By Laura Kearney
Madison Magazine
Special To Channel 3000

Value. Intention. Integrity. Give. Trust. Observe. Learn. Evolve. Deliver. Impact. Respect. Beauty. Sustainable.

These are words you'll hear when you speak with Madison's four eco-heroines--Molly Jahn, dean of University of Wisconsin--Madison's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, who, less than a year into her tenure, helped land a $125 million award from the Department of Energy to investigate how bio-energy alternatives like cornstalks, native prairie grasses and forestry waste products can reduce our country's reliance on fossil fuels; Nancy Christy, a local food advocate with a global perspective who motivates her clients to think and eat sustainably; Sonya Newenhouse, the dreamer and doer whose firm works with businesses and individuals to help them realize the economic benefits of eco-friendly practices; and Carla Wright, DNR employee by day, offering businesses incentives to go greener than regulations require, and tireless 24/7 grassroots advocate for land conservation and organic agriculture--about what guides them. You'll also notice each squirm ever so slightly at being ordained an "eco-heroine."

They're too modest.

Even though this is Madison, we don't want to press the Earth Mother analogy here. But these are women who give birth to big ideas and nurture others, one convert at a time, providing the information people need to make informed decisions at their own pace.

Madison's eco-heroines are welcoming not daunting. They are powerful but not out to claim power. Instead, they are steadfastly, some of them quietly, and all of them gracefully working to make sure we recognize that the choices we make have consequences beyond our backyard.

It's easy being green when this theme is inextricably woven into your life, livelihood, and lifestyle. And there is a vibrant 21st-century synergy in the way our eco-heroines' environmental passions--energy, transportation, recycling, green building, sustainable agriculture, conservation, and climate change--overlap.

To continue reading, visit Madison Magazine's Web site.