A strike by about 350 members of UNIFOR, Canada’s largest private-sector union, ended when its members ratified a new contract on Nov. 2. The agreement will give them wage increases of 5, 4 and 4 percent annually over the next three years and offer them better protections against the St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/st-lawrence-seaway-labor-strike-ends/
Chelsea Volpano’s coastal erosion study began drawing attention on social media last week, but not for the reasons you would expect.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison student was gathering the final data set for her Ph.D. on October 30 when her small boat stopped responding to the remote control.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/coastal-erosion-researcher-appeals-for-help-in-finding-her-remote-control-boat/
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-area startup banks on ethanol-fueled trucking as alternative to battery electric — Energy News Network
A Chicago-area startup develops technology to retrofit diesel engines to run on ethanol, betting that it’s a faster path to decarbonize heavy-duty trucking than waiting for electric replacements.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/energy-news-roundup-states-rebrand-energy-to-meet-electricity-targets-ohio-legislation-to-declare-nuclear-power-as-green-energy/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/no-convictions-for-flint-attorney-general-ends-water-crisis-prosecutions/
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Michigan
Michigan State University to host PFAS symposium: Educating farmers on forever chemicals — WWMT
Michigan State University is hosting an upcoming symposium to educate farmers on the impact of PFAS.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/11/pfas-news-roundup-push-to-find-forever-chemicals-replacements-in-manufacturing/
Points North is a biweekly podcast hosted by Daniel Wanschura and Morgan Springer about the land, water and inhabitants of the Upper Great Lakes.
This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
On September 21, 2020, twelve-year-old Lane Frame and his brothers were seeing the Great Lakes for the first time.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/points-north-pier-pressure/
Waves of Change is a new online interview series highlighting the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region.
This month, we spoke with Monica Cady, a member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa who is a forager and herbalist living in Hessel, Michigan — a place that is part of her tribe’s ancestral homelands in what is now known as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/waves-of-change-meet-herbalist-and-forager-monica-cady/
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.
Thirteen years ago, a live bighead carp was caught within swimming distance of Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/science-says-what-how-edna-research-is-evolving-to-create-a-new-era-in-conservation/
By Steve Karnowski, Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A strike has shut down all shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway, interrupting exports of grain and other goods from Canada and the United States via the Great Lakes to the rest of the world.
Around 360 workers in Ontario and Quebec with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, walked out early Sunday in a dispute over wages with the St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/ap-strikers-shut-down-vital-great-lakes-shipping-artery-negotiations-looming/
When it comes to fostering resilience in the face of climate change in the waters that border the U.S. and Canada, hydrologist Drew Gronewold wants the region to be a “role model for the world.”
Gronewald is leading a new U.S. – Canada and sovereign nations effort to establish a research center designed to strengthen climate change resilience in communities that span international boundaries and jurisdictions.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/new-university-michigan-led-initiative-expands-climate-research-across-borders/
A strike by about 350 members of UNIFOR, Canada’s largest private sector union, could cripple thousands of businesses and cause the loss of billions in economic activity if it continues, according to shipping officials.
“Every day is a critical time,” said Jayson Hron, communications director for Port of Duluth-Superior, the U.S.’ furthest inland seaport.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/great-lakes-imports-and-exports-halted-by-strike/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
This story is part of a Great Lakes News Collaborative series investigating the region’s water pollution challenges. Called Refresh, the series explores the Clean Water Act’s shortcomings in the Great Lakes, and how the region can more completely address water pollution in the next 50 years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/michigan-steps-up-dam-removal-in-race-against-climate-change/
Quite a few bills are going through Michigan State Congress that are poised to radically reshape the state’s approach to energy. These proposed legislations signal Michigan’s commitment to the climate crisis, and could set the stage for a significant shift in the state’s environmental policies. The House introduced bills that environmentalists are keeping their eyes on, many of which would solidify elements of with Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan into law.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/keeping-an-eye-on-michigans-current-environmental-legislation/
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/2023/10/nibi-chronicles-grand-portage-water-warriors/
By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
The upcoming United States winter looks likely to be a bit low on snow and extreme cold outbreaks, with federal forecasters predicting the North to get warmer than normal and the South wetter and stormier.
