It is once again time to vote for MEIC’s newest board members. Only MEIC members can vote in the MEIC board election. MEIC members are those who have contributed financially or with volunteerism within the last year. If you have questions or concerns about your ballot or the process of voting, contact Julie at jwintersteen[at]meic.org.
Please cast up to 7 votes at this link: https://tinyurl.com/MEICBoard2024
Learn more about the candidates here:
Diana Hammer
she/her, Helena
I am an avid explorer of public lands, waters, and spend as much time outside as possible. I studied environmental science at Macalester College, served as an Agroforestry volunteer in the Peace Corps in West Africa, and worked for WWF/IUCN. I have an MPH (Johns Hopkins) and an MS in Biomimicry (ASU). I worked for the U.S. EPA for nearly 30 years on projects such as the Milltown Dam Removal, Clark Fork River Restoration, and in partnership with Fort Peck and other Tribal Nations to address environmental challenges. Through my volunteer and consulting work, I am committed to creating more resilient communities in a changing climate. MEIC’s work is essential to protect our constitutional right to a “clean and healthful” environment – where we live, work, and play! I have been on the MEIC board since 2020 and would be honored to continue to serve.
Steve Martinez
he/him, Kalispell
My wife and I have contributed monthly to MEIC for the last 14 years. Now that I am retired, I have the time and desire to get more involved with MEIC. I believe in service and want to put my time into trying to prevent the worst of climate change. The more I learn, the more I believe that this is possible. I am a hopeful optimist and love Vaclav Havel’s quote about hope, “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something is worth doing no matter how it turns out.” My first love was plants and botany, and I graduated from Colorado State University with a Biology degree and came to Montana to work for the Forest Service. In 1983, a back injury that doctors and chiropractors were not helping me with led me to acupuncture. It helped me and caught my interest, and I resigned from the Forest Service and went to Acupuncture School. It turned out to be a good fit for me as I am a bit of a rebel and independent thinker. I have spent the last 35 years as an acupuncturist, 33 of which have been in Kalispell. Part of my practice was environmental illness and anxiety, neither of which are well-addressed by western medicine. It is my conviction that the best way I can serve my past patients and their children is to work to take care of our environment and our climate. I look forward to getting more involved by working on the MEIC board.
Eva Molina
she/her, Bozeman
No living thing can thrive without a healthy environment. Yet, profiteering corporations are allowed to frack our land, poison our water, and pollute our air all the time. That is why MEIC’s work is so vital. As a leader in Gallatin Valley Sunrise, a youth organization fighting for a socially just, fossil fuel-free Montana, I testified to support the 2024 PSC Rulemaking Petition. Alongside the dozen other organizations MEIC organized for this petition, I urged the Public Service Commission to take action on climate change in Montana for the sake of young people everywhere. On the board, I hope to contribute my voice as a young, first generation low-income college graduate. My experience in community organizing, stint in nonprofit development, and background studying literature give me a community-grounded, collaborative perspective, and strong ability to read, think, and make deep connections. I want to join the MEIC board to protect the rivers I play in, the air I breathe, and the land I love.
Roger Sullivan
he/him, Kalispell
MEIC is the most effective environmental advocacy organization in Montana! It has been a great honor to work with MEIC in our continuing quest to vindicate the right of this and future generations of Montanans to a clean and healthful environment. In this effort, I have both served on the MEIC board and successfully advocated on behalf of MEIC on a number of occasions, including against oil and gas exploration adjacent to Glacier National Park, against the Highwood Coal-fired Generation Station near Great Falls, opposing expansion of the Rosebud Mine, and helping to achieve closure of Colstrip Generating Units 1 and 2. I also do a substantial amount of collaborative work with others working to achieve climate justice, including serving as trial and appellate counsel for the youth plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana. If selected to serve again, I would hope to contribute to MEIC through participating in the thoughtful analysis of requests for MEIC’s involvement in new matters, in the effective management of litigation, and in envisioning a sustainable future for MEIC — and future generations of Montanans!
Beth Taylor-Wilson
she/her, Missoula
I grew up in Missoula. Post high-school, I took a break from studies at the University of Montana and took a “summer job” in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, moving away from Montana just as our fair state was drafting and adopting our extraordinarily prescient, forward-facing Montana Constitution. Montanans became constitutionally assured the “fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment.” When I left, Missoula had some of the worst temperature-induced winter “inversion” air pollution in the country. But thanks to activists like the Gals Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), who numbered my mother as a member, Missoulians forced the then-Hoerner-Waldorf paper mill plant to start cleaning up its corporate act. Missoula’s air became far cleaner and healthier thanks to environmental mitigation and citizen activism. Environmental activism and stewardship is in my family DNA, and I’m excited and honored to have the opportunity to work with our state’s premier environmental watch-dog.
Jessie Wiles
she/her, Helena
I am a mom of two young kids and an attorney living in Helena. I have an undergraduate degree from the University of Montana in Recreational Management of public lands. I also have a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School with a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. For the last 10 years, I have been working in areas of public land law and Indian law for the federal Department of Interior Solicitor’s Office, for the State of Montana DNRC, and now in private practice. As a mom, I am passionate about giving our kids the chance to thrive in a clean and healthful environment and supporting our Montana families as we work to address the challenges and inequities brought on by climate change. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the amazing staff and board of MEIC to raise awareness of the most effective environmental advocacy organization in Montana doing the hard work to advocate on behalf of concerned citizens every day.
