Naturalist Mike Weilbacher has been teach-
    ing, writing and talking about the environment
     ever since the first Earth Day in 1970,
    educating the public about environmental
    concerns in nature centers and museums, on
    TV and radio.  Currently the executive director
    of the Lower Merion Conservancy, a Philadel-
    phia-area community preservation group, his
    work as preservationist and educator earned
    him the title of “Citizen Hero” from The
    Philadelphia Inquirer, and he has been Penn-
    sylvania’s Environmental Educator of the
    Year and Outstanding Conservation Educator.

    As an environmental educator, Mike first came
    to national attention in the 1980s as the
    inventor of wildly original vaudeville-style
    participatory theater events, where audiences
    danced photosynthesis and chanted food
    chains, with Mike adding magic tricks, juggling,
    and sight gags to the mix.  Performing at
    parks, museums, zoos, festivals, churches,
    even bars nationwide, Mike has appeared on
    thousands of stages before literally hundreds
    of thousands of people.  In recent years, Mike has stepped into the role of keynote speaker
    at state and national education conferences, speaking before groups like the National Science
    Teachers Association, the Pennsylvania Alliance for Environmental Education, and the
    Association of Nature Center Administrators.  

    As a writer, he has authored a weekly column on preservation and environmental issues for
    his local newspaper, the Main Line Times, since 1997, where in 2006 he won an award from
    the Suburban Newspapers of America.  He has published several magazine articles in E: The
    Environmental Magazine and Learning, placed numerous book reviews in The Philadelphia
    Inquirer, and wrote an acclaimed regular column in his state’s environmental education
    association journal for many years.  

    As a communicator, Mike hosted public radio’s Earth Talk, an environmental newsmagazine on
    WHYY 91 FM, Philadelphia’s public radio station, during its run from 1989-1994, where he
    interviewed Vice President Al Gore, an Amazon chieftain, EPA chief Carol Browner,
    environmental activists like Dave Foreman, Paul Ehrlich and Barry Commoner, and nature
    writers like David Quamman, Terry Tempest Williams and Michael Pollan.  Since 1988, Mike has
    regularly appeared as “Mike the All-Natural Science Guy” on WXPN-FM’s live call-in radio show,
    Kid’s Corner, answering kids’ questions about tornadoes, global warming, water, ocean life,
    and just about everything under the sun.

    He has also made numerous appearances on television, including Philadelphia’s Captain Noah,
    cable TV’s The Home Show, Mother’s Day with Joan Lunden, and Comcast Newsmakers, and
    public television’s Neptune All Night.

    As a writer for kids, his activity guides for young audiences were extensively published by the
    Inquirer’s Newspaper in Education Department—guides on topics as diverse as water,
    dinosaurs, Ben Franklin, and diversity, and his guides earned him several awards from the
    Educational Press of America.

    Teacher, journalist, communicator, advocate: Mike brings his entire 30-year history of
    environmental work into any of his programs and events.
About Mike Weilbacher