A strong El Nino heavily moderates and changes the storm tracks of what America is likely to face from December to February, with an added warming boost from climate change and record hot oceans, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday in releasing their winter outlook.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/ap-electrical-grids-keeping-up-green-energy-could-risk-climate-goals/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/the-spawn-from-lake-sturgeon-in-michigan-to-be-introduced-to-cuyahoga-river/
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Federal, state and local officials have agreed to spend about $450 million to dredge contaminated sediment from Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan harbor and area rivers.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will devote $275 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to the project.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/ap-federal-local-officials-agree-on-450-million-deal-to-clean-up-milwaukee-waterways/
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
This story was adapted from Points North, a podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes, from Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/where-do-solar-panels-go-to-die/
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/2023/10/i-speak-for-the-fish-bloomin-jellies-in-lake-huron/
Details matter for water rights advocate Monica Lewis-Patrick when it comes to terminology in Michigan’s long-awaited drinking water legislation. Critical issues have to be addressed in a manner that improves people’s lives.
The recently introduced legislation is designed to remedy the need for water shutoffs in limited cases, It’s also meant to address the cost of water for residents across the state who don’t have the means to pay seemingly ever increasing water bills.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/michigan-water-rights-advocate-questions-effectiveness-proposed-legislation/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/wetland-banks-save-cities-townships-counties-money-building-roads/
This lesson will explore the phenomenon of natural gradient, as students learn about how the natural flow of the Great Lakes landscape can provide a smooth path for mountain bike riding. They will explore the physics of accelerated motion, explore the math of slope, and investigate existing and planned trails in the Great Lakes before building a slow, smooth-rolling trail to move marbles, modeling the design of mountain biking trails.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/episode-2309-great-lakes-gradients-lesson-plan/
Keep up with PFAS-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
Forever Chemicals and Cancer Risk — Chicago Health Magazine
The managing partner at a Chicago-based law firm started getting calls from firefighters last year: men and women with kidney, prostate, and bladder cancers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/pfas-news-roundup-ridding-groundwater-forever-chemicals-ultrasound-increasing-pfas-monitoring-rivers/
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A Milwaukee suburb has finally started to pull millions of gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan after spending years seeking approval from regulators.
The city of Waukesha began the diversion Monday. City officials say 90% of the city will be using Lake Michigan’s water within five days.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/ap-milwaukee-suburb-pulling-millions-gallons-lake-michigan/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/epa-okays-ohio-plan-reduce-toxic-cyanobacterial-blooms-environmentalists-say-wont-work/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Daniel Schoenherr, Great Lakes Echo
The Great Lakes region’s more than 300 bird species may provide valuable mental health benefits.
A recent study from Carleton University in Ontario shows there are fewer mental health-related hospitalizations in Michigan areas with high bird diversity.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/bird-songs-may-ease-the-blues/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/in-warming-great-lakes-climate-triage-means-some-cold-waters-wont-be-saved/
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
Illinois wants Spire to show it shouldn’t be held in contempt over its embattled pipeline — St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/energy-news-roundup-vision-green-energy-underserved-communities-nationwide-burst-clean-energy-jobs/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/enbridge-federal-review-of-line-5-tunnel-permit-is-inexplicably-lethargic/
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Indiana
What to do if there are PFAS in your Indiana drinking water — Louisville Public Media
So far, Indiana Department of Emergency Management has found unhealthy levels of PFAS in 19 drinking water utilities.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/pfas-news-roundup-can-we-get-rid-of-forever-chemicals/
By John-Paul Chalykoff, Algoma University
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
Language is foundational to Indigenous communities, including my own, and a vital connection to our cultures.
It is well documented how residential schools in Canada and boarding schools in the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/im-working-to-revitalize-an-indigenous-language-and-bring-it-into-the-future/
Out of three locations around the world, the Great Lakes region was chosen to host a new Department of Defense study. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA, is actively engaged in the Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project. Its goal is to locate and repatriate the remains of military personnel in conflict areas to provide closure to their families.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/tracing-for-human-remains-on-shipwrecks-with-environmental-dna/
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 100 years the Detroit River was perceived as a working waterway that supported industry and commerce.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/great-lakes-moment-detroits-new-ralph-wilson-park-will-provide-habitats-for-a-healthy-ecosystem/
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 wolves of Isle Royale recently came within a hair’s breadth of dying out — victims of years of inbreeding.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/science-says-what-how-an-airlift-of-wolves-saved-isle-royales-ecosystem-and-sparked-a-conservation-controversy/
The Great Lakes region is known for its abundance. Vineyards flourish near the shores of lakes Erie and Michigan. Maple trees flow freely with sap that is made into syrup every spring. And of course, Great Lakes’ freshwater fish like perch, walleye and whitefish make their way onto our dinner plates.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/book-review-saving-our-changing-menu-in-great-lakes-region-and-beyond/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/climate-change-is-harming-michigan-hunting-and-fishing-groups-warn-lawmakers/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/10/clock-ticks-for-water-utilities-to-join-national-pfas-settlements/
![New NASA imagery reveals startling behavior among group of ‘banished’ beavers: “[They] were just about everywhere”](https://www.greatlakesnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Beavers-5.-TC-5m18s-240x135.png)
This article was republished with permission from PBS.
