Great Lakes temperature extremes intensifying due to climate change

By Lester Graham, Michigan Public

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/great-lakes-temperature-extremes-intensifying-due-to-climate-change/

Michigan Public

The Legacy of Chief Blackstone: Ojibwe resistance in Great Lakes history

“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A Grand Portage Ojibwe direct descendant, she lives in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her nonfiction 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” in 2024.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/the-legacy-of-chief-blackstone-ojibwe-resistance-in-great-lakes-history/

Staci Lola Drouillard, Great Lakes Now

Everything to know about microplastics in the Great Lakes

Shortly after Chelsea Rochman moved to Toronto to start her current faculty job at University of Toronto, she began working with the Government of Canada to sample microplastics in fish from Lake Ontario. What she found, she said, shocked her. They found microplastics in every single fish they tested. Every single fish.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/everything-to-know-about-microplastics-in-the-great-lakes/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

Despite U.S. research resistance, Great Lakes aims to be Silicon Valley for water

MILWAUKEE – The confluence of the Milwaukee and Menominee rivers, in the downtown core of Wisconsin’s largest city, is a prime vantage to assess the collection of assets that define the past and future of Great Lakes water use, and the array of technology development encompassing the region’s water.

Together and in complement, universities, research labs, tech incubators, water-focused businesses, and forward-thinking utilities here and in other cities are pushing for something greater than the sum of their parts.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/despite-u-s-research-resistance-great-lakes-aims-to-be-silicon-valley-for-water/

Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

Here comes the region’s first next-generation nuclear reactor

Catch the latest energy news from around the region. Check back for these bimonthly Energy News Roundups

 

The first small modular nuclear reactor in the Great Lakes region just got the green light to start construction — in Ontario.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/here-comes-the-regions-first-next-generation-nuclear-reactor/

Nicole Pollack, Great Lakes Now

Thunder Bay is bringing its Great Lake shoreline back

My first glimpse of Lake Superior, in all its lore-and-song-inspiring glory, is a blurry one from the backseat of a taxi driving through Thunder Bay. 

Superior, or Gitchigumi, which means Great Lake in Anishinaabemowin, is the largest of those lakes, and the second largest lake in the world, containing 10 per cent of the planet’s fresh surface water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/thunder-bay-is-bringing-its-great-lake-shoreline-back/

Fatima Syed, The Narwhal

Sinking cities: Great Lakes cities not immune from under-recognized threat

Significant areas of the Earth’s surface across continents are gradually sinking and that process brings environmental, social and economic consequences to urban centers in the United States. Great Lakes cities Detroit and Chicago are among those at risk.

That’s the conclusion of a recent study conducted by Columbia University researchers, published by the science journal Nature Cities.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/sinking-cities-great-lakes-cities-not-immune-from-under-recognized-threat/

Gary Wilson, Great Lakes Now

Are data centers a threat to the Great Lakes?

Benton Harbor on Lake Michigan’s southeast coast is known to visitors for its vacation feel and beautiful beaches.

But it’s also one of the poorest cities in Michigan. In recent years, the area has struggled to find the funds to invest in critical infrastructure, most noticeably for its water supply which until recently had tested for dangerously high levels of lead.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/are-data-centers-a-threat-to-great-lakes/

Stephen Starr, Great Lakes Now

I Speak for the Fish: Sturgeon vs salmon prioritizing native Great Lakes species

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. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/i-speak-for-the-fish-sturgeon-vs-salmon-prioritizing-native-great-lakes-species/

Kathy Johnson, Great Lakes Now

Conflict Over A Blockbuster Farm Chemical

Not since DDT was introduced to U.S. agriculture to kill insects after World War Two has a farm chemical been as important to American crop production, and come under more scientific, political, and legal scrutiny as the weedkiller Roundup, and its active ingredient, glyphosate.

