In addition to sharing my own art, this year I am reintroducing interviews with Great Lakes artists who focus on nature—its beauty, its fragility, its essential value to all life on this planet.
My first interview of 2025 is with legendary environmental lawyer and writer, Jim Olson. In his new fictional novel, People of the Dune, Jim introduces us to Odie Holmes, a judge responsible for rendering a decision as to whether or not to grant the Mython Corporation the right to extract one square mile of a Great Lakes dune and replace it with a residential complex. A coalition of tribal people, residents and conservation groups gather at the base of the dune to protect what they consider an essential part of the history, culture and character of the community.
While the book is fiction, the issue is not.
I am reminded of blogs I have written including the “The Jewel of Lehigh Valley,” the twenty year battle by residents of Lower Milford Township to protect the hills of Pennsylvania from a company wishing to develop a 600-acre quarry; the overwhelming alarm expressed by Michigan residents on learning of Nestlé’s plan to increase the pumping of groundwater in Osceola Township; the ongoing fight about the future of the Kalamazoo River mouth which began when Aubrey McClendon purchased over 300 acres of coastal dunes in 2006.
Should property ownership rights usurp all else—even to the point of destroying the land, water and habitat shared in common and considered sacrosanct by a community? In People of the Dune, Jim Olson presents both sides of the controversy and a pathway forward that he considers essential to the preservation of the planet.
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas said.
People of the Dune is an eye-opening read authored by an experienced, knowledgeable and passionate voice for the planet. Click on the button to listen to the video.
About the Author: Jim Olson has represented citizens and communities in the courts—including the Superior Public Rights litigation over mining expansion in Marquette’s Upper Harbor and the Michigan Citizens case to limit Nestlé’s diversion of groundwater in northern Michigan. He is a recipient of the Michigan State Bar’s Champion of Justice Award and was named Lawyer of the Year by Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly. In 2010, he founded For Love of Water, a nonprofit law and policy center, to protect the public commons in water, lands, and community. He is a recipient of a Michigan Council of Arts award for writing.
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