Since 1970, the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC) has been dedicated to improving the environment in eastern Michigan.

EMEAC was born in the late 1960s as a response to environmental concerns in southeast Michigan. Representatives of the Birmingham Unitarian Church and the Birmingham Junior League formed a task force to develop public information materials and policy recommendations on recycling, as well as reducing phosphorus in the Great Lakes, improving inland lake water quality, air quality and land use. In 1970, the task force created the East Michigan Environmental Action Council.

EMEAC has worked to protect and restore land, air, water and diversity of life through informed personal and public action. In the 1970s, the group spearheaded support for the Michigan Wetlands Protection Act and convinced the State Highway Commission to cancel the Northwestern Highway and I-275 extensions through wetlands areas.

EMEAC was also instrumental in spearheading the drive to persuade former Governor Jim Blanchard to order state agencies to minimize negative effects of their actions on prime farmlands.

Accomplishments also include campaigning to enact laws to prohibit PCBs in Michigan, supporting passage of the Michigan Inland Lakes and Streams Act and campaigning for better pollution control on a trash incinerator operated by the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Authority. EMEAC also played a key role in a campaign for conversion of a mothballed Detroit Edison utility plant from coal to natural gas as a condition of start-up.

The group recently joined national coalitions to defeat bills in Congress that would have gutted protection for natural areas and wildlife habitat. It also organized support in southeast Michigan for revising USDA's proposed rule for allowing use of the "organic produce" label to exclude practices such as use of growth hormones, irradiation and fertilizing with sewage sludge.

In 2002, EMEAC will continue its work on such issues as urban sprawl and transportation systems, protection of wetlands and other natural areas, air and water pollution and global warming. The group also works in national coalitions and will continue efforts to protect wildlife habitat through participation in the Endangered Species Coalition and the Alaska Coalition.

"Our greatest challenge in addressing environmental protection is how do we get more people involved?" said Diane Cheklich, EMEAC President. "EMEAC is interested in building its relationships with other environmental groups so our collective voice is louder. We would also like to offer busy individuals efficient ways to add their names to the ranks."

EMEAC will hold its annual meeting in conjunction with the gubernatorial candidates forum that will be held Wednesday, July 10 at the Oakland Community College-Orchard Ridge Campus.

Membership in the East Michigan Environmental Action Council is $20. For more information, visit EMEAC's web site at http://www.emeac.org, contact Elizabeth Harris or Heather Northway at (248) 258-5188, or email EMEAC at emeac@aol.com.