Name: Leigh Michael ’12
Major: Environmental Studies and English
Hometown: Andover, N.J.
Summer activity: Interning with the Sierra Club in San Francisco under an

By the time Leigh Michael ’12 showed up for her internship at the of the in June,  the Deepwater Horizon oil spill had already poured a couple million barrels of oil in the Gulf.

As a result, the duties of her internship had great clarity. “I focused on the Gulf oil spill,” she says, “and, consequently, the issue of water conservation because the San Francisco area constantly suffers from ”

“A sense of tangibility.”

She helped to stage protests, including the event on June 26, held informational meetings, dealt with local officials and reached out to the public. She also on conservation issues for magazine.

Just as the Gulf oil spill put a fine point on tough issues around U.S. energy and environmental policy, Michael says her Sierra Club internship “gave my ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education a sense of tangibility.”

The Sierra Club’s reaction to the oil spill, she adds, allowed her “to see how a generously funded, world-renowned organization actually works. And it certainly gave me insight as to what I would like to pursue in the environmental field in the future.”

Brower’s topic will be “CPR for the Earth: Conservation, Preservation, Restoration.” The talk is open to the public at no charge.

Known to many as the godfather of the environmental movement, Brower served from 1952 to 1969 as the first executive director of the Sierra Club. During that time the organization grew from 2,000 to 77,000 members and became one of the nation’s most influential voices for environmental protection. In 1969 he founded Friends of the Earth, which now operates in 53 countries.

Earth Island Institute, founded in 1982, works worldwide on issues of peace, social justice and environmental conservation. Brower currently is working for the creation of a National Biosphere Reserve System and for a National Land Service to replace the current Bureau of Land Management.

A noted climber and ski mountaineer, Brower is credited with 70 first ascents in Yosemite National Park and the High Sierras. As an editor and designer for the Sierra Club he was responsible for the acclaimed large- format books that include “In Wildness is the Preservation of the World” (1962), judged one of the 10 most beautiful books in the world.

His most recent book is “Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run,” co-written with Steve Chapple.

He has lectured around the world and received numerous honorary degrees, including from Maine’s Unity College in 1989.

The annual Muskie Environmental Lecture honors 1936 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ graduate Edmund S. Muskie, who during his 22 years in the U.S. Senate sponsored landmark legislation to protect the environment.