Michigan Environmental Report

The founders of MiGrid asked me a few months back to come on their inaugural "Michigan Clean Energy Roadshow," a week-long road trip to 25-plus clean energy installations across Michigan.

No matter how your favored candidates did in yesterday's primary, we all lost at the end of the day when Governor Snyder signed legislation that cripples protections for Michigan's most fragile sand dunes.

Detroit News editorial board member Henry Payne suggests this week that cool temperatures to start the London Olympics ("Global freezing" he calls it) will be a real downer for "media disciples of the Green Church" who "have been frightening Michigan and the U.S. with tales of global warming-induced drought."

There was a flurry of media attention last week when the Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs coalition turned in 530,000 petition signatures Friday. If approved, the group's ballot initiative will allow voters to decide whether to require the state's electric utilities to generate 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

Three new additions to our family arrived this spring - hens named Emma, Trunchable, and Getaway. No, we don't live in the country, but right inside the city limits of Traverse City.

A year ago, Becky Jo Farrington from Michigan Energy Options came to the Michigan Environmental Council office peddling worms.

I was fortunate enough to find myself in Traverse City earlier this month. Unlike the happy tourists who were enjoying the shops, restaurants and beaches in that wonderful place, my purpose was to attend the Energy Efficiency Leadership Summit hosted by Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI). This event was conceived as part of the ongoing regional dialogue known as The Grand Vision. It reflects awareness in this corner of Michigan that decision-making about energy will be a determining factor in the region's long-term economic performance.