Topic: Best Part of Us: A Conversation with Author Sally Cole-Misch on Storytelling, Environmental Advocacy, and the Great Lakes
Speaker: Sally Cole-Misch, Novelist and Environmental Communicator
When: Thursday, April 3rd, 2025 | 7pm Hybrid meeting, both in person and Zoom
Registration is Required, In-person or online: (registration open soon)
In-person: Birmingham Unitarian Church, 38651 Woodward Ave, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Zoom: A link will be provided upon registration
Synopsis of the presentation:
Join us for an engaging conversation with Sally Cole-Misch, an environmental communicator turned award-winning novelist, about her book The Best Part of Us. Drawing from her career in Great Lakes policy and environmental communications, Sally will share the real-world inspirations behind her novel, insights on the power of storytelling in advocacy, and the essential roles that family, nature, and place play in our lives.
This interactive session will follow a hybrid interview and presentation format, incorporating audience questions throughout. Topics will include:
- Lessons from a career in environmental communications and policy
- The journey from fact-based advocacy to fiction writing
- Themes, characters, and key messages in The Best Part of Us
- Overview of the Great Lakes' value and current priorities
- The power of story telling in environmental advocacy
Whether you are an activist, an environmental enthusiast, or a lover of compelling stories, this conversation will offer valuable takeaways on how storytelling can inspire change.
Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the intersection of fiction and environmental communication!
About the speaker:
Sally Cole-Misch is a writer, author and environmental communicator who advocates for the natural world through work and play. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and a master's degree in environmental education and international water policy from the University of Michigan.
Throughout her 30+-year career as an environmental reporter, public affairs officer for a US-Canadian boundary waters treaty organization and as an environmental writer, educator and policy consultant, she's focused on our essential connections with nature, how our lifestyles impact the planet we live on, and the role we can play to restore and protect our water, land and air.
Sally took a crazy leap into fiction through Stanford University's certificate program in fiction writing, where her wonderful professors and fellow students helped her to complete the first draft of The Best Part of Us. She resides in the Great Lakes region with her husband and son, although her year isn't complete without a trip to mountains to ski and hike. She also enjoys kayaking, sailing, gardening and biking, a hearty laugh with family and friends, the wonder of surprise, and the optimism that nature's beauty always provides.
About SEMG Monthly Meetings & Presentations:
The Sierra Club Southeast Michigan Group (SEMG) features free presentations as part of SEMG's monthly, first-Thursday 7pm meetings. These meetings may be on Zoom or in person and begin with 10 minutes of announcements after which the speaker is introduced. The presentations last about an hour including Q&A and Sierra Club members and supporters, along with the general public, are invited.
All Sierra Club Southeast Michigan members and supporters with email addresses receive notice of the time, place and speaker beforehand. To sign up for and manage email updates from The Sierra Club visit: https://myaccount.sierraclub.org/MyAccountLogin
The schedule for 2025 is below.
Thursday 2/6/25 Recycling Reinvented by Tracy Tomaszewski, Recycling Specialist in the Materials Management Division of EGLE (View)
Thursday 3/6/25 Benchmarking for a Sustainable Future: Detroit’s Role in Advancing Energy & Water Efficiency by Kendal Kuneman, Executive Director of Detroit 2030 District
Thursday 4/3/25 Sally Cole-Misch, Best Part of Us: A Conversation with Author Sally Cole-Misch on Storytelling, Environmental Advocacy, and the Great Lakes
Thursday 5/1/25 Topic: Another Inconvenient Truth - Links Between Climate Crisis and Military. James Rine, VFP Climate Crisis & Militarism Project; Adjunct Professor, Wayne State University.
Thursday 6/5/25
Thursday 9/4/25
Thursday 10/2/25
Thursday 11/6/25