Michael formed the Macoun Marsh Committee to protect significant marsh land at the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa. With the support of several volunteers and local organizations, he was able to provide his students with the opportunity to successfully identify and record over 1 350 local plant and animal species in the marsh. These actions have since expanded. Michael founded BiodiversityMatters, an organization created to promote biodiversity-related initiatives on a global scale. Michael was also the driving force behind the Second International Youth Symposium on Biodiversity, involving over 100 youth from ten countries, which developed a youth accord that has since been translated into 17 different languages.