ABOUT THE AWARD
The Bill Iwen Environmental Justice Award was established by Midwest Environmental Advocate in 2019 to honor local leaders who make a lasting difference in Wisconsin by advocating for the rights of all people to live in a clean and healthy environment. The award is named in honor of Bill Iwen, a Kewaunee County native who touched the lives of many people in his community and beyond through his tireless work to ensure that all Wisconsinites have access to clean water.
Our 2022 virtual awards celebration was held on October 11. A recording of the event can be found here.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
MEET OUR 2022 AWARDEES
HUDA ALKAFF
Huda Alkaff is an ecologist, environmental educator, and the founder and director of Wisconsin Green Muslims, a grassroots organization working to address environmental justice issues related to climate change, clean air and water, healthy food, solar energy, energy efficiency, waste reduction and transportation equity. For over two decades, Huda has advocated for environmental justice, initiating Muslim and interfaith programs on energy and water conservation. Huda is a Program Manager at Milwaukee Environmental Consortium and the Coordinator of Wisconsin Faith Communities for Equitable Solar.
(ANAHKWET) GUY REITER
Anahkwet (Guy Reiter) is a traditional Menominee who resides on the Menominee Reservation. He is the executive director of the grassroots community organization Menīkānaehkem, also known as Menominee Rebuilders. He is a community organizer, author, amateur archaeologist, lecturer, and a member of the Menominee Constitutional Taskforce. As a water activist, Anahkwet has worked to protect the Menominee River from the Back Forty project, a proposed open-pit metallic sulfide mine near the banks of the river. Thanks to the efforts of Anahkwet and other mining activists, the Candian energy exploration company Aquila Resources recently withdrew from the Back Forty project.
DANA CHURNESS
Dana Churness and her family have lived along the shores of Lake Superior, in Ojibwe Treaty of 1842 Ceded Territory, for the past 17 years. She has been involved in resource extraction resistance since she was 16 years old, beginning with efforts which successfully stopped the Crandon Mine. Most recently, Dana has been a leader in working to stop water extraction schemes from an artesian well only a few miles from her home, in the Town of Clover. This work led her and others to form Lake Superior Not for Sale, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about water exploitation and organizing opposition to the commercial sale of water from the Lake Superior watershed. Dana works as a licensed midwife and believes that access to clean water is a human right worth fighting for.
EDIE EHLERT
Edie Ehlert is founder and president of Crawford Stewardship Project, an organization based in southwest Wisconsin’s driftless region that is dedicated to protecting rural communities from the harmful impacts of industrial animal agriculture and other extractive industries. In addition she has helped catalyze the formation of a number of other grassroots organizations confronting a wide range of environmental justice issues including water extraction, frac sand mining and fossil fuel infrastructure. Edie also played a critical role in the formation of the Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network, a statewide coalition of grassroots groups working together to influence agricultural and environmental policy decisions at the local, state, and national levels.
MEET AWARDEES FROM PREVIOUS YEARS
RICHARD DIAZ
Richard Diaz is a co-founder of COLE (Coalition on Lead Emergency), an organization dedicated to bringing attention to the disproportionate harm that lead poisoning causes for Black and low-income families in Milwaukee. In his work with COLE, Richard advocates for solutions to the lead crisis that address racial and economic justice, as well as environmental justice. Richard also works as Midwest Regional Field Organizer of BlueGreen Alliance, where he engages partners and allies in solving environmental challenges in ways that create and maintain quality jobs and build a clean, thriving, and equitable economy
BRENDA COLEY
Brenda Coley has served in various positions in the non-profit and academic sectors and brings a long-standing commitment to social justice and community organizing. She currently serves as Co-Executive Director of Milwaukee Water Commons, where she works to catalyze Milwaukee as a true model Water City— a place where we all have a stake in the health of our waters and all share in their stewardship and benefits. She also plays a leading role on the Milwaukee Water Equity Task Force, focusing on pathways to a more equitable water future and inclusive workforce in Milwaukee.
TOM KILIAN
Tom Kilian is co-founder of Citizens for a Clean Wausau, an environmental watchdog group whose volunteers monitor the activities and impacts of significant current and past industrial polluters. Tom has worked to uncover the extent of industrial contamination on Wausau's southwest side and to raise awareness of the way that the racially-diverse, working class neighborhoods on the southwest side have disproportionately borne the impacts of industrial pollution. As a member of the City Council, he has played a key role in educating the Wausau community about the principles of environmental justice, including the need for greater transparency in government decision-making and more opportunities for meaningful public engagement.
PHILOMENA KEBEC
Philomena Kebec is an attorney and policy analyst with Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission where she focuses on protection and implementation of reserved hunting, fishing and gathering rights. Philomena is an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and a member of the Ashland County Board of Supervisors.
RAFAEL SMITH
Rafael Smith is Climate and Equity Director at Citizen Action of Wisconsin where he focuses on the way climate change disproportionately impacts people of color on the north side of Milwaukee. Rafael is also a member of the Milwaukee City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity.
CHAROLETTE BAIRL
Charlotte Baierl,a grassroots organizer living in Door County, was the first recipient of the Bill Iwen Environmental Justice Award. Charlotte worked closely with Bill and continues his legacy of fighting for citizens’ rights to clean water in Northeast Wisconsin.
ABOUT BILL IWEN
A native of Kewaunee County, Bill grew increasingly concerned in the 1990s about Wisconsin's water quality problems and was determined to do something about it. He worked with members of his community to found the Tri-Lakes Association and Citizens Advocating Responsible Environmental Stewardship (known as Kewaunee CARES).
Among other important contributions, Bill helped launch a successful 2014 petition asking the federal Environmental Protection Agency to take steps to address clean water problems under the EPA's Safe Water Drinking Act.
Bill has had a tremendous impact on the lives of many people from all backgrounds. Charolette Baierl, winner of the 2019 Bill Iwen Environmental Justice Award, described Bill's influence this way:
"It’s hard to quantify Bill’s influence on raising awareness about environmental issues, but the fact that someone like myself, who has no experience in environmental science or public health, can effectively communicate the urgency of the issues at hand is a testament to Bill’s activism and the impact that just one person can have."