11-12-07
Sierra Club Wins IDEAL Award for Accountability
Keep Great Milwaukee Beautiful (KGMB) held their annual Fundraiser and IDEAL Awards banquet on Nov. 10th. IDEAL stands for Innovation, Diversity, Education, Accountability and Leadership. Mike Sebzda and Cheri Briscoe accepted the award to the Sierra Club for Accountability. Cheri noted that Rosemary Wehnes, Associate Midwest Sierra Club Representative, deserves special recognition for her research which resulted in two lawsuits by Great Waters Group of the John Muir Chapter on companies which were repeatedly putting unfiltered polluted water into Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District sewers, which were clogging the pipes. The lawsuits were settled out of court with the sued corporations implementing appropriate equipment to clean up their sewage discharge and donating money to community organizations for projects that will help keep the Menomonee River cleaner for the future. Sierra Club rules do not allow the Sierra Club to benefit financially from environmental lawsuits.

Rosemary was also commended for her organizational work with KGMB, corporations, and community organizations in planning and implementing several successful cleanups on the Kinnickinnic River. Hundreds of volunteers helped to get debris, out of the river.

Other IDEAL awards went to: Johnson Controls, Corp. for Leadership; Sharon Adams Director of Walnut way for Diversity; Trees for Tomorrow in Eagle River for Education; and the Urban Ecology Center for Leadership. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Senator Russ Feingold for his consistently high advocacy for, promotion of and votes for environmental Legislation.

10-3-07
Great Waters Group Volunteer Wins Sierra Club Award!
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Harriet Iwamoto from Brookfield, WI has won the 2007 National Sierra Club Special Achievement Award. The award honors a Sierra Club committee for a single act of particular importance dedicated to conservation.

Harriet Iwamoto took on the role of Environmental Education Chair for the Great Waters Group of Sierra Club in June 2006 and decided that we needed to create a Kids Guide to the Outdoors, a guide to the wild places in our area that would appeal to children, arouse their curiosity, and enable their parents, guardians and mentors to help them explore nature's wonders.

The ultimate goal of the program is to create an A+ Community of Youth: Awareness, Appreciation, Activities, Action , Activism. In other words, to help create the next generation of environmental advocates in the four county area.

Harriet recruited a committee of 17 people. A work schedule was created and an outline for the format of the guide was formed with the ambitious goal of publishing 20,000 copies of the 200 page, 4 color Guide by Earth Day in April 2007. Hundreds of visits and calls were made to parks, ecology centers, and private and government administrators to get their input regarding the plan. Their response was enthusiastic. Volunteers hiked the locations, took pictures and wrote descriptions, directions, and child appropriate questions. Volunteers then spent numerous hours editing and rewriting the information to make it "kid" friendly. Harriet engaged graphic designers and writers who contributed their expertise to the guide.

In the meantime funding resources were explored. The Great Waters Group contributed $2000, private donors gave money, and the Assurant Health Foundation contributed $30,000. During this process Harriet logged over 2000 miles and 1000 hours, doing field work as well as planning, coordinating and managing the project. In January 2007, she assumed the role as John Muir Chapter Treasurer.

On Earth Day, Great Waters Group volunteers fanned out all over the area, wherever people were involved with river cleanups and Earth Day activities to distribute guides to children and families, who welcomed the new resource. To date, 20,000 guides have been delivered to state, county and municipal parks, offices, schools, churches, Head Start, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, libraries, scouting organizations, YMCA's, nature centers, and outdoor sports stores throughout the 4 county area. Schools have been sent notices that the books are available.

The next step, which is in process, is to create family oriented Great Waters Group Outings at a rate of one per month. An A+ Website is also available which gives kids a place to find information, ask questions and get answers and get involved with environmental activities.
This program will be a prototype for other groups to develop their own kids' guides and to build the next generation's environmental advocates and Sierra Club members. Harriet was presented with her award on September 29, 2007 during the Sierra Club’s Annual Dinner in San Francisco.

For more information on the Sierra Club awards program, visit www.sierraclub.org/awards.