Michigan Land Trustees

Since its inception in 1976 one of the main intentions of Michigan Land Trustees (MLT) has been to facilitate access to land for small farmers as well as for household food production. In addition, since MLT grew out of the energy crisis of that decade as it engendered a back-to-the-land movement, board members have supported local food efforts because they are energy-conserving. More recently, as board members became aware of global warming and an impending peak in global oil production, the possibility of replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy has returned to our agenda. Because of our awareness that land for organic food production is limited, however, we have been critical of the rush to bio-fuels to supplement fuel for transportation.

In an effort to demonstrate our concern over energy use a couple of our board members built an off-the-grid house in 2001. The owner of the house is now working to establish Sunflower Ecovillage on some of his unused farmland and the board is fully supportive of this project because it is trying to demonstrate a model of what sustainable development might be. The ecovillage is planned for the use of renewable energy as a response to the two threats we face: global warming and the end of cheap oil. Sunflower Ecovillage will encourage the use of sunlight for raising organic food, for photovoltaic energy and wind power. The website contains more information: www.sunflowerecovillage.com.

More generally, MLT supports the resurgence of agrarian values that revitalize rural and urban communities by promoting responsible land use and the development of localized food and energy systems. See www.michiganlandtrust.org.