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Strategic plan targets invasive species
The Superior Daily Telegram (11/17)
Douglas County’s Land Conservation Committee is forwarding a plan to the county board that takes aim at invasive species.
Mich. Clean Marina Program: Public-private partners work together to improve water quality
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/9)
Partners from the public and private sector in Michigan are working together in a voluntary program to improve the quality of the Great Lakes.
Researchers seek funding for wind test site in Lake Michigan
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/7)
In a recent article in The Muskegon Chronicle, it was reported that researchers at Grand Valley State University’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) cited a lack of year-around data (on wind platform testing) needed by prospective development companies.
COMMENTARY: Senate needs to pass clean energy act to help Michigan
The Grand Rapids Press (10/26)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was absolutely correct with his recent proclamation about the current condition of the Great Lakes State: "The State of Michigan," Reid declared from the Senate Floor, with a copy Time Magazine in his hand, "is in trouble."
First Nation women 'walk the environmental talk'
WeNews (10/23)
Tomorrow's global day of climate activism aims for media and political attention. First Nation women have another way. Since 2003, they've walked the shoreline of a Great Lake or major river, meditating on the needs of an unborn generation.
City making big push for water school
The Business Journal (10/23)
The push is on to convince the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that the best location for its new School of Freshwater Sciences is near the university’s existing Great Lakes Water Institute on East Greenfield Avenue.
What's going on in your neighborhood this month? Meet other people and learn together at recreational and educational events! Our new dynamic calendar is updated daily with current educational events.
6 | More to come ...
Although phosphorus levels in lakes Ontario and Erie have decreased by almost 80 percent since the 1970s and many regulations have been placed on toxic chemical dumping, water pollution in the Great Lakes is still causing severe damage to aquatic ecology and to our own health and quality of life. Beaches are consistently closed due to bacterial contamination, drinking water contamination has caused sickness and deaths around the region, many of our fish are poisoned with chemicals, and the sediments at the bottom of the lakes are becoming increasingly toxic.... and then the silver lining
But the Great Lakes and waterways are showing signs of improvement. In late May 2001, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported the Cuyahoga River in Ohio -- the river that caught on fire in 1969 -- is now showing healthier fish than it has in decades. Researchers attribute the success to the cleanup of industries that had originally sent their wastes into the river, as well as better maintenance of sewer systems and sewage treatment plants in the Cuyahoga watershed.
References:
Great Lakes Atlas, 3rd edition
Wisconsin Sea Grant: Communications and Outreach Program
Environment Canada: Water Pollution
Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases (ATSDR)
Nonpoint Source Pollution: U.S. EPA
Air Toxics and the Great Lakes: U.S. EPA
Lake Michigan Mass Balance Project: U.S. EPA