With the election of President Donald Trump, the conflict over glyphosate’s risks and benefits entered a new realm of confrontation that has the potential to alter its stature as the favored chemical tool in agriculture, the largest user of fresh water in the blue economy of Michigan and the Great Lakes.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/conflict-over-a-blockbuster-farm-chemical/

Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue

It’s ‘all hands on deck’ as hot temps and strong winds bring high risk of wildfires to the Northwoods

 

By Katie Thoresen, WXPR

This story was originally published by WXPR. WXPR is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Listen to their stories here.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/its-all-hands-on-deck-as-hot-temps-and-strong-winds-bring-high-risk-of-wildfires-to-the-northwoods/

WXPR

Points North: The Longest Paddle

By Ellie Katz, Interlochen Public Radio

Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.

This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio. 

In the summer of 2015, Traci Lynn Martin’s mom was in the final weeks of a battle with cancer.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/points-north-the-longest-paddle/

Interlochen Public Radio

Cleveland Metroparks lets the dogs out in the hunt for spotted lanternflies

By Zaria Johnson, Ideastream Public Media

This story was originally published by Ideastream.

Since December, four Northeast Ohio dogs and their human companions have been hot on the trail of invasive spotted lanternflies, sniffing out egg masses laid in the Cleveland Metroparks.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/cleveland-metroparks-lets-the-dogs-out-in-the-hunt-for-spotted-lanternflies/

Ideastream Public Media

Will Congress and the President approve money to finish the Soo Lock expansion?

One of the Great Lakes region’s most critical pieces of infrastructure is in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on the St. Mary’s River, which connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron and eventually to the rest of the lakes.

The locks on the river handle up to 1,000-foot-long ships, enabling them to carry bulk freight from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to ports throughout the Great Lakes region.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/will-congress-and-the-president-approve-money-to-finish-the-soo-lock-expansion/

Lester Graham, Michigan Public

EPA Outlines New PFAS Strategy Amid Expert Concerns

Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.

On May 14, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their plan to roll back significant portions of the Biden administration’s first nationwide drinking water standard for PFAS.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/epa-outlines-new-pfas-strategy-amid-expert-concerns/

Donte Smith

An $80M cleanup made Muskegon Lake trendy. Will ‘eco-gentrification’ follow?

New luxury homes, yacht slips, and trendy hotels and restaurants are cropping up along the glittering waterfront of this west Michigan city.

Nothing unusual for the Lake Michigan coast, long known for beach towns that cater to summer vacationers and wealthy second-homers. But to those familiar with Muskegon’s blue collar history, it’s a stunning transformation.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/an-80m-cleanup-made-muskegon-lake-trendy-will-eco-gentrification-follow/

Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

Buses vs. Trains: The Future of Public Transit in the Great Lakes Region

Cities around the Great Lakes region are trying to make transportation cheaper for riders and more environmentally friendly by expanding their public transit networks. Two modes that are often pitted against each other are light rail and bus rapid transit (BRT). While not every BRT line meets the same standards, in general, they have been upgraded for higher capacity and speed, although they have fewer stations.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/buses-vs-trains-the-future-of-public-transit-in-the-great-lakes-region/

Sean Ericson, Great Lakes Now

Keeping the $5.5 billion Great Lakes fishery afloat as Trump administration considers cuts

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Charlevoix Fisheries Research Station is based in a building that was constructed in 1917, originally as a federal fish hatchery. It wasn’t the first on this site. An earlier hatchery was built in 1894.

The U.S. government was trying to replenish the fish population.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/keeping-the-5-5-billion-great-lakes-fishery-afloat-as-trump-administration-considers-cuts/

Lester Graham, Michigan Public

Intense rainfall means more floods. What can we do?

According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the intensity of hourly rainfall has increased in U.S. cities since 1970, with the Great Lakes region being among the most affected areas.

