MSU alumnus works to help environment

MSU alumnus J. Matson Heininger has lived quite an eventful life and describes himself as a “third-tier Renaissance man.”

The 58-year-old Ann Arbor native graduated from MSU in 1972 with an economics degree. Along with years of travel, skiing and sailing, Heininger also has been a house designer and writer, currently working on his second novel.

Through time, Heininger has grown to appreciate many things — none more than the environment.

After he wrote his first novel, he learned he had colon cancer, where at one point, the doctors told him he may not make it through the night. A few years later, he came close to death again because of an exploding ulcer — a consequence of ibuprofen use during his skiing days.

“When you almost die a couple of times, you take stock and look at the natural world with an even greater appreciation and wonder,” Heininger said.

Heininger and his wife, Debra Hobohm, now live on a 30-acre piece of land on Torch Lake near Traverse City that has been in his family for 50 years. On his land, with a view Heininger says is unequaled, he has lots of wildflowers and fruit trees like the many orchards in Northern Michigan.

“I never really enjoyed lawns and have been aware of the problems with pesticides ever since I read Rachel Carson’s book ‘Silent Spring’ when I was 13 or 14,” Heininger said. “I began to take more awareness of nature and bees when we moved back to Northern Michigan and I started taking daily walks through the forests and orchards surrounding our property. Orchards can’t function without bees.”

After he researched why the honeybee population continues to decline — because of a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder that causes abrupt disappearance of worker bees — Heininger decided he had to do something.

“I looked at the economy; it’s horrible, especially in Northern Michigan,” Heininger said. “So I looked to start something that would help the area and make people aware of the environment, specifically the vanishing bees and Colony Collapse Disorder. Much of our food supply depends on pollination. In the case of our regional orchards, the pollinator is primarily the European honeybee.”

So he and Hobohm started Save the Bees in the spring, an organization that sells merchandise with their logo on it. Ten percent of the revenue is contributed to bee research and scholarship grants.

They want to keep as much of the merchandise to be produced within the U.S. and the region, including the shirts.

“We import the shirts from Asia and the caps from South America, but for the most part we want to keep the business in the region where we live, and in the United States,” Heininger said. “We want to help the depressed Michigan economy, even if at this stage it’s only the jobs of five or six people.”

Those involved can see Heininger’s intentions are positive for the region.

“He’s very aware of and conscious of the area,” said Roger Nesburg, CEO of Charlevoix Screen Masters Inc., which prints the shirts for Save the Bees. “He’s down to earth with his intentions and definitely walks the walk and talks the talk.”

Starting an organization like this might have been a daunting task for some people — but for Heininger and Hobohm, it came fairly easy, Hobohm said.

“J. has numerous passions and a variety of issues he gets involved with,” Hobohm said. “But between the both of us, we have lots of fabulous abilities and life experiences and just knowing how to get involved.”

The couple, along with starting the organization, has allowed MSU to use their property as an extended research site — adding to the many connections the two have to the university.

“I wanted to get exposure to more ideas from younger minds,” Heininger said. “It is natural to become entrenched in our views as we age, hopefully having students use our property and do research will keep my wife and I more youthful and aware than we might be otherwise.”

Heininger uses several different marketing techniques to get his merchandise out, but writing remains the major attraction.

“I started most of my blogs in order to generate exposure for Save the Bees,” he said. “Liberals may read about the bees and our products on my leftist blog. Others in Ann Arbor may learn of them from the Haunted Wolverine football blog.”

Despite his ability to make money off of the venture, Heininger said all he wants to do is make enough money to live on.

“My goals have never been exclusively to make money,” he said “It is of course necessary and desirable, but it cannot be the final balance for an enterprise.

“Creativity is more important. We wish to give something back to students, to green causes, and make people aware of Colony Collapse Disorder in the bees.”