Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
A business case is a document that outlines whether a project is worth undertaking.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/07/great-lakes-moment-a-business-case-for-the-great-lakes-way/
Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.
Earlier this year, a group of Michigan scientists published a study in The Journal of Great Lakes Research entitled “Extant mat microbes synchronize vertical migration to a diel tempo.”
Got that?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/science-says-what-bacteria-lake-huron-sinkhole-daily-tango/
Eat Your Heartland Out is a Taste Awards nominated program about the intersection of food and culture in the American Midwest. The show is produced by the Heritage Radio Network, a leader in culinary audio storytelling and distributed on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX), which provides content to public radio affiliates across the United States.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/eat-your-heartland-out-how-to-feed-great-lakes-freighter-crew/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Largest solar farm in Illinois will help Chicago’s city operations meet climate goal — Energy News Network
About half of the output from Illinois’ largest solar project will be devoted to offsetting the city of Chicago’s municipal electric use when it’s completed in late 2024.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/energy-news-roundup-ohio-law-solar-energy-development-line-5-michigan-continues/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/pfas-news-roundup-everyday-items-found-contaminated-pfas-removal-minnesota-estimated-billions/
I Speak for the Fish is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/i-speak-for-the-fish-searching-elusive-sculpin/
Editor’s Note: “Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/nibi-chronicles-we-are-still-here-great-grandmas-lilac/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Tax credits help lure solar-powered manufacturing plant, 60 new jobs to southern Illinois — Belleville News-Democrat
A new southern Illinois plant that will manufacture components for solar panels and electric vehicles also will be powered by a 15-acre onsite solar project.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/energy-news-roundup-minnesota-leading-clean-energy-coal-plant-closing-michigan/
It was 2010 when after a decade of lobbying by Great Lakes advocates, federal funding in the U.S. to restore the Great Lakes began to flow to the tune of $475 million.
Beneath the radar in that first year, Central Michigan University received $10 million to lead a team of regional scientists who would study coastal wetlands that had been severely degraded over time.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/landmark-great-lakes-coastal-wetland-program-continues-restoration-drive-that-began-in-2010/
This lesson will explore the phenomenon of shipbreaking, including how the technique of breaking down freighters allows us to recycle the materials and parts of the ship for other uses. Students will model shipbreaking in order to better understand the process.
View the entire lesson plan including teacher background information, worksheets and more below or download for free here.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/episode-2305-freighter-lesson-plan/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/pfas-news-roundup-3m-investigated-contamination-safety-bills-michigan/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
What do a former naval air station, a Nike missile site, and a wildlife refuge have in common?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/great-lakes-moment-trail-connects-people-secluded-detroit-river-wetlands/
The first efforts to stop the advance of invasive carp to the Great Lakes began in the early 2000s when electrical barriers in the Chicago Area Waterway System leading to Lake Michigan were thought to be a deterrent.
The fear was that if the voracious carp entered the lake, they could expand their range, wipe out the food supply and eventually devastate the multi-billion dollar Great Lakes fishery.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/illinois-feds-grapple-agreement-advance-billion-dollar-plan-stop-invasive-carp/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/mapping-the-great-lakes-freighters/
Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.
The last couple decades have been good to southern flying squirrels in the upper reaches of the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/science-says-what-looking-love-northern-forests-heat-up/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/pfas-news-roundup-home-blood-test-developed-detect-pfas-earlier/
Editor’s Note: “Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/restoring-what-lost-translation-one-place-name-time/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Jury convicts all four defendants in ComEd bribery trial — and fires a warning shot at Michael Madigan — Chicago-Sun Times
A jury finds all four defendants guilty of bribery conspiracy in a case involving former ComEd executives accused of arranging jobs, contracts and money for allies of former democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/energy-news-roundup-hydrogen-fuel-plant-michigan-un-recommends-shutting-down-line-5/
Veteran fishers on Lake Erie fondly recall the late 1980s as a heyday for walleye – a time when Ohio anglers were allowed to catch 10 fish a day and the big-eyed apex predators seemed an endless resource.
At its height in 1988, the Ohio charter fishing industry supported 1,221 licensed captains and nearly 5 million walleye were taken.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/lake-erie-charter-industry-rebounding-from-slump/
I Speak for the Fish is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/i-speak-for-the-fish-whats-the-most-popular-freshwater-fish/
What is President Abraham Lincoln’s connection to a current vexing Great Lakes threat? Traveling south to Canada, right? And why would France go to court over a Great Lakes issue?
