THE SECOND PILLAR: ENVIRONMENT

The Environmental project that typifies what the Wege Foundation has done for 40 years came about the way many of Peter Wege’s good works happen. He had an idea so big even his staff thought it could be beyond this visionary’s reach. “We need to save the Great Lakes,” Peter announced one winter day in 2004. “And we need to do it now.”

Peter soon left any doubters in the dust. Out of that personal passion has grown a robust national organization called Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition (HOW-GL) patterned after the successful Everglades Coalition. Over ninety environmental groups (listed below) that represent millions of Americans have joined HOW-GL and are actively involved. The leaders of these groups are fully committed to using their grass-roots people power to save the Great Lakes.

It all began the spring of 2004 when the Wege Foundation—with support from the Frey, Beldon, and Mott Foundations—sponsored the first HOW meeting. That conference, held at Steelcase headquarters in Grand Rapids, brought together some of the nation’s leading environmentalists. In two days of working sessions, they brainstormed the best ways to restore the Great Lakes.

These top ecologists and environmental thinkers reached consensus on the most serious threats to the Lakes. Heading the list were invasive species and pollution. In addition to their scientific conclusions on how to heal the lakes, the HOW group issued a policy statement on what needed to be done. Wege called their summary report “the Great Lakes’ Magna Carta.” This Magna Carta made it clear that in order to restore the Lakes’ ecosystem, government, businesses, and citizen groups had to work together and the federal government had to take a leadership role.

Out of the 2004 conference, Peter’s vision for collaborating to save the lakes came to life. He’d long wanted to unite the various environmental groups and philanthropists who’ve worked for years—but often independently—to protect the Great Lakes. The HOW-GL Coalition met that goal.

The Wege Foundation invited Andy Buchsbaum, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office, and Tom Kiernan, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, to co-chair the HOW-GL Coalition. Grand Rapids native Mark Van Putten, former president of the National Wildlife Federation, signed on as the Wege Foundation’s consultant for the HOW-GL Coalition.

Three years later, West Michigan Congressman Vern Ehlers introduced legislation to implement many of HOW-GL’s recommendations. Crossing party lines, Republicans Ehlers and Senator Voinovich joined Democratic Senator Levin and Congressman Emanuel in introducing the $20 billion Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act.

“We will focus not on the problems,” Wege had told the environmental leaders gathered at Steelcase in 2004, “but on the solutions.” The almost 100 organizations in the HOW-GL Coalition have worked hard to educate the public about the challenges and opportunities in restoring the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act demonstrates that concerned citizens can help bring about solutions to challenges as big as restoration of the Great Lakes.

"Restoring and preserving the Great Lakes is the single most important project of my life as an environmental activist since starting the Wege Foundation in 1967."

Peter M. Wege