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In: Bonnie Willison, french island, Marinette, mea, midwest environmental advocates, peshtigo, PFAS, podcast, Public Trust

This week, Wisconsin Sea Grant and Midwest Environmental Advocates launched Public Trust, a new podcast miniseries that explores Wisconsin’s response to PFAS contamination. Host Richelle Wilson visits communities impacted by these toxic “forever chemicals” to understand how local residents have been affected and what they’re doing to secure their rights to clean water. The miniseries is presented as part of the award-winning The Water We Swim In podcast.

Wisconsin Sea Grant video and podcast producer Bonnie Willison traveled with Richelle to French Island and Peshtigo to conduct interviews with community members. “Many of us take clean drinking water for granted, so hearing from these Wisconsinites on the front lines of PFAS contamination is sobering. I’m glad I’m able to help bring these voices to the public through our partnership with Midwest Environmental Advocates,” said Willison.

Preview the podcast series here.

The first episode of Public Trust takes listeners to the small town of Campbell on French Island to find out what it’s like when an entire community can no longer safely use its tap water. French Island resident and local official Lee Donahue takes listeners on a tour of the neighborhood and tells the story of how local drinking water was contaminated by PFAS-containing firefighting foam used at the La Crosse Airport.

Not only are Lee Donahue and her neighbors telling their stories, they’re also actively engaged in advocating for new environmental health protections, including a statewide groundwater quality standard for PFAS. While Wisconsin has a water quality standard that limits the level of PFAS in municipal drinking water, there’s no equivalent standard for groundwater. That’s a problem for communities like French Island, which depend entirely on private wells for their drinking water.

Later in the series, Public Trust takes listeners to the communities of Peshtigo and Marinette, where for years, local residents have been engaged in a David-and-Goliath battle with a major firefighting foam manufacturer that has polluted their drinking water and created one of the largest sites of PFAS contamination in the country. 

The series concludes with a trip to the northwoods, where Wisconsin Sea Grant emerging contaminants scientist Gavin Dehnert is working with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission to look for PFAS in tribally-harvested goods like wild rice, maple sap, and walleye.

Public Trust can be found here or wherever they get their podcasts.

The post Podcast Miniseries Highlights Stories of Wisconsin Communities Impacted by PFAS Pollution first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/publictrust/

Bonnie Willison

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In: Feature Homepage, fishing, invasive species, Latest News, Michigan, News, podcast, Recreation and Tourism, Recreational Hunting and Fishing, Science, Technology, Research
Points North: Dirty Laundry, Invasive Species, and the Limitations of Knowledge

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. 

It was 2016 and Samantha Tank was digging around in Michigan’s Pere Marquette River.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/09/points-north-dirty-laundry-invasive-species-and-the-limitations-of-knowledge/

Interlochen Public Radio

On:
In: Charlie Berens, Cripescast, Dan Egan, harmful algal blooms, phosphorus, podcast

Demonstrates the Wisconsin Idea in action

Wisconsin Sea Grant is sponsoring a panel headlined by entertainer Charlie Berens and author Dan Egan at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Memorial Union Terrace, on the shore of Lake Mendota, to discuss the lake and its blues—seasonal blue-green algae blooms—and the larger issues surrounding the use of phosphorus.

The event is scheduled for 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., Madison, Wisconsin. It will also be video livestreamed at https://go.wisc.edu/terracecripescast as part of Berens’s Cripescast podcast series. The series focuses on Midwestern people and themes.

Emmy Award-winning journalist Charlie Berens will devote an upcoming podcast episode to harmful algal blooms as part of a live event and livestream.

This spring, Egan published “The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance,” which outlines the world’s mining, processing and use of phosphorus. It also explains the element’s paradox—phosphorus brings agricultural plenty but can lead to environmental devastation, such as the growth of a bacteria known as blue-green algae that chokes the oxygen from aquatic ecosystems and creates dead zones.

Berens and Egan will be joined by Jake Vander Zanden, an expert on freshwater lakes and director of UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology, and Randy Jackson from the Department of Agronomy at UW-Madison who will speak to successful agricultural systems using reduced inputs. The panel will highlight the Wisconsin Idea, how the university’s research can inform policymaking and practices to reduce phosphorus input or reuse of the element, leading to healthier waters across the state and nation.

person sampling water filled with harmful algal blooms

A researcher samples water affected by a large harmful algal bloom.

Berens is an Emmy-Award-winning journalist, comedian and New York Times best-selling author of “The Midwest Survival Guide.”

Egan wrote  the bestseller “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes,” which was the 2018 UW-Madison Go Big Read selection. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize twice. He is currently journalist in residence at the Center for Water Policy at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences.

A book signing will follow the panel.

In case of inclement weather, the event will take place in Shannon Hall of the Memorial Union.

The post Aug. 31 event and livestream to explore phosphorus in aquatic ecosystems first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/aug-31-event-and-livestream-to-explore-phosphorus-in-aquatic-ecosystems/

Moira Harrington

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In: Authors, Books, Authors, Art and Music, Capri Cafaro, Feature Homepage, Food, freighters, History and Culture, Latest News, News, podcast, Recreation and Tourism
Eat Your Heartland Out: How to Feed A Great Lakes Freighter Crew

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.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2023/06/eat-your-heartland-out-how-to-feed-great-lakes-freighter-crew/

Capri S. Cafaro

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In: Echo, podcast

Founded in 1986, Friends of the Rouge is a grassroots organization dedicated to improving the Rouge watershed through hands-on restoration, stewardship and education.

