STAR-BULLETIN / 2007
Jeff Mikulina will step down as director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii on Sept. 27 after 10 years at the post.
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Director of Sierra Club stepping down
Jeff Mikulina says he is proudest of the club's support for measures including the bottle bill
Sierra Club of Hawaii Director Jeff Mikulina is leaving after 10 years as the voice of the environmental group.
Leaving the leadership post was a "tough decision," but it will give the group fresh blood, said Mikulina, who will remain involved with the grass-roots organization. His last day is Sept. 27, coinciding with the chapter's 40th anniversary. He will announce next week what his new job will be.
"It's been a privilege to call this work on the most beautiful piece of the planet. I feel honored," said the Wisconsin-born Mikulina, who moved to Hawaii 12 years ago.
Mikulina said he is proudest of the club's advocacy for legislation passed that resulted in increased bottle recycling, a future greenhouse-gas emissions cap and clean energy solutions because they are "tangible - we can see the fruits of our labor."
"But I make no claim to these accomplishments. They were done by hundreds of people," dedicating countless hours to an organization staffed by only one or two people over the last decade, he said.
He will most miss the volunteers he has worked with, because they "have big hearts, are part of something larger than themselves," he said. "They have a different worldview. The Sierra Club has a certain cache unique to the club."
The bottle law, which the group pushed into passage in 2002, has been responsible for the recycling of more than 2 billion bottles and cans since taking effect in 2005, and solar energy is now a standard feature required for all new homes this year, a release said.
The future greenhouse-gas cap, drafted by the club and passed in 2007, contains some of "the strongest language" among similar laws in the nation, Mikulina said.
The Sierra Club won eight of 10 environmental lawsuits in the past decade, and its membership has grown by 50 percent to more than 5,500 members over that time, a release said.