For more than 10 years, the Ecology Center has honored community organizers and activists at our annual fall Changemakers event with the Munzel Award for Environmental Activism. These groundbreaking individuals have created lasting change in Michigan by preserving clean air, safe water, and healthy communities.
2023: Theresa Landrum
This year, Theresa Landrum will be awarded the 2023 Munzel Award at our Changemakers Fall Fundraiser on September 21st.
A lifelong Detroiter, Ms. Landrum has fought environmental injustices in her city for decades. She is one of the most determined community activists in Southwest Detroit 48217’s zip code, deemed the most polluted zip code in Michigan. She has served on two committees under Governor Whitmer, including the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team Citizens' Advisory Work Group, scrutinizing policy and standards for PFAS in Michigan's water. She also served on the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice, helping to develop policy to address environmental justice in Michigan.
The Man Who Inspired the Award:
Herbert L. Munzel worked tirelessly in pursuit of clean air and water in southeast Michigan, particularly in Livingston County and within the Huron River watershed. As a civil engineer and land surveyor, Herb used his expertise to champion environmental causes. Throughout his long career, he helped preserve land around the Huron River and prevent urban sprawl in Green Oak Township. He protected our ground and surface water from unsafe sewage systems and our air from pollution created by the state’s largest asphalt producer. His work also ensured government intervention to clean up hazardous materials in the Livingston County landfill. He even led efforts that directly resulted in the first nonsmoking restaurant in Livingston County, with others to follow.
Herbert Munzel was universally recognized for his thorough research, respectful manner, and effective advocacy. When he wasn’t working for a healthier environment, he enjoyed spending time outdoors, hiking, and canoeing with his family. On issue after issue, Herbert Munzel was a community leader who inspired others and made his neighborhood a far better place.
Herbert Munzel was a longtime active supporter of the Ecology Center. After his passing in 2001, we created the Munzel Award to honor his spirit of tireless advocacy for the environment in our community.
Previous Recipients:
2022: Donele Wilkins
Donele Wilkins has dedicated her life’s work toward improving the quality of life for Detroiters and others through environmental and social justice. She is the founding director of the Green Door Initiative, a non-profit organization promoting environmental justice in Michigan. She is sought after as a public speaker and has received many awards, including the Ecology Center's Munzel Award in 2022 and, most recently, the Life-Time Achievement Award by the Detroit City Council’s Green Task Force.
Donele has played a key role in developing Michigan’s Environmental Justice Policy, launched Detroit's first green jobs training program, advocated for citizen involvement in public policies and citizen science, and contributed to many scholarly articles on environmental justice and public health. This year, Donele will give the keynote speech at our 2023 Changemakers Fall Fundraiser.
*We did not grant a Munzel Award for Environmental Activism in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019: Katie Fahey
Katie Fahey is the Founder of Voters Not Politicians, a 5,000+ volunteer grassroots organization that turned into the campaign to pass Proposal 2 on November 6, 2018. While the main goal was to end partisan gerrymandering, the proposal showed that positive, lasting change can come directly from the people and that voters across the political spectrum can reform the status quo instead of settling for how things are always done. The Ecology Center was an early endorser of the ballot campaign because redistricting reform will make an enormous positive impact on Michigan's environmental policy.
2018: Dr. Franklin E. Mirer
Dr. Franklin E. Mirer was an Industrial Hygienist for the United Auto Workers and Director of United Auto Workers' Health and Safety Department. For 30 years, he was a fierce advocate for the well-being of Michigan workers. He is one of the country’s foremost advocates for workplace safety and environmental health. As the long-time Director of the United Auto Workers’ Health and Safety Department, Dr. Mirer helped develop national standards for methylene chloride, lead, and many of the toxic chemicals most dangerous to workers and communities. His research and leadership have made workplaces and communities safer across the country. Today, as a toxicologist at the CUNY School of Public Health, he continues to champion environmental health.
2017: William Copeland
William Copeland is the Climate Justice Director of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC). He is an organizer and cultural worker from Detroit where he serves his community as a veteran activist and champion for environmental justice and climate action.
In 2010, Mr. Copeland served as a local coordinator for the U.S. Social Forum. He organized over 300 Detroit-area volunteers to host 20,000 activists and community change agents for a five-day event. In 2011, Mr. Copeland was the lead organizer for the Detroit 2 Dakar Delegation for the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal.
Mr. Copeland serves on the board of the US Solidarity Economy Network. He also represents EMEAC in the Climate Justice Alliance and the Environmental Justice Forum on Climate Change. As a local campus organizer for Universidad Sin Fronteras, he studies and exchanges political education techniques with colleagues from around the nation. He also holds a BA from Stanford University and MA from the University of Michigan.
Mr. Copeland made a tremendous impact with the Breathe Free Detroit campaign. He co-founded Breathe Free Detroit which mobilized and gave voice to residents who lived with the harmful effects of the Detroit incinerator. The trash incinerator was a significant source of exposure to toxic chemicals that have been linked to cancer, asthma, and other health problems. Mr. Copeland has led the charge to galvanize the community to end this dangerous waste disposal practice.
2016: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha
Dr. Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician, professor, and public health advocate whose research exposed the effect of Flint's contaminated water on lead poisoning rates among the city's children. She continues to courageously advocate on behalf of lead poisoned kids in Flint and across Michigan. She was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and recognized as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century for her role in uncovering the Flint water crisis and leading recovery efforts. She is reimagining how society can come together to eliminate infant poverty with a first-in-the-nation program, Rx Kids.
2015: Joyce Stein
Joyce Stein earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (1975) from the University of Michigan School of Nursing. She practiced as a neonatal intensive care nurse for over 35 years. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Nurses Association, the Southeastern Michigan Association of Neonatal Nurses, and The Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Since 2009, she has worked alongside the Ecology Center on campaigns to protect children and pregnant women from exposure to toxic chemicals, dirty air, and to stop climate change. She served on the Ecology Center’s Board of Directors from 2018 to 2023.
2014: John Hieftje
John Hieftje was mayor of Ann Arbor from 2000 to 2014, leading efforts that will benefit the city, its people, and the larger region for generations to come. Hieftje was a leading champion of the parks and greenbelt initiative that has helped save thousands of acres of natural areas and farmland near Ann Arbor, including farms producing food for the local community. Hieftje re-worked the city’s transportation funding policies to promote non‑motorized alternatives, making Ann Arbor one of the more bike- and pedestrian-friendly communities in the Midwest. He has been one of southeast Michigan’s leading advocates for better transit, helping steer the successful recent expansion of bus service in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. He presided over the largest expansion of the region’s recycling programs in 20 years. Hieftje has demonstrated that cities can be leaders of the movement to build a sustainable world.
2013: Peter Sinclair
Peter Sinclair is a long-time advocate of environmental awareness and energy alternatives. He is an award-winning graphic artist, illustrator, and animator, whose syndicated cartoons have appeared worldwide. His work has been profiled in numerous publications, including the New York Times. He is the producer of the YouTube series, "Climate Denial Crock of the Week," which documents the latest information on climate change and pillories those who reject the scientific evidence. He also generates a blog, the desmogblog, with the aim of "clearing the PR pollution that clouds climate science."
He's made numerous presentations explaining the science of climate change to audiences across the country. In 2013, Sinclair joined a scientific team on an expedition to the Greenland ice sheet to photograph and film research into the causes of increasing ice melt and the possible contribution to sea level.