The post Toxic hotspot builds nontoxic community engagement first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2023/03/16/toxic-hotspot-builds-nontoxic-community-engagement-2/

Guest Contributor

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In: Echo, podcast

Activists from Stop EtO established the nonprofit Lake County Environmental Works and got $270,000 to test the air for EtO.

The post Waukegan activists get federal grant to test for EtO that causes cancer first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2023/03/14/waukegan-activists-get-federal-grant-to-test-for-eto-that-causes-cancer/

Vladislava Sukhanovskaya

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In: podcast, podcasts, solutions

More modern versions have switched to a more conventional diesel engine, much quieter and much more fuel- efficient.

The post First-ever transit service hovercraft in North America plans to hit the water in summer 2023 first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2023/02/23/first-ever-transit-service-hovercraft-in-north-america-plans-to-hit-the-water-in-summer-2023/

Guest Contributor

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In: podcast, podcasts, solutions, transportation

  By Elaine Mallon This is the second story in a 3-part Great Lakes Echo series on sustainable transport in the region With plans for an all-electric bus fleet by 2035, the University of Michigan will introduce its first four electric buses come next June. The $3.64 million purchase of the four electric buses falls […]

The post Four electric buses will hit University of Michigan’s campus next summer first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2023/02/22/four-electric-buses-will-hit-university-of-michigans-campus-next-summer/

Guest Contributor

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In: podcast, Recreation

People need access to nature, and they need access within reaching distance of their homes, whether it's a walk or a bike because that helps with mental health and connection to community.

The post Greenspace starts with grassroots first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2023/02/17/greenspace-starts-with-grassroots-2/

Guest Contributor

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In: podcast, Recreation

The program offers free seven-day entry passes for state parks. The passes can be checked out from participating local libraries and eliminate the cost associated with entering state parks. 

The post Free library program increases access to Minnesota state parks first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2023/02/14/free-library-program-increases-access-to-minnesota-state-parks/

Guest Contributor

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In: Events and Special Broadcasts, Feature Homepage, Illinois, Indiana, Interview, Latest News, Michigan, News, podcast, Politics, Policy, Environmental Justice
Join Great Lakes Now on the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant podcast

If you’re a Great Lakes lover and podcast listener, you probably already know about the “Teach Me About the Great Lakes” podcast produced by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.

But if not, maybe we have one more reason for you to tune in: Great Lakes Now news is now part of the program.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/join-great-lakes-now-on-the-illinois-indiana-sea-grant-podcast/

GLN Editor

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In: Bonnie Willison, equity, Hali Jama, podcast, The Water We Swim In, water, water justice

Wisconsin Sea Grant is announcing the launch of a new podcast series, The Water We Swim In. The trailer can be found here and it features stories about the Great Lakes and people working toward equity.

In the series, Sea Grant’s Digital Storyteller Bonnie Willison and Hali Jama, podcast intern, share inspiring interviews from community organizers, researchers and leaders navigating Wisconsin’s waters.

Sea Grant has long been invested in audio storytelling, starting in 1972 with the environmental news program Earthwatch Radio. In recent years, the program has produced a number of podcast series — Wisconsin Water News, Undercurrents: The Hidden Knowledge of Groundwater, The Fish Dish, and Introduced— several of which are award-winning.

On this upcoming season of the new podcast, Willison and Jama will:

  • Explore how redlining created the Great Lakes communities of today
  • Trace the alarming trend of swimming pool closures across the country and learn about the fight to save a Milwaukee pool
  • Talk with leaders who are working to make Wisconsin’s outdoors more accessible for people with disabilities
  • Travel to Lake Winnebago to hear about a culturally guided inter-tribal project focused on lake health and wild rice restoration
  • Cook fish and tofu soup and speak with a research group focused on the importance of fish to Asian women in Milwaukee
  • Go fishing with the Midwest Crappie Hunters, who are teaching Milwaukee’s central-city youth, elderly and veterans about fishing, the outdoors and aquatic resources
smiling woman in winter coat fishing

Jama attends a fishing clinic with Midwest Crappie Hunters in Milwaukee. Jama is a UW-Madison student studying marketing and international business with a certificate in environmental studies. (Photo: Bonnie Willison)

The series’ title, The Water We Swim In, was inspired by an interview with Brenda Coley, co-executive director of Milwaukee Water Commons. “Brenda had this great quote where she said that ‘racism is the water we swim in,’” said Willison. “People might not realize that systemic racism impacts everything in our society, just like a fish might not realize that it is swimming in water.”

The post Launch of new podcast about equity and the Great Lakes first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/launch-of-new-podcast-about-equity-and-the-great-lakes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=launch-of-new-podcast-about-equity-and-the-great-lakes

Moira Harrington

On:
In: Echo, podcast

This Great Lakes Echo series, “Renaissances: Environment Creative Culture,” illustrates how some of us have adapted to societal changes unlike any that the modern world has experienced.

The post Renaissances: Environment Creative Culture first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/01/05/renaissances-environment-creative-culture/

Guest Contributor