As the Free Press takes nominations for 2011 Green Leaders awards, we profile how last year's Green Leaders are doing:
Shaun Nethercott
Founder and executive director of Matrix Theatre Company in southwest Detroit, Shaun Nethercott is nearly halfway through the theater's three-year Ghost Water campaign.
Last year, the project spotlighted areas that were once waterways. This year, the Matrix Theatre will reveal -- through public performances and educational and art projects -- the lost wetlands and marshes that once inhabited the city, including the land where Grand Circus Park and Comerica Park now stand.
The theater's large, handmade puppets of the frogs and herons -- depicting wildlife that once lived in the region's wetlands -- may be, Nethercott said, "coming to a marshland buried near you."
Arts & Scraps
Arts & Scraps recycles extra fabric and other materials businesses ordinarily would throw away, into art projects. Since being recognized as a Green Leader last year, the nonprofit has recruited nine new regular donors of material, Arts & Scraps Director Peg Upmeyer said.
The new donors have come as demand for Arts & Scraps' group art projects and material kits has grown.
Arts & Scraps is seeing more traffic both at its home base on Detroit's east side and at schools and after-school programs across Michigan. WARM Training Center
WARM Training Center has continued its mission of showing people how to save energy -- and save money. Last year, the nonprofit saw 11,000 people in its energy-saving workshops, a 50% increase, said Robert Chapman, WARM's executive director.
At those workshops, people learn how to save gas and electricity, about incentives for making energy-saving improvements to their homes and where to go for financial help with utility bills.
Working with Southwest Solutions and Henry Ford Community College, WARM has helped place more than 70% of people who go through weatherization training in jobs within 60 days of finishing the training.
Wildlife Habitat Council
Since earning recognition as a Michigan Green Leader last year, the Wildlife Habitat Council has brought on four new habitats, said Martha Gruelle, project director of the council's Huron to Erie Waterways for Wildlife project.
The group, which certifies habitats, recruited ITC Transmission and Waste Management to open parts of their properties in Ray and Lenox townships, Novi and Lake Orion for conservation education. The council also is working with volunteers and employees to nurture those habitats.
In another local habitat, Gruelle said that the beavers along the Detroit River at DTE Energy's Conners Creek Power Plant seem to be alive and well.
The Rev. Faith Fowler
The Rev. Faith Fowler, pastor of Cass Community United Methodist Church, launched Cass Green Industries in 2007 and has become known for transforming many of its thousands of abandoned tires into colorful doormats.
Also going strong is the Green Gym, where people can work out on donated -- recycled -- exercise equipment, including 10 stationary bikes that generate electricity.
This past year, Cass Green Industries also grew its document destruction program, which shreds and recycles paper and cardboard. That enabled Fowler's organization to double the number of developmentally disabled employees to 50 men and women.
It's now looking into the possibility of a deconstruction program to recycle demolition debris, too.
Herman Miller
Herman Miller, the Zeeland-based office furniture company, has been environmentally conscious for years.
It aims to have a zero-carbon footprint by the year 2020 -- and as of now, is 91% of the way there, according to Herman Miller spokesman Mark Schurman.
Last May, the company said it uses 100% renewable electrical energy in every one of its locations worldwide. The office-component maker is also Huron County's Harvest Wind Farm's biggest customer and generates 100% of the steam required by its main manufacturing operations in Zeeland, 92% of which is from burning wood waste.
Mind Body & Spirits
The only U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified organic restaurant in the state is going off the grid for the winter.
Mind Body & Spirits of Rochester, owned by Mike Plesz, announced earlier this month that it was closing for the rest of the winter, but will be open for special events.
The eatery is continuing its Green Education Tours with Rochester Community Schools, highlighting its eco-friendly building, constructed with recyclables and solar and geothermal heating mechanisms. By the end of March, more than 2,500 students will have completed the program.
Orin Gelderloos
University of Michigan-Dearborn professor of biology and environmental studies Orin Gelderloos is known as much for commuting to work by bike as he is for teaching his students about pollution and industrial waste.
During the past year, the 71-year-old earned good grades for decreasing his house's carbon footprint -- specifically natural gas and electricity consumption -- by at least 50% by installing a heat pump and a high-efficiency furnace.
He currently is in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, teaching ecology.
John Hartig
Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge manager John Hartig said that in 2010, his team added another 315 acres to the refuge and restored 67 acres of Brancheau wetlands in Monroe County.
The refuge also saw the completion of the 1.5-mile Humbug Marsh greenway trail that links Humbug Marsh and the Refuge Gateway with Lake Erie Metropark, Flat Rock and Brownstown Township through 12 miles of continuous greenway trail.
Crystal Mountain Resort
The getaway spot in northwest Lower Michigan near Traverse City and Cadillac has gone green on the green.
Crystal Mountain Resort, over the past year, has earned Audubon International certification for environmental planning for its golf courses, which include an estimated 20 birdhouses made from recycled pallets and worked with Michigan State University on a sustainability study to reduce fertilizer, irrigation and other inputs on the 16th hole of the Betsie Valley course.
In July, the resort joined forces with the Rehmann Group in Traverse City to purchase enough wind-energy credits to cover the carbon footprint for the Michigan Women's Open Pro-Am.
The inaugural Taste of Michigan Crystal Mountain hosted over Labor Day weekend was a zero-waste event, where only reusable tableware was used, leftover food composted and bottles and cans recycled.
Bill Ford
A lifelong environmentalist, Ford Motor Executive Chairman Bill Ford stood in front of a few thousand journalists at the North American International Auto Show last week to show the lineup of electric and hybrid vehicles his family's namesake company plans to offer.
During the next two years, Ford Motor expects to roll out the Focus Electric, its first all-electric passenger car, and hybrid as well as plug-in hybrid versions of its new seven-seat C-Max.
Sticking to his convictions, despite having been lectured at one time that environmentalists were crazy, Ford has put his great-grandfather's company in a position to be a leader in green technologies.
Thomas Haas
Thomas Haas, president of Grand Valley State University, has made being green a priority for the college.
Grand Valley State has made sustainably its seventh value and a part of its strategic planning. Through energy conservation efforts, the school is consuming 20% less energy per square foot than it did in 2005.
The school has deployed cafeteria composting programs at its Allendale and Grand Rapids campuses.
