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on March 20, 2012 at 12:17 PM, updated March 20, 2012 at 12:53 PM
GRAND RAPIDS – The inaugural class of inductees into the new Michigan Environmental Hall of Fame includes Peter Wege, the Grand Rapids philanthropist whose father was a Steelcase, Inc. founder.
Wege, 92, who authored “Economicology: The Eleventh Commandment” and a 2010 sequel, is among five individuals, one education program, one environmental project and one nonprofit organization set to be inducted in a 7 p.m. May 2 ceremony at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids.
The Hall of Fame was created by the Muskegon Environmental Research and Education Society to honor in-state individuals, organizations and schools for environmental stewardship. The nonprofit operates the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve in North Muskegon.
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The society got 25 nominees, a spokesman said. Inductees include Wege, Robert “Bud” Slingerland, a former state lawmaker who introduced Michigan’s “bottle bill” that established a 10-cent deposit on may beverage containers, Tom Bailey, executive director of Little Traverse Conservancy, Theresa Bernhardt, a stay-at-home Muskegon mom who chairs the Ruddiman Creek Task Force, and Gloria Miller, founder of the non-profit Friends of the Looking Glass that promotes preservation of the Looking Glass River, which flows into the Grand River in Ionia County.
Other inductees: The Tuscola Intermediate School District’s Tuscola Technology Center in Caro, where students can learn about solar power, sustainable agriculture, biofuels, wind energy and green construction; Ruddiman Creek Task Force that works to clean up and restore Ruddiman Creek and Pond, which flows into Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan; Huron River Watershed Council, a 47-year-old coalition of residents, businesses and governments that works to protect the Huron River system in southeast Michigan.
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