Protecting the Porcupine Mountains: Artists Sol Anzorena and Tom Grotewohl on Fighting the Copperwood Mine

Artists, authors, and activists Sol Anzorena and Tom Grotewohl join Our Hen House to discuss their grassroots campaign, Protect the Porkies, fighting a proposed copper mine that threatens Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains, Lake Superior, and the North Country Trail. They break down the ecological risks of toxic mine waste, light and noise pollution on wildlife, and how their small local movement grew into a national fight — all while remaining vegan activists building unlikely alliances with hunters, conservatives, and nature lovers alike.

• How Sol and Tom’s Protect the Porkies campaign began — and grew from a single change.org petition into a national movement against the proposed Copperwood copper mine
• The environmental threats at stake: toxic wastewater discharge, endangered redside dace, and irreversible damage to old-growth forest and Lake Superior
• Why light and noise pollution from mining operations devastate nocturnal wildlife, migratory songbirds, and firefly mating cycles
• How grassroots organizing, art contests, and handwritten letter campaigns helped defeat a $50 million state funding proposal three times
• The Rights of Nature movement, their upcoming documentary, and their graphic novel, Reynard the House Wolf, as tools for building cross-movement solidarity

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Sol Anzorena was born in the Andes Mountains of Argentina and grew up in southern Spain. Uncertain of what to pursue in college, she took a year off from her studies to backpack in South America, where she began to paint murals, solidifying her dedication to art. She then studied Fine Arts in the city of Granada in Spain, then Poland, then Brazil. Her photography has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Humana Obscura, and The Sun Magazine. She also composes songs for guitar under the name Maple Moon, and she loves to design and craft beaded earrings inspired by the birds and insects of the North Woods. She’s currently working on an illustrated book to talk about light pollution.

Tom Grotewohl is a writer and musician living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He co-founded Protect the Porkies, a grassroots campaign fighting to protect the Porcupine Mountains, the North Country Trail, and Lake Superior from a proposed copper mine, along with other initiatives.

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