By Ben Goldfarb, Hakai Magazine
This story originally appeared in Hakai Magazine and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
In the world of competitive sportfishing, the name Arostegui is royalty.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/microfishing-angling-recreational-fishing/
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/2021/04/scientists-bottom-food-web-great-lakes/
As the pandemic wears on, antidepressant use is on the rise.
Claims for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors increased by 17% in Canada between 2019 and 2020, according to one report. In the United States, the number of prescriptions filled per week for antidepressant, anti-anxiety and anti-insomnia medications increased 21% between Feb.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/fish-study-pandemic-antidepressant-freshwater-ecosystems/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
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/2021/04/report-lake-michigan-more-storms-less-fish/
As spring comes to the Great Lakes region and icy roads and sidewalks become a distant memory, a new study shows the salt we apply over the winter can linger in summertime rivers at alarming levels.
The University of Toronto study measured chloride in four Greater Toronto Area rivers and found it was high enough in many locations to put at least two-thirds of aquatic life at risk during early stages of their development.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/salt-levels-wintertime-de-icing-toronto-rivers-summer/
Of the many possible new invasive threats to the Great Lakes, 144 stand out in particular, according to a study released in 2021.
The study lists 144 fish, plants and invertebrates that could invade the Great Lakes or expand their range within them. The species were listed by the risk of damage they pose to the Great Lakes environment or culture and the likelihood they’d be introduced by one of six pathways.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/great-lakes-invasive-species-early-detection/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers.
Extremely high winds occasionally churn up deep water with low oxygen and high levels of phosphorus in Erie’s central basin and shove it into the shallower western section, creating a hazard for fish and insects on which they feed.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-scientists-climate-whipped-winds-great-lakes-hazards/
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/2021/03/university-michigan-discovery-lake-erie-dead-zone/
Deep below the cold, dark surface of Lake Superior, sensors strung like pearls along a vertical steel cable sway with the currents. Recording the lake’s dropping temperatures as winter sets in, their gentle rhythm belies their worrying readings: the lake is getting warmer.
Jay Austin heaved several of these science experiments off a boat last fall – tossing concrete blocks into the deep water to anchor the cable of sensors stretching down from floating platforms just below the surface.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/lake-superior-researchers-impact-warming-winters/
Two simple, white signs marked “WPSC” on small posts are all that mark its existence to most of the public. The posts sit on either side of a narrow road that turns to gravel then disappears shortly after into the woods and is the gateway to the oldest continuously operating – and most storied – waterfowl hunting club in North America.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/winous-point-conservation-research-history-oldest-hunting-clubs/
With warming temperatures, fluctuating water levels and a series of extreme storms, Lake Superior is undergoing dramatic alterations amid climate change.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/future-lake-superior-climate-disruption-climate-change/
Warming waters are hard on some fish, such as walleye, and more favorable to others, such as smallmouth bass. With so many environmental stresses, it’s difficult to gauge the future of individual lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/michigan-inland-lakes-ice-fishing-fish-less-ice/
Intense storm events and flooding are changing the ecology of rivers in the Great Lakes region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/intense-storms-climate-change-harming-michigan-streams-rivers/
By Terri Cook, Eos
This story originally appeared in Eos and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
During the mid-1930s, in the wake of devastating Dust Bowl–era storms, the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/big-benefits-from-experimental-watersheds/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
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/2021/02/pfas-fish-wildlife-researchers-michigan/
Michigan and the Great Lakes region — with an abundance of fresh water, warming winters and less fire-prone forests — stand to attract millions of new residents in the coming years looking to escape flooded coastal areas and the parched land of the West.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/water-great-lakes-climate-refuge-prepared/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Yue Jiang, Great Lakes Echo
They glide over the lake, waiting for the best time to catch fish.
