Michigan woman wants to clean up in a BIG way

 

When the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground and spilled as much as 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound 22 years ago, Adria Brown's heart broke.

"I was particularly overwhelmed and touched by what the spill did to the animals," she said.

But learning two years later that Exxon had failed to find a clean-up method that was not chemical-based or dispersant drove her to action. Brown, who owns a fine art gallery, had been working on a project and recalls hearing the news as she rolled up to a restaurant for a meeting.

"Exxon had spent two billion dollars investigating methods all over the world, and they didn't get it done," she said. "That was the moment."

While she was filled with internal rage at the waste of resources and empty result, Brown began thinking seriously about the problem. Maybe, she thought, the solution was so simple that a big corporation like Exxon just couldn't see it.

That night, she started getting flashes of inspiration and wrote them down. "I felt like I was being pulled out of bed. I got up, I couldn't sleep. I felt like somebody was saying to me, 'You have to do this.'."

In a way, Brown said, "cleaning up" has been her life's work. "The most satisfying clients were the ones that needed me the most." And what larger or more needy client could there be than an ocean befouled by oil?

Needless to say, the idea that a fine art gallery owner in Michigan would come up with a solution to cleaning up gallons of oil, when a multi-billion dollar corporation had failed, met with some skepticism. A friend actually made that point, suggesting if G-d had wanted to give an idea to someone, it would have gone to a research scientist.

But once Brown got him to watch what she was doing, he became her greatest supporter. In a lab of her own creation, she was proving the humble, natural corn cob would not only soak up spilled oil, but could then be processed to recover some of the oil and later used as fuel. The product has tested well not only in her own lab, but also at an independent Canadian facility.

"When I finally got my patents - and I knew I was going to get those patents - every dime went into Recovery I," she said of the business she created and opened in June, 1992.

The "I" in the name, Brown said, is really a capital letter. "It stands for 'I' of the 'I Am'. Without that prodding from the very first moment, I would never have come this far."

While friends may have been skeptical, the industry was openly resistant, more inclined to continue seeking chemical solutions. However, Brown is finding more scientists are standing up to support the method she calls "Golden Retriever," especially in the wake of the BP oil spill this past summer.

"They are saying there isn't any oil left," she said, "but that's a lie. It's at the bottom of the ocean."

Her work has drawn attention from all over the world, Recovery I and Golden Retriever were mentioned in a Huffington Post article on natural oil spill solutions, in a league with other nationally recognized research scientists.

Brown has been working with the agriculture community in Iowa to obtain raw materials, and the response has been very positive. She has also had some very uncomfortable encounters while building the business. At one conference, a venture capitalist openly questioned her credentials after she had given a presentation.

"I was embarrassed," she said, "but I closed my eyes, and I asked G-d for help. I asked him to repeat the question, and out of nowhere... I said, 'G-d is my credential'. People who are in business don't want to hear that, but at that moment, the whole room broke into uproarious applause."

A few months later, Brown ran into a scientist who attended her presentation. He said she had inspired him to look again at a patent that had been sitting on his shelf for 10 years. "He wanted to thank me," she said.

Recently, Brown made a full-time commitment to building Recovery I, so much so that she even re-ordered her business priorities. Since opening in 1977, Madison Executive Galleries has grown from fine arts to dealing in carpets, wall coverings, window treatments, furniture, fine arts accessories and design/space planning services - but now comes second in the message on her business answering machine.

"It's very challenging, but it's very exciting," she said. "This is far bigger than I ever imagined."

To learn more, visit Recovery I, Inc. www.recoveryiinc.net, e-mail recoveryI@msn.com, or call 248-851-4849.

*Note: This story includes corrected information.