Great Lakes Now spoke with Stephen Shaw, a professor at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/intense-rainfall-means-more-floods-what-can-we-do/

Great Lakes Now

Water determines Great Lakes region’s economic future

Livelihoods and economies in the Great Lakes region always centered on water. From the manoomin, or wild rice, grown and revered by the Ojibwe people to the whitefish catch in Lake Michigan, to the water-dependent ports, steel mills, and manufacturers that dot thousands of miles of Fresh Coast lakeshore. The area’s liquid assets and the industries that developed around them form a “blue economy.”

The treasure trove of clean fresh water is seen as a competitive edge in a region hungry for growth and whose leaders boast about exporting the scientific breakthroughs and infrastructure hardware to solve the world’s water challenges.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/water-determines-great-lakes-regions-economic-future/

Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

Why smallmouth bass are getting bigger in Michigan waterways

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Victoria Witke, Great Lakes Echo

Every spring for the last 15 years, Gene Gilliland and some friends have gone smallmouth bass fishing in Lake St. Clair in Southeast Michigan for a week.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/why-smallmouth-bass-are-getting-bigger-in-michigan-waterways/

Great Lakes Echo

One man’s quest to bring more of North America’s largest native fruit, the pawpaw, to Wisconsin

By Jeff Robbins, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

If you’ve never tasted the fruit from a pawpaw tree, you’re not alone. Due to its extremely short shelf life that renders the fruit edible for only days after being picked, pawpaw is an all-too-rare treat.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/one-mans-quest-to-bring-more-of-north-americas-largest-native-fruit-the-pawpaw-to-wisconsin/

Wisconsin Public Radio

Northern Michigan program says to get discounted solar, sign up with your neighbor

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

Two northern Michigan nonprofit organizations are teaming up to promote a solar panel program, Access MI Solar.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/northern-michigan-program-says-to-get-discounted-solar-sign-up-with-your-neighbor/

Interlochen Public Radio

Wildfires are getting worse. Can an old technique help control them?

Although wildfires are commonly associated with the West, the Great Lakes region has seen its share of destructive blazes. Lee Frelich, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology, warns that we will likely see more wildfires due to heat waves and droughts caused by climate change.

Vern Northrup is a former fireman and is a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/wildfires-are-getting-worse-can-an-old-technique-help-control-them/

Great Lakes Now

After six years, Ohio moves to end coal bailouts that have been in place since bribery scandal

Catch the latest energy news from around the Great Lakes region. Check back for these biweekly Energy News Roundups

Just shy of six years since the passage of Ohio’s infamous House Bill 6, a more than $1 billion coal and nuclear bailout at the center of the largest bribery and money laundering scandal in state history, state lawmakers approved a bill that would repeal the coal subsidy House Bill 6 established.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/after-six-years-ohio-moves-to-end-coal-bailouts-that-have-been-in-place-since-bribery-scandal/

Nicole Pollack, Great Lakes Now

Millions of People Depend on the Great Lakes’ Water Supply. Trump Decimated the Lab Protecting It.

By Anna Clark, ProPublica

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

Just one year ago, JD Vance was a leading advocate of the Great Lakes and the efforts to restore the largest system of freshwater on the face of the planet.

As a U.S.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/millions-of-people-depend-on-the-great-lakes-water-supply-trump-decimated-the-lab-protecting-it/

ProPublica

Everything you need to know about the Biggest Week in American Birding

A fledgling birding festival that hatched 15 years ago has become an international event drawing visitors from around the world to northwest Ohio. While the stars of the show at the Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB) are migrating warblers, there are dozens of other species which draw crowds from every state and continent including wading and shore birds, tanagers, songbirds, waterfowl and raptors.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/everything-you-need-to-know-about-biggest-week-in-american-birding/

James Proffitt, Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Moment: Government downsizing, defunding and deregulating at what environmental cost?

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 PBS.

