Saturday 6/10 Ann Arbor Event Honors Michigan Sierra Club's 50 Years

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Saturday, June 10, 2017

Media contact:  David Holtz 313-300-4454/david@davidholtz.org

Michigan’s Two U.S. Senators Join Sierra Club To Pay Tribute to 50 Years of Protecting the Great Lakes State

Hundreds To Attend Saturday Event Celebrating Michigan Dunes, Lakes, Rivers and Forests Protections & Strong Climate, Environmental Justice Advocacy

Ann Arbor, MI--An estimated 350 people are expected to be on hand Saturday in Ann Arbor to celebrate the founding of Sierra Club’s Michigan Chapter 50 years ago at a small apartment in what was then Pittsfield Village outside Ann Arbor.  The chapter has grown to include 10 local groups touching every corner of the state and is experiencing an historic upsurge in membership and support throughout Michigan.  Attendees will include Michigan’s U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell and the club’s national Executive Director Michael Brune.   Peters is scheduled to give the keynote address and Brune and Stabenow will also deliver remarks. 

Who:             Sierra Club Michigan Chapter

What:            People and Places:  Celebrating 50 Years of Sierra Club in Michigan
Where:         Washtenaw Community College, Morris Lawrence Building Atrium, 4800 E. Huron River Drive, Ann Arbor, MI.
                       The event will also be streamed live at https://www.facebook.com/SierraClubMichigan

When:           6:30pm-8:30pm Saturday, June 10, 2017

Background

Fifty years ago in 1967, a hardy group of Michigan activists formed the Sierra Club Mackinac (now Michigan) Chapter with an Ann Arbor post office box for an address, a typewriter and homemade stationery for publicity, along with a resolve to “give top priority to action to save the ‘Bear.’  The Bear was Sleeping Bear Dunes and it was targeted for development.  It is now the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and a premier Pure Michigan destination and one of many Sierra Club accomplishments that will be celebrated during the Saturday event in Ann Arbor.   Today Sierra Club’s Michigan Chapter has grown to 60,000 members and supporters and helps lead environmental campaigns across the state, ranging from water affordability and green infrastructure in Detroit to protecting the Great Lakes from dangerous oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac.  A history of the Michigan Chapter is available online. http://michigan-chapter-history.blogspot.com/

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