Environmentalist of the Year Awards
NMEAC celebrates 33 Years as the oldest grassroots environmental organization in Northern Michigan.
This is our 25th Year of recognizing and awarding individuals and organizations that advocate for and protect the environment.
NMEAC is proud to host the most important annual event in Northern Michigan celebrating environmentalists who protect our legacy for future generations
When: Friday, April 26, 2013; 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: Park Place Dome, downtown Traverse City
We welcome your
ADVERTISING and UNDERWRITING
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Tickets $20 |
Save the Date: April 26, 2013
Thank You for Your Nominations for Environmentalist of the Year Today
NMEAC is preparing to celebrate our 33rd., year of honoring educators, neighbors, friends, associates, farmers, businesses and so much more that have contributed to the environmental well being of our region. Nominations are now closed. We look forward to seeing you as we honor NMEAC's 2013 Nominees on April 26!
Our keynote presenter: Peter Sinclair
Peter Sinclair is a long time advocate of environmental awareness and energy alternatives. An award winning graphic artist, illustrator, and animator, Mr. Sinclair runs Greenman Studio from his home in Midland, MI. Mr. Sinclair’s syndicated videos have appeared worldwide, and his work has been profiled in numerous publications, including the New York Times. He is the producer of the “Climate Denial Crock of the Week”.
Music by: Michissippi Swampcats
The Michissippi Swampcats are Andy Knott on guitar and Denise Baker on percussion. When not belting out the blues, Andy serves as the Executive Director, and Denise serves as Advancement Director, for the Watershed Center.
Environmental Legacy Fund
Clean water, unpolluted air, friendly villages, rural landscapes, abundant wildlife and lovely scenery are qualities that have brought us together in this unique place. They make possible a healthy lifestyle, a vibrant regional economy and a hope that our grandchildren can return and find intact the qualities we have enjoyed. In 2009, NMEAC launched the Environmental Legacy Fund as a vehicle to provide critical resources for legal assistance to citizens groups, concerned citizens and environmental and conservation organizations working to make sure these values are protected. Visit us at NMEACLegacyFund.org
NMEAC “Environmentalists' of the Year” Updates
UPDATES: OUR PREVIOUS ENVIRONMENTALIST OF THE YEAR WINNERS
2013 Environmentalists of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients as well as a PDF of the program including nominee submissions, click here.
2012 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
2011 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
2010 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
2009 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
2008 Environmentalist of the Year Award Recipients
Check out the full list of last years Environmentalist of the Year recipients, click here.
Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor to be Renamed for Former Gov. William G. Milliken
The William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor, seen as a portal for the state park system and tourism opportunities in Michigan, is located in the heart of downtown Detroit along the riverfront. It is 31 acres in size, located on a reclaimed brownfield that had been impacted by 300 years of industrial use.
NMEAC: Become a Fan at Facebook
It’s an exciting day at NMEAC – we’re happy to announce we’re now on Facebook! Please check out our page and let us know what you think. We’ll be posting videos, sharing ideas, and more, so don’t miss it! We invite you to join us and share your stories and photos on the Facebook wall.
URGENT:
Environmental Action Alerts
An Environmentalists Guide to renewable energy in NW Michigan
Energy is becoming a hot issue in Michigan. Will we be ready? Do we have enough information to make good energy choices? Check out http://JobsAndEnergy.com for answers.
Quit Coal - Save Our Climate
One-hundred-fifty coal-fired power plants are currently proposed to be built. If even a small portion of these plants are constructed the global warming pollution pumped into our air will make all our other efforts to reverse climate change irrelevant. Coal plants are the dirtiest, most regressive source of energy possible - poisoning our communities and environment. The Environmental Law Program is working with activists around the country to champion clean energy in the face of this unprecedented rush to build new coal plants.
Environmental Justice
Editorial: Refusal to bring charges in dumping haunts case
In 2002, while looking for a lost cow, Benzie County farmer Charles Brozofsky discovered that a stream running through his property had turned orange and smelled like a sewer. The trout that used to swim in the creek were gone. After an extensive investigation, state environmental regulators asked then Attorney General Mike Cox to approve felony and misdemeanor charges against Graceland Fruit Inc. and waste hauler Kevin Bonney of Bonney Bros. Pumping Co. of Honor for dumping hundreds of loads of blueberry juice from Graceland in a nearby gravel pit. But Cox — who had political links to Graceland owner Donald Nugent — refused.
An Eaters Guide to Avoiding Factory Farm Food
Most people share at least the following traits: they want to be healthy; they like animals; and they value clean air and water. Yet relatively few Americans connect those concerns with their food. As more people start making the link, many decide it's time to stop eating foods from factory farms. This is a guide for doing just that. Industrialized animal production has become one of the nation's worst polluters of water and air.
Factory Farming Could Cause a Pandemic
Michael Greger, M.D. delineates how a virus begins, mutates, and becomes dangerous. As with so many problems we are seeing lately -- environmental or health -- factory farmed meat seems to be a big part of the cause. A graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine, Michael Greger, M.D., serves as Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States. An internationally recognized lecturer, he has presented at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Bird Flu Summit, testified before Congress, and was an expert witness in defense of Oprah Winfrey at the infamous "meat defamation" trial. His recent scientific publications in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, Critical Reviews in Microbiology, and the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition, and Public Health explore the public health implications of industrialized animal agriculture. So far, only thousands of people have died from swine flu. Unless we radically change the way livestock are raised for food, though, it may only be a matter of time before a catastrophic pandemic arises.
Fruit Processing Wastewater Threatens Health and Environment
In Michigan's prized fruit and vegetable industry, processors have contaminated groundwater with metals and arsenic by spraying wastewater on fields—a 40-year-old practice that has led to polluted drinking water wells. In other cases, they also have dumped or spilled their waste into streams, marshes and wetlands, damaging them for many years to come. Read our important NMEAC report
Group Meets to Fix the Great Lakes Compact
Traverse City—The initial goal is to pass a Michigan constitutional amendment, either through the legislature or by popular referendum, that would accomplish two things: No. 1, eliminate what some environmentalists feel is a dangerous loophole in the recently passed legislation designed to protect waters of the Great Lakes basin and No. 2, clearly establish that Michigan citizens own their water and only they have the right to determine whether and who would be able to sell it for private gain. The legislation of concern, the Great Lakes Compact, is now federal law after having been ratified by legislatures in the eight states with land in the Great Lakes basin. The law prevents diversions of water to outside the basin except under some very specific and controlled conditions. But the law allows companies to ship water out of the basin in containers of 5.7 gallons or smaller if the diversion does not cause certain, specified environmental damages. Buried in the fine print, the Compact by definition also excepts "water produced as a product" from the ban on diversions. “This sets up a climate where hungry states, corporations, or nations outside the basin could tap Great Lakes water if it is packaged in any size containers,” says environmental attorney James Olson, an organizer of the November 16 event.
Mancelona plant source of tainted water
A six-mile-long plume of contaminated groundwater from a polluted northern Michigan factory site is threatening the Cedar River, one of two sources for the area's drinking water. "I would have to say this is one of the largest contaminations we've ever seen," Janice Adams, a senior geologist with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, told The Detroit News for a Monday story. The state has spent more than $14 million battling the tainted groundwater generated at the Mancelona plant, which made auto parts in southern Antrim County. Dura Automotive Systems Inc., which operated there most recently, closed the factory in February. The now-defunct Mount Clemens Industries Inc. operated the plant from 1947 to 1967, when workers used trichloroethylene, or TCE, to degrease the machinery. To dispose of the chemical, workers poured it on the ground or dumped it into seepage pits.
Alba well blocked indefinitely
A new deep-injection disposal well won't be drilled near this Antrim County community, at least not anytime soon. A circuit court judge indefinitely blocked an energy company from drilling such a new well in Antrim County's Star Township. By doing so, he closed the book on a lawsuit filed by the county, township and environmental group Friends of the Jordan River Watershed.
BATTLE ENDS: FOR MICHIGAN CITIZENS FOR WATER CONSERVATION v NESTLE
Big Rapids, Michigan: Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation stopped Nestlé Waters North America, Inc.’s attempt to pump more water from a stressed stream and lake for its Ice Mountain bottled water in Mecosta, Michigan on Monday, July 6. CLICK HERE TO READ RELEASE
more headlines
Just say “NO!” to Plastic Bags & Bottles
Traverse City Government Passes Resolution to Eliminate Disposable Plastic Water Bottles PDF
In an effort to protect the environment, reduce waste, and save wildlife and fish, passed a Resolution (brought before the Commission by NMEAC) to Ban Plastic Bottles at city facilities, meetings and events. MORE ON BOTTLED WATER
Traverse City Passes Resolution to Reduce Plastic Bag Waste PDF
Traverse City, in an effort to protect the environment, reduce waste, and save wildlife and fish, passed a Resolution (brought before the Commission by NMEAC) to Ban Plastic Bags. MORE ON PLASTIC BAGS
Plastic is Passé
Paper or plastic? It's a question we hear every time we go to the grocery store. It's time shoppers in NW Michigan had a better choice – recyclable and reusable containers. Dear consumers and shoppers. I wouldn't bring this matter up if it wasn't incredibly important. May I have a moment to share a few ideas on plastic single use shopping/grocery bags? In all honesty, I probably wouldn't be asking for your time if all of your plastic was being properly recycled... ...But it's not. Plastic bags are in trees and on fences, in the creek near my house, flapping on windy days from my shrubs, and rolling across the lawn like tumbleweed on the way to their next unsightly outpost. READ ARTICLE
Our Current Priorities
1) Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy
2) Water & Air Quality
3) Land Use & Sprawl
