KSP Working Group
Beth Flynn
Beth helped coordinate 2 forums on reducing energy costs and a renewable energy tour, both of which were sponsored by the Keweenaw Sustainability Project. Along with several others, she tends an organic vegetable garden. She lives on a tree farm, partially heats with wood, recycles, and is learning to make cheese. She also serves on the board of the Copper Country Guatamala Accompaniment Project. In her other life she is a professor in the Department of Humanities at Michigan Technological University and director of the graduate program in Rhetoric and Technical Communication.
Merle Kindred
Merle is currently devoted to issues of energy use in the residential built environment and is completing a PhD at MTU on communication challenges related to energy efficient housing. She lives in Hancock in an award-winning passive solar, super-insulated home designed by her late husband, Garfield F. (Skip) Kindred. Merle is a life member of the American Solar Energy Society (www.ases.org).
Michael Moore
Michael's work is in community literacy and other forms of participatory, collective action, emphasizing practical approaches to social justice and environmental issues. His current projects include collaborating with community members on developing renewable-energy resources and a bilingual oral-history project in Solentiname, Nicaragua; researching and co-authoring feasibility studies for geothermal plants in northwest Nicaragua; organizing community poetry readings; and publishing a book of poetry: Yes, This.
Vern Simula
Vern is a co-founder of the Copper Country Citizens for Progressive Change, from which evolved the Keweenaw Sustainability Project. In the recent past, he was active in UPEC and AWAKE, focusing on environmental protection issues surrounding proposed copper mining projects at Gratiot Lake and White Pine, Michigan. Vern served as a witness for non-violence during several Native American treaty rights conflicts. His current involvements include developing a green cemetery for in the Upper Peninsula. Vern is a past-president of the Lake Superior Alliance and the Keweenaw Co-op. He is a retired professor of education from the University of Minnesota, Duluth.