Those are some of the questions Traverse City author Dave Dempsey asks in his latest book, The Great Lakes: Fact or Fake.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/great-lakes-book-challenges-readers-mystery-facts-whimsy/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/pfas-news-roundup-nations-first-pfas-annihilator-being-used-michigan/
In his book “Great Lakes Champions: Grassroots Efforts to Clean Up Polluted Watersheds,” John Hartig looks at how 14 Great Lakes residents are working to restore some of the region’s most degraded areas. While significant challenges remain, there is much to celebrate, including the return of sentinel fish and wildlife species, lower contaminant levels in fish and wildlife populations, and greater public access to these waters.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/book-club-celebrating-environmental-success-stories-in-the-great-lakes/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
For over a century, vast amounts of toxic contaminants were discharged by industries into the Detroit and Rouge Rivers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/great-lakes-moment-solving-the-contaminated-sediment-remediation-funding-puzzle/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Chicago’s Blacks in Green gets a major boost from a $10 million EPA grant — Energy News Network
Chicago’s Blacks in Green receives a five-year, $10 million U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/05/energy-news-roundup-line-5-negotiations-michigan-funding-clean-energy-illinois/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/mapping-the-great-lakes-flood-risk/
This lesson will explore the phenomenon of disappearing ice in the Great Lakes and the impact this has on ice fishing as a result of climate change. Students will explore the global average temperatures over time, model the greenhouse effect, conduct an experiment to model ocean acidification, and create an infographic to communicate the issue of climate change and how the impacts of human activites on the natural system can be reduced.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/climate-change-lesson-plan/
Editor’s Note: “Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/nibi-chronicles-sap-boiling-moon/
I Speak for the Fish is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/i-speak-for-fish-eyeballing-walleye/
I Speak for the Fish is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/i-speak-for-fish-eyeballing-walleye/
Some residents in Vickery, including Ohio State Rep. Gary Click, were upset to learn that hazardous wastewater from a Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment was being sent to their area for disposal. But the reality is that Vickery Environmental (VE), a Class 1 deep well injection site about five miles from Sandusky Bay, has been receiving and disposing liquid waste for nearly a half century.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/deep-dive-disposing-waste-east-palestine-derailment/
There were two differing visions on how to deal with the global water crisis at the recent United Nations World Water Conference, according to former U.N. water adviser Maude Barlow.
One, would “treat water as a commodity like oil and gas and put it on the open market for sale,” Barlow said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/former-adviser-warns-water-futures-trading-water-crisis-level-climate/
This lesson will explore the phenomenon of light pollution in the Great Lakes and some of the citizen science efforts going on around the region. Students will explore the impact that artificial lights have on night sky visibility for star gazing, learn about how everyday people can contribute to scientific research, and engage in citizen science projects in their community.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/episode-2303-citizen-science-lesson-plan/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that February 2023 was Earth’s fourth-warmest on record.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/04/great-lakes-moment-decreasing-great-lakes-ice-cover-consequences/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/pfas-news-roundup-questions-about-the-epas-nationwide-pfas-rule-answered/
Two recently banned pesticides have all but disappeared from the atmosphere around the Great Lakes, while others phased out decades ago are still hanging around.
Marta Venier, an environmental chemist at Indiana University, and her team looked at air samples taken every 12 days since 1990 by the Environmental Protection Agency around the Great Lakes region, which measure the atmospheric concentration of hundreds of compounds, including pesticides, PCBs, and other persistent chemicals.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/some-banned-pesticides-fade-from-great-lakes-air-while-others-persist/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/mapping-the-great-lakes-benefits-of-blue-spaces/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Illinois
Cook County, Illinois, contributes more to smog pollution violations in other states than anywhere else in the country, according to federal data.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/energy-news-roundup-power-outages-in-michigan-future-of-nuclear-power-in-illinois/
I Speak for the Fish is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/i-speak-for-the-fish-playing-follow-the-leader-with-diving-ducks/
Editor’s Note: “Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/nibi-chronicles-celebrating-one-familys-knack-for-finding-ancient-stone-tools/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/pfas-news-roundup-all-fish-tested-from-michigan-rivers-contain-forever-chemicals-study-finds/
It’s a mistake, environmental law attorney Nick Leonard says, for Michigan to invest so heavily in private auto transportation in place of public transit options.
Leonard was referring to the billions of dollars in subsidies Michigan has recently budgeted primarily for electric vehicle (EV) production. Investment in public transit better serves lower income groups who don’t have resources to purchase EV’s and it’s the better option to deal with climate change, according to Leonard.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/environmental-justice-expert-questions-michigans-subsidies-electric-vehicles/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
On that September day in 1998, more than 1,000 rain-soaked and determined people stood up for what they felt was right.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/great-lakes-moment-the-event-that-saved-humbug-marsh/
Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.
As spring comes to Saginaw Bay, a group of elementary school students are preparing to play an important role in a long-term scientific study.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/03/science-says-what-how-5th-graders-counting-plants-can-lead-to-positive-change/
In the spirit of rehabbing my relationship with Midwest winters, it was high time I found recreation to keep me outside and moving.
After a summer of hiking, off-roading and even eFoiling I was in dire need of some fresh air adventure, but didn’t know where to start.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/02/ian-outside-lets-go-ice-climbing/
Science Says What? is a monthly column written by Great Lakes now contributor Sharon Oosthoek exploring what science can tell us about what’s happening beneath and above the waves of our beloved Great Lakes and their watershed.
Microplastic pollution has been building up in the Great Lakes since at least the 1970s.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/02/science-says-what-how-worried-should-we-be-about-microplastic-pollution/
I Speak for the Fish is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/02/i-speak-for-the-fish-courting-sunfish/
In 2014, Detroit and Michigan received international attention on a water issue, but it wasn’t the spotlight either would have wanted.
The United Nations dispatched an official human rights rapporteur to Detroit to document the harm caused by water shutoffs based on the inability to pay. “There was no water for food or toilets or for care of the elderly or kids, people had to go to public parks and put water in cans,” water rights advocate Maude Barlow told Great Lakes Now in a 2022 interview.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/02/hope-springs-eternal-for-michigan-legislator-who-champions-drinking-water-equity/
Editor’s Note: “Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A direct descendant of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, she lives and works in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her two books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and she is at work on a children’s story.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/02/nibi-chronicles-standing-strong-with-mushers-on-the-north-shore-of-lake-superior/
Lake sturgeon, one of the largest and oldest species of fish in the Great Lakes, are in more trouble than we thought.
In December, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature downgraded its status from Least Concern to Endangered based on shrinking populations over the past three generations, which is between 250 and 300 years for this long-lived fish.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/02/lake-sturgeon-added-to-endangered-list-but-things-are-looking-up/
