and car alternatives, as well.
The Ecology Center also organized three other presentations by Motavalli around the state. He spoke at the University of Michigan at an event sponsored by the University's Corporate Environmental Management Program, in Lansing, and in Grand Rapids.
Membership Elects New Directors
Three directors were elected to the Ecology Center's board in the annual membership voting.
Jerome Nriagu is a University of Michigan public health professor and internationally known expert in heavy metals. Dr. Nriagu has consulted to numerous agencies and organizations, including the U.S. EPA, the UN Environment Program, the World Bank, and Greenpeace. He has worked with community environmental justice advocates in Flint, Dearborn, and throughout the country.
Jim Walter has been an activist for better land use planning and environmental protection for three decades. He served three terms on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, 21 years on the County Planning Commission, and several stints on local parks and planning commissions. Dr. Walter was elected to the Ecology Center's Board last year to complete an unfinished term.
David Wright is a mechanical engineer currently working at Ford Research Laboratories' Advanced Powertrain Department. Prior to joining Ford, Wright was a policy specialist for the Michigan Environmental Council, working on the organization's Clean Coal and Clean Car Campaigns.
Center Honors Six Eco-Action Heroes
The Center honored six individuals with awards for environmental leadership.
Guy Williams served three years as a director and officer on the Ecology Center's board of directors. He was elected president in 1999, and guided the Center through an outstanding year, marked by major accomplishments in our environmental health project, the kick-off of our Clean Car Campaign, and the development of a major new strategic plan. Williams has worked for ten years with the National Wildlife Federation and Environmental Defense Fund.
Doug Cowherd has served as the co-chair of the Sierra Club's Huron Valley Group for the past decade. During that time, he has led the Club to play an increasingly prominent role in public affairs. In the past two years, he has played a key role in important local land use debates, and, in 1999, he was the chief organizer of the Ann Arbor parkland campaign to save natural areas.
Of 200 activists who worked on the 1999 Ann Arbor parks campaign, Marilyn and Ed Couture distinguished themselves through the sheer magnitude of their work. They collected over 900 petition signatures in four weeks last summer to help qualify the proposal for the ballot.
Stuart Batterman is a University of Michigan public health professor who works in the field of environmental health. He has provided technical assistance to communities around the country. In 1999, he advised projects to improve southeast Michigan air quality monitoring network and to evaluate the U-M Hospital's waste disposal methods.
Since the early 1980s, Dave Dempsey has been Michigan's leading public interest advocate for environmental protection. The former director of the Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) and environmental advisor to Governor James Blanchard, he has most recently worked as MEC Policy Director. He is now completing a book on the history environmental protection in Michigan.
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