There may have been plenty of gray in the room, but absolutely no sign of fatigue or disengagement Saturday, as local environmentalists celebrated four decades of activism.
Michael McGinnis is a former Chico mayor and longstanding member of the Butte Environmental Council. The group celebrated the 40th anniversary of its founding with a gala dinner at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
“We’ve has some trials and tribulations over the decades, but you know, what a great group,” McGinnis said.
From a humble start sorting recyclables in a nondescript Chico warehouse, the group has grown into a respectable force. While once content to crush cans and bale up old newspapers for recycling when that was a near-revolutionary act, the group has grown in scope and power.
It now organizes annual creek cleanups, monitors stream health and toxic waste plumes, and sets up community gardens, including low barrier garden beds for the disabled.
Former Chico Mayor Karl Ory, got a little choked up when accepting the group’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
“That’s the humbling and wonderful thing is being part of this family, both my own family and this greater Chico community that I love so much,” he said.
Ory has been involved in many issues. Locally, he campaigned for a so-called green line to protect agricultural land around Chico from development and organized against a proposed downtown parking garage. Regionally, Ory was heavily involved in the 1989 referendum that forced the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to shut down its Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in Sacramento.
Also recognized were Leslie Kuykendall, Kaitlin Haley and Kevin Killion.