Ecology Center Interviews

Energy and Climate

Jim Frey - June 10, 2019 interview

• 23:23-25:13 - Jim discusses how the Home Energy Works project at the Ecology Center grew from workshops to home visits with assitance and funding from the Ann Arbor government's Community Development Program.

Lana Pollack - August 21, 2019 interview 

• 1:07 - 2:13 - Lana talks about the goals of the 1990 Polluter Pay Law and how it succeeded in collected 100 million from polluters over 5 years.

• 4:55 - 7:56 - Lana discusses how the Polluter Pay Law came into being, the widespread support it had due to public interest in the environment, and then its downfall when Governor Engler came into power gutted it.

• 19:20 - 20:44 - Lana recalls a conversation she had with Bill Ford when he told her that a conversation with Ecology Center staff is what inspired him to build the River Rogue plant while creating a whole new standard for sustainable manufacturing.

Aileen Grow - June 7, 2019 interview

• 7:58 - 10:25 - Aileen talks about how the Home Energy Works home visits got started, where they got their funding, and the kind of work they did in homes.

• 11:26 - 12:26 - Aileen discusses why they worked with renters in the Home Energy Works program and how important education about energy conservation is to all, regardless if they are a current home owner.

• 16:34 - 19:00 - Aileen talks about the 2nd Refrigerator Project which grew out of the Home Energy Works and how refriderator recycling grew state wide because of them.

• 22:05 - 22:46 - Aileen discusses what happen to the home energy visits and how it got adopted by Consumers Energy where she continued doing visits, but on a much larger scale.

• 30:41 - 32:11 - Aileen talks about how there's a focus on renewable energy, but making sure buildings are efficient and ready to renewable energy is vital as well as lowering the cost of renewable energy.

Jeff Gearhart - July 22, 2019 interview

• 8:19 - 10:00 - Jeff talks about his involvement in the Ecology Center's auto manufacturing projects and how they not only worked with local communities, but also brought in technical skills and data from global surveys to help with advocacy work.

• 10:38 - 11:33 - Jeff discusses how he and the Ecology Center worked with unions and auto workers in addition to community members and were able to form community-labor coalitions because of their mutual interest in seeing less emissions.

• 15:25 - 19:20 - Jeff goes through the whole story of the EC's battle with GM in Lansing over pollution caused by their car manufacturing and how it was an especially difficult case because the Lansing community has heavily invested in GM.

• 21:57 - 23:42 - Jeff talks about the River Rogue plant and how he, along with local community leaders, successfully advocated for Ford to update the facility with green technology and global best practice.

• 25:33 - 27:12 - Jeff discusses how their work on auto manufacturing transitioned into work concerning the greater life cycle of those products, including how they impact users. This turn towards user impact birthed HealthyCars, which later evolved into HealthyStuff.

Hildie Lipson - July 26, 2019 interview

• 1:35 - 2:29 - Hildie talks about the goals of the Home Energy Works and how the program worked.

• 5:14 - 7:06 - Hildie goes through what a typical Home Energy Works visit was like and how people wanted to do it because they wanted to save money and feel warmer.

• 7:25 - 8:44 - Hildie recalls a particularly memorable Home Energy Works visit where a woman used their methods to reduce her energy usage so much that her energy company called her and asked if she was still living there.

Charles Griffith - July 3, 2019 interview

• 31:22 - 32:43 - Charles talks about how his toxics work turned into the Auto Toxics Project and led to the EC's involvement in a state program with auto manufacturers committed to reducing toxics.

• 35:15 - 36:35 - Charles discusses how working with auto manufacturers in the state toxics program was tense, but created relationships and respect for the EC.

• 46:13 - 48:10 - Charles talks about how he, the EC, auto companies, the EPA, and steel manufacturers all eventually came to an agreement that created a national mercury switch recovery program.

• 54:42 - 57:20 - Charles talks about how the Clean Car Campaign got started to focus on car emissions and how, being a car manufacturing state, they had to take a different angle and work with the UAW on the issue to make sure it was good for workers too.

• 59:01 - 1:00:46 - Charles discusses the Green Machines Tour, the EC's regional effort to educate communities on fuel economy standards that could be good for auto workers too. This work, combined with other advocacy, led to the 2007 Federal Energy Act update including new fuel economy standards.

Sally Churchill - December 11, 2017 interview

• 10:16 - 12:45 - Sally talks about how important MEPA (Michigan Environmental Protection Act of 1970) was and how it's a key tool in lawsuits against polluters.

• 20:32 - 22:47 - Sally discusses the importance of Environmental Impact Surveys (EIS) and how requiring public comment has killed a lot of anti-environmental projects before they were event proposed.

Michael Dorsey - October 23, 2019 interview

• 13:10 -16:28 - Michael recalls the origins of the Sunrise Movement and how it all started with a class of his reading Obama's environmental policies and being deeply dissapointed by what they saw.

• 23:39 - 26:01 - Michael talks about how the rigorous science and fact focus of the Sunrise Movement was modeled after the Ecology Center.