MISSION STATEMENT

MICHIGAN GREEN CONSORTIUM

Michigan Green Consortium offers knowledge of sustainable practices and promotes sound environmental stewardship. Our supporters all share a common interest – that sustainability depends on practices that benefit people and the planet. They uphold green values, such as conserving natural resources, eliminating dependence on fossil fuels and reducing their waste stream.

Michigan Green Consortium (MGC) is a public charity. As such, tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. We receive a substantial portion of our revenue from a fairly broad base of the general public – from individuals, companies and other public charities.

Meet Our Board of Directors

Michigan Green Consortium’s board of directors are volunteers. The organization’s bylaws permit anywhere from three to eleven board members. If you would like to be considered for a board post, complete the form, below, and someone from the organization will be contacting you shortly. Board member roles and duties will be emailed to interested candidates.

Ella CooperChairman, Treasurer pro tem

Ella’s first achievement in the sustainable living arena was to establish an electric car rental company called Ecocars and successfully encourage Traverse City officials to permit electric vehicles to park, free of charge, at parking meters. A recipient of the NMEAC Environmentalist of the Year for nonprofit organizations in 2011, Ella has served the Michigan Green Consortium as Chairman since 2009.

Susan CooperVice Chairman

A long time Master Gardener and plant aficionado, Susan has always had an interest in the environment. And though she freely admits a desire to cultivate it, poison oak being an inhospitable representative, she feels the pristine landscape of our Great Lakes region must be preserved for future generations. Susan is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Schmidt in Traverse City, who loves the “vicarious joy” she shares, when she helps clients find the perfect house – and garden!

Nick BeadlestonSecretary

ick has had the great privilege to travel to parts of the world where scarcity is the norm and where repairing and repurposing is second nature. These experiences have led him to abhor the ubiquitous waste in our society. (Nick is not above eating other people’s blatantly disregarded leftovers in public restaurants.) A transplant of Northern Michigan, he is always interested in new ways to improve his community through recycling and sustainability initiatives.

Nathan BurnsDirector-at-large

Growing up in Michigan, Nathan’s appreciation for the wilderness and the well-being of the environment was fostered at a young age. In 2006, he headed West to work at Redwood National Park where he stayed for eight years. Nathan is a recent graduate of Central Michigan University’s Master of Public Administration program. He looks forward to serving the Michigan Green Consortium and the State of Michigan by upholding green values through awareness and collaboration.

Kimberly DanteDirector-at-large

Kimberly is the owner of Twisted Hair, an urban green salon in the Central Neighborhood. Growing up in Northern Michigan she was raised to cherish the water, air, and land living sustainably and respectfully of Mother Earth. She has over 40 years servicing the community in beauty combining aromatherapy, cosmetiology, shamanism and reiki. As a Master Herbalist she attends to her gardens using food as her medicine teaching the old ways for a new millenia. She wishes to give back working together for the common good.

Jan StoneDirector-at-large

David SchafferDirector-at-large

David Schaffer is the manager of the Resource Recovery Department (RecycleSmart) for Grand Traverse County. When he’s not hosting Earth Day Celebrations, or conducting Household Hazardous Waste and Scrap Tire Collection events, you might see him on his was to any number of Recycling Education opportunities driving his vegetable oil powered vehicle. David has spent much of his life seeking alternative solutions to the problems we face as a result of being a consumer based society. He is passionate about his family, the outdoors and is completely “hooked” on fishing the many lakes and streams of Northern Michigan.

Ben HenstchelDirector-at-large

Ben learned early on in the family business, to repair equipment rather than to waste it or send it to the landfill. Enjoying what the outdoors has to offer him and his family is central to Ben’s family life. For those traditions to continue native landscapes must be preserved, and it is that which inspired Ben to become an active board member of the Michigan Green Consortium where he serves as Vice Chair.

Will NicholasDirector-at-large

Will is a biomimicist by profession, physicist by training, nerdy by nature. He feels our modern industrial design is cold and soulless, driven by short-term profit, global scale, excessive speed, and monotonous uniformity. A design intended for mindless consumers, not thoughtful individuals. Will is dedicated to re-enchanting our world by bringing back the personal meaning and long-term value to the designs and materials of our lives. In biomimicry, we adapt nature’s principles to human design. We see in nature everything has a purpose because it exists within continuous cycles. In nature, nothing is wasted, nothing is meaningless – the human world should be the same.

Board Vacancies.

Looking for a few good men and women!

WITH CREATIVE IDEAS, MOTIVATION & DETERMINATION

I’D LIKE TO SERVE