By the Wild Hope Staff
Beavers boost biodiversity in many parched places. But they’re not always the most welcome of guests: they cut down trees and build dams that can cause unwelcome flooding for humans.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/new-nasa-imagery-reveals-startling-behavior-among-group-of-banished-beavers/
By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released the MI Healthy Climate Plan last year.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/michigan-legislature-tackles-ambitious-climate-legislation/
By Todd Richmond, Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Great Lakes’ frigid fresh water used to keep shipwrecks so well preserved that divers could see dishes in the cupboards. Downed planes that spent decades underwater were left so pristine they could practically fly again when archaeologists finally discovered them.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/ap-historians-race-to-find-great-lakes-shipwrecks-before-quagga-mussels-destroy-the-sites/
This article was republished here with permission from Planet Detroit.
By Nina Ignaczak, Planet Detroit
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign bills requiring doctors to test children for lead exposure at one and two years old following the Michigan Legislature’s Tuesday approval of the two-bill package.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/michigan-toddlers-to-receive-universal-lead-testing-under-new-legislation/
“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe direct descendant, 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 the children’s story “A Family Tree” will be released in May, 2024.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/nibi-chronicles-the-art-of-ojibwe-linoleum/
The EPA’s Chris Korleski gets excited when speaking about cleaning up the Great Lakes region’s decades-old, contaminated sediment sites like the Detroit River.
He talks about the “tremendous effort” that’s been rekindled in the past two years under the Biden administration. And how “motivated” the people who work to advance the cleanup are and the value of the partnerships that facilitate restoration.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/great-lakes-epa-office-reaffirms-2030-cleanup-goal-for-detroit-river-other-contaminated-sites/
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/2023/09/i-speak-for-the-fish-mesmerized-minnows/
A 150-year-old schooner that sank in 1881, was finally discovered in Lake Michigan. On July 15, maritime historians, Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck located the old shipwreck off the coast of Algoma, Wisconsin. The Trinidad was on their radar for more than twenty years, as the ship was a strong candidate for research; the captain and his eight crew members all survived (except their trusted Newfoundland), providing a good description of where the vessel sank.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/behind-shipwreck-discovered-lake-michigan/
Points North is a biweekly podcast hosted by Daniel Wanschura and Morgan Springer about the land, water and inhabitants of the Upper Great Lakes.
This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
In 1933, a high schooler fishing along the Huron River in Ann Arbor, Michigan looked into the water and saw something weird.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/points-north-we-got-jellyfish/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Eric Freedman, Great Lakes Echo
What’s on the menu today?
If you’re an eastern massasauga rattlesnake in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, the main course on your menu is likely to be small mammals like meadow voles and masked shrews, with an occasional side order of bird and snake.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/what-do-michigan-rattlers-chow-down/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/state-michigan-sues-gerald-r-ford-airport-authority-pfas-pollution/
Keep up with PFAS-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
Farmer Claiming PFAS Pollution From Mine Sent to Arbitration — Bloomberg Law News
An Illinois appellate court on Friday ordered a dispute between a farmer and a mining company over alleged water pollution from firefighting foam used to extinguish a fire at a mining operation be settled in arbitration, reversing a lower court decision.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/pfas-news-roundup-impact-pfas-farming-proposed-cuts-epa/
The Great Lakes are facing an era of challenges and opportunities that will require new stewardship principles, and leaders who are able to work across disciplines including science, policy, economics and social science.
That is the message from an ad hoc collaborative of University of Michigan researchers in a recent paper titled Leadership for the next generation of Great Lakes stewardship.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/researchers-current-great-lakes-stewardship-ill-equipped-handle-future-challenges/
