Who Are We?

The Ecology Center (EC) is a membership-based, nonprofit environmental organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded by community activists after the country's first Earth Day in 1970, the Ecology Center is now a regional leader that works for a safe and healthy environment where people live, work, and play.

Our Mission: The Ecology Center is a Michigan-based nonprofit environmental organization that works at the local, state, and national levels for clean production, healthy communities, environmental justice, and a sustainable future.

What Do We Do?

The Ecology Center works for a just and healthy environment through grassroots organizing, advocacy, education, and demonstration projects. Today, our major programs are:

• Environmental Education, a program reaching 10,000 K-12 students and teachers in southeast Michigan every year.
• Environmental Health Project, working to protect our health from toxic chemicals in food, air, water, and household products.
• Clean Car Campaign, promoting real-world solutions to reduce and eliminate pollution from automobile manufacturing.
• Land Use, preserving farmland and natural areas, concentrate development where infrastructure exists, and reduce traffic congestion.
• Recycle Ann Arbor, a wholly-owned nonprofit subsidiary of the EC offering a variety of recycling and reuse services for households, businesses, and municipalities.

Stay informed on these issues! Sign up for Ecolink, our monthly e-newsletter.

How to Join

Become a member of the Ecology Center and help support community action to improve our local environment. As a member, you will receive the From the Ground Up newsletter (quarterly), our monthly e-newsletter Ecolink, environmental alerts, and announcements of Ecology Center events. You will also receive discounts on merchandise, including publications, and have voting rights to elect board members. To join us, please print the Membership Form (pdf), fill it out, and mail it to us. If you have questions, you can contact us at member@ecocenter.org or check out the Membership page.

Ecology Center Staff

• Hillary Bisnett, Healthy Food in Healthcare Project Coordinator
• Jennifer Canvasserr, Environmental Health Organizer
• Archer Christian, Grant Director
• Melissa Combs, Development Director
• Tracey Easthope, Environmental Health Director
• Mike Garfield, Director
• Jeff Gearhart, Research Director
• Charles Griffith, Clean Vehicles & Fuels Director
• Brad van Guilder, Wayne County Community Organizer
• Laura Holladay, Environmental Educator
• Ken Kozora, Events Coordinator
• Lauren LaRocca, Environmental Educator
• Brigit Macomber, Finance Manager
• Rebecca Meuninck, Environmental Health Campaign Director
• Monica Patel, Policy Associate
• Courtney Peterson, Education Program Associate
• Mike Shriberg, Policy Director

Board of Directors

Al Beeton
Dr. Beeton is the former Director of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, a retired limnologist, and professor in the University of Michigan's School of Public Health. He is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost scientific authorities on the Great Lakes.

Bena Burda
Ms. Burda is the founder and owner of Clean Clothes, Inc. and Maggie's Organics, a company that makes cotton and wool socks, men's and women's clothes, and baby apparel, all from organic fibers. She has a background in organic agriculture, and received the 2003 Organic Leadership award from the Organic Trade Association.

Michael Garfield
Mr. Garfield has served as Director of the Ecology Center since 1993. He has led grassroots advocacy campaigns to raise over $100 million in public funds for land preservation.

Jacqueline Hand, JD
Ms. Hand is an attorney and professor at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School, where she has taught Environmental Law since 1980. She has served on the board of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council, and as a consultant to SEMCOG.

Barbara McKeand-Stevenson
Ms. McKeand-Stevenson is a long-time Detroit community activist, and works as a development officer for the Arts League of Michigan. She has been instrumental in the creation of numerous Southeastern Michigan nonprofits, and the start-up of the neighborhood-based Corktown Recycles program in Detroit.

Erica Munzel
Ms. Munzel is an attorney currently serving as Midwest Regional Director of Development and Alumni Relations at the University of Michigan Law School. She has been a leading grassroots environmental activist in her home community, in Livingston County.

Michelle Palmer
Ms. Palmer is a Vice President/Relationships Manager with JP Morgan Chase Bank, where she has worked for the past 12 years. Prior to Chase, she worked as an Accounting Manager with Unisys Corporation.

Dax Ponce de Leon
Mr. Ponce de Leon is a project manager with PMA Consultants, an international construction consulting firm with corporate headquarters in Detroit. He is currently leading the development of a mixed-use building which would be the first project in southeast Michigan to receive LEED platinum certification.

Diana Torres-Burgos, MD
Dr. Torres-Burgos is the Washtenaw County Medical Director. She has previously worked as a pediatrician and public health advocate in Michigan, Maryland, Florida, and Massachusetts, earning her medical degree at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. She lives in Novi.

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117 N. Division St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1580 USA • phone 734·761·3186 • fax 734·663·2414 •