There is always room to improve program effectiveness and efficiency in government, as well as business, nongovernmental organizations and other institutions.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/great-lakes-moment-government-downsizing-defunding-and-deregulating-at-what-environmental-cost/

John Hartig, Great Lakes Now

Points North: My lakes are better than your lakes

By Daniel Wanschura

Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.

This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.

Minnesota is known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/points-north-my-lakes-are-better-than-your-lakes/

Interlochen Public Radio

Nature as a spiritual salve for grief? Cleveland Botanical Garden looks at healing power of outdoors

By Zaria Johnson, Ideastream Public Media

This story was originally published by Ideastream.

An exhibition at the Cleveland Botanical Garden features more than 30 artists whose work explores the role nature plays in overcoming painful emotions and experiences.

The botanical garden partnered with local gallery Deep Roots Experience to bring together The Nature of Healing, an exhibition exploring ways the outdoors can help process grief and trauma.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/nature-as-a-spiritual-salve-for-grief-cleveland-botanical-garden-looks-at-healing-power-of-outdoors/

Ideastream Public Media

Northern Michigan moves to clean up ice storm debris — by making energy

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

At a giant dirt lot off a side road in Emmet County, the air smells sharply of pine.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/05/northern-michigan-moves-to-clean-up-ice-storm-debris-by-making-energy/

Interlochen Public Radio

Prairies on fire!

By Lester Graham, Michigan Public

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal 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.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/prairies-on-fire/

Michigan Public

Meet the people trying to keep a prehistoric fish alive

By Leah Borts-Kuperman, The Narwhal

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal 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.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/meet-the-people-trying-to-keep-a-prehistoric-fish-alive/

The Narwhal

What to expect with the start of 2025’s fishing season

This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Dylan Engels, Great Lakes Echo

A new fishing season started this month, and that means Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources has plans for stocking sport fish in the state’s waters.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/what-to-expect-with-the-start-of-2025s-fishing-season/

Great Lakes Echo

Rising utility bills have Americans worried

By Akielly Hu

This story was originally published by Canary Media.

As electric and gas bills rise across the country, a poll released today finds that an overwhelming majority of people in the U.S. are concerned about growing energy costs — and experiencing greater financial stress because of them.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/rising-utility-bills-have-americans-worried/

Canary Media

Chequamegon Bay Superfund site: History, environmental impact and its importance to Indigenous communities

Chequamegon Bay plays a significant role in our human lives, including past residents like the Huron and Ottawa; and current residents, the Ojibwe-Anishinaabeg, who have gathered and made history there for a millennia. An oblong, shallow bay (61 feet at the deepest point), on the south shore of Lake Superior, the water also holds dark history as a federal Superfund site.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/chequamegon-bay-superfund-site-history-impact-importance-to-indigenous-communities/

Staci Lola Drouillard, Great Lakes Now

Spring bird migration in the Great Lakes

Great Lakes Now hosted a multimedia celebration of bird conservation and spring migration across the Great Lakes region last week.

The virtual event showcased the short film “Birds of Paradise” from Points North and the Boardman Review, which follows a waterbird migration counter at Whitefish Point Bird Observatory near Paradise, Michigan.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/spring-bird-migration-in-the-great-lakes/

Great Lakes Now

Artificial Reefs Can Mitigate Coastal Erosion in the Great Lakes. Will Cities Agree to Adopt Them?

By Lily Carey, Inside Climate News

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Illinois boasts 63 miles of coastline along Lake Michigan’s southwestern shore, nearly all of which is fortified by metal breakwaters, concrete seawalls and even swaths of land built out into the lake.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/artificial-reefs-can-mitigate-coastal-erosion-in-the-great-lakes-will-cities-agree-to-adopt-them/

Inside Climate News

Native Detroiters reclaim sacred land

By Malachi Barrett, BridgeDetroit

This article was republished here with permission from BridgeDetroit.

Indigenous people have regained control of a sacred burial mound at Historic Fort Wayne dating back more than 1,000 years.