In the blink of an eye, they dive into the water without hesitation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/u-s-canadian-researchers-birds-conservation-research/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Kalah Harris, Great Lakes Echo
Herring gulls are aquatic birds that feed at the water’s surface and so are restricted to feeding on prey fish at the surface and shallow nearshore waters.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/herring-gull-eggs-monitor-great-lakes-ecosystems/
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
https://noaaglerl.blog/2021/02/04/five-decades-of-great-lakes-ice-cover-data-and-where-to-find-it/
The way J. Ellen Marsden remembers it, when she first suggested calling a new Great Lakes invasive species the quagga mussel, her colleague laughed, so the name stuck.
At the same time, it was no laughing matter. The arrival of a second non-native mussel, related to the already established zebra mussel, was a major complication in what was becoming one of the most significant invasive species events in American history.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/invasive-mussels-legacy-beyond-great-lakes/
Polluting factories go uninspected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Leadership positions sit vacant at the U.S. Geological Survey’s climate science centers. And U.S. Department of Agriculture research into environmental issues important to farmers is unfinished.
The ranks of scientists who carry out environmental research, enforcement and other jobs fell in several agencies — sharply in some — under former President Donald Trump, federal data shows.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/ap-biden-environmental-challenge-vacant-scientist-jobs/
Since the late 1980s, four of the five Great Lakes have played host to an increasing number of invasive mussels. First came zebra mussels, followed shortly thereafter by quagga mussels, both members of the Dreissenid family whose native range includes the waters around Ukraine.
Today, the filter-feeders comprise more than 90% of the total animal biomass of the Great Lakes (barring Lake Superior, whose depth and water chemistry make it a less suitable habitat for the two species of mussel).
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/invasive-mussels-phosphorus-chemistry-great-lakes/
America’s rivers are changing color — and people are behind many of the shifts, a new study said.
One-third of the tens of thousands of mile-long (two kilometer-long) river segments in the United States have noticeably shifted color in satellite images since 1984.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/01/ap-one-third-of-americas-rivers-have-changed-color-since-1984/
By Oliver Morrison, PublicSource, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
A single PFAS chemical featured in the movie “Dark Waters” last year about contamination from a Teflon plant in Parkersburg, W.Va. resulted in a $670 million court settlement. A community study showed the chemical was linked to six diseases: kidney cancer, increased cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, preeclampsia and testicular cancer.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/pfas-chemicals-pittsburgh-scientist/
A familiar view for many who live and play around the Great Lakes graces the current cover of National Geographic – a stormy sunset over Lake Michigan, seen from the sandy beaches of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
The feature story of the magazine’s December 2020 issue puts a spotlight on the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/saving-great-lakes-national-geographic-december-issue-struggles/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday approved the final federal permit for Enbridge Energy’s planned Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement across northern Minnesota, bringing the project a step closer to construction.
In a release from its St.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/ap-army-corps-engineers-final-federal-line-3-permit/
Scientists at dozens of colleges and universities around the country are hoping early detection of COVID-19 infections can come from a not-so-glamorous sampling process.
With collection devices set up in campus sewer systems, researchers are sampling waste from residence halls and other buildings for evidence of the virus.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/campus-covid-19-sewage-testing-early-infections/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
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/2020/11/great-lakes-stressed-climate-change-worse/
Even casual observers of Great Lakes issues are aware of the problems associated with algal blooms.
Perhaps they remember the headlines from August 2014 when Toledo went without drinking water for three days due to the threat of toxic blooms contaminating the city’s water supply. Or a day their favorite beach posted “No Swimming” signs because of toxic algal bloom threats.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/11/small-streams-impact-great-lakes-water-quality/
Early in October, scientists who pioneered a powerful gene-editing technology won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. That same technology is now being used to explore new ways to control invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes.
When researchers suggested earlier this year that it might be possible to eradicate sea lamprey from the Great Lakes, it was with developing gene-editing technology in mind.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/genetic-engineering-research-controlling-sea-lamprey/
Lake Erie’s