About the Ecology Center

Who Are We?

How to Join

EC Staff

Board of Directors

2006 Annual Report (pdf)

2007 Audit (pdf)

2007 990 (pdf)

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:

  • GEE-WOW! environmental education 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.

EC Staff

Board of Directors

Ventra Asana

Rev. Asana is a Deacon clergy member of the Detroit East District and the Detroit Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. In 2006, she founded, and has since directed, an urban ecology ministry, WUE/Workshop in Urban Ecology, at the Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Detroit.

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.

Roger Kerson

Mr. Kerson is the Director of Public Relations for the United Auto Workers. He has served in leadership positions of several social justice, civil liberties, community, and social change organizations.

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.