Dear Terry,

On behalf of the Great Lakes Town Hall and the Biodiversity Project, I would like to inform you that Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation has been selected to be featured as the Great Lakes Town Hall’s “Great Lakes Spotlight” for the month of March! Your organization’s leadership role in promoting awareness of the value of public control of water makes you a very deserving candidate, and we are honored to feature your organization next month.

The Great Lakes Town Hall (www.greatlakestownhall.org) is an online forum for people who live around the Great Lakes to come together, discuss various concerns and questions they have about issues in the region, and work together to brainstorm ideas for solving these problems. It has been running for over three years, and after the website was redesigned in January, we have added the “Great Lakes Spotlight” feature, which showcases a grassroots organization that strives toward protecting the Great Lakes and its people.

Please confirm with me that MCWC accepts the invitation to be featured in March on the Great Lakes Town Hall. Below are questions we would appreciate you completing so we may post them on the website and give our 500+ readers a better idea of your history, mission, perspectives and plans for the future.

Thank you very much, and congratulations!

Sincerely,

Brenna Wanous

Great Lakes Town Hall Manager

Cc: Gary Wilson and Dave Dempsey, Great Lakes Town Hall Co-Moderators

Jennifer Browning and Jessica Smith, Biodiversity Project

1. What is Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation’s mission? What approaches or methods do you use to achieve this (these) goal(s)?

2. In the book Thirst, you are quoted saying, “There were no influential people here at all. It’s a true grassroots movement” (pg 179). And true enough, when you look at who MCWC is comprised of, especially when it first formed, most of who you see are ordinary, every-day citizens with full time jobs, families and in some cases not extensive background or training in grassroots organizing. How does this work to MCWC’s advantage? What are the benefits of engaging a community of citizens versus a group of highly-trained professionals?

3. The Thirst authors wrote that you didn't receive support from the large environmental groups. Why was that the case?

4. How is MCWC the same and different from the organization it was prior to winning the battle against Nestle?

5. What was the most unexpected experience you had as president of MCWC? What have you learned from it? Did it change the way you think about or approach an issue?

6. What do you see as the greatest threats to the Great Lakes, and most promising solutions?

7. Anything else you would like to add?