The City Council unanimously approved a deed transfer giving a 0.58-acre site to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (NHBP) for $1.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/native-detroiters-reclaim-sacred-land/

BridgeDetroit

On the importance of dark sky parks

Summer is just around the corner, and for many in the Great Lakes region, the coming season is synonymous with weekends at the beach, camping trips and — if you’re lucky — stargazing. There are many places in the Great Lakes where the skies are dark enough to enjoy the stars and planets overhead, but specific recognition for such places varies by state.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/the-importance-of-dark-sky-parks/

Anna Sysling, Great Lakes Now

EPA nixes PFAS grants, teases new strategy

Catch the latest updates on what’s happening with PFAS in the Great Lakes region. Check back for more PFAS news roundups every other week on our website.

On April 15, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff were told to cancel tens of millions of dollars worth of pending and active grants.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/epa-nixes-pfas-grants-teases-new-strategy/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

How the Great Lakes region inspired the first Earth Day

On the heels of the anti-war protests that were taking 1960s college campuses by storm, Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson was inspired to use that same momentum to create a protest so large that it would create an environmental movement. 

An estimated 20 million Americans gathered on what would become known as Earth Day, with thousands of college campuses and high schools across the country engaged in the action.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/how-great-lakes-region-inspired-the-first-earth-day/

Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now

Can these invasive reeds be stopped?

Invasive phragmites are overwhelming Ontario’s wetlands, choking out native plants and wildlife. Towering up to 15 feet (5 meters) tall and spreading in dense clusters, this plant outcompetes native species, disrupts ecosystems, and threatens wildlife. But a team of dedicated experts and community members are fighting back.

Wetland ecologist Janice Gilbert is leading efforts at Kettle and Stony Point First Nation to combat phragmites.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/can-these-invasive-reeds-be-stopped/

Great Lakes Now

I Speak for the Fish: How to photograph mysterious freshwater fish

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. 

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/i-speak-for-the-fish-how-to-photograph-mysterious-freshwater-fish/

Kathy Johnson, Great Lakes Now

Waves of Change: Meet artist, mom and gardener Halima Afi Cassells

Waves of Change is an online interview series highlighting the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region.

For Earth Month, we spoke with Halima Afi Cassells, an award-winning interdisciplinary community-engaged artist, mom of three and avid gardener with deep roots in Waawiiyaataanong also known as Detroit, Michigan.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/waves-of-change-meet-artist-mom-and-gardener-halima-afi-cassells/

Great Lakes Now

Wisconsin sees record start to the fire season as climate change drives more blazes

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

Wisconsin saw a record number of fires in January and February this year due to a lack of snow as climate change has set the stage for more wildfires.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/wisconsin-wildfires-record-climate-change-drought/

Wisconsin Public Radio

Army Corps to fast track review of Line 5 tunnel project

By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

The federal review of the Line 5 tunnel project will be sped up under new emergency permitting procedures announced by the Army Corps of Engineers this week.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/army-corps-to-fast-track-review-of-line-5-tunnel-project/

Interlochen Public Radio

Northeast Ohio surf shop owner making waves with boards made from used foam

By Zaria Johnson, Ideastream Public Media

This story was originally published by Ideastream.

Expanded polystyrene foam is typically used in everything from packaging for new TVs to carry-out food containers, but Jeffrey McNaught, owner of Edgewater Surf in Rocky River, found an eco-friendly use for something that usually ends up in landfills.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/northeast-ohio-surf-shop-owner-making-waves-with-boards-made-from-used-foam/

Ideastream Public Media

In Indiana, natural gas is clean energy now

Catch the latest energy news from around the Great Lakes region. Check back for these biweekly Energy News Roundups

Indiana now defines natural gas and propane as clean energy under a law signed by Gov.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/in-indiana-natural-gas-is-clean-energy-now/

Nicole Pollack, Great Lakes Now