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Verena Owen

Winthrop Harbor, Illinois
Air Campaign Chair
Illinois Chapter

Verena Owen moved from her native Berlin to Wisconsin in 1984 when her husband took a science professorship at the University of Wisconsin. She holds a master's in biology herself, but one of their children had a learning disability and Owen decided staying home to coach him through school was her top priority. "Now he's in college," she beams, "majoring in ecology."

Owen joined the Sierra Club on moving to Illinois in 1991. "I wanted a connection with like-minded people," she reflects. "I think German society is a bit greener than here, although that may be changing." Her first forays into activism were efforts to preserve trees and local wetlands. "I was a real NIMBY do-gooder," she laughs. But her activism deepened after 1999 when new coal-fired power plants began appearing throughout Illinois, prompting her to speak out at public hearings. "I took the EPA literally that they wanted to hear from the public, meaning me," she says.

In 2004, Owen was appointed to an EPA task force examining the operating permit program for major sources of air pollution. "We wrote a 300-page report for the EPA. I'm very proud of my wonky geeky permit work. It's not sexy, but it's important." She now chairs the Sierra Club's clean air campaign in Illinois. "When I go places and say I'm with the Sierra Club I don't have to explain myself-people listen."

Owen recently helped draft the Club's Smart Energy Solutions conservation initiative. "This is really a new beginning for the Club," she says.

Owen and her husband Peter enjoy sailing on Lake Michigan and repairing to a vacation cabin in Wisconsin. "But I'm really a big city girl," she says. "I like hiking, but I take my cell phone with me-in case of bears."

Published: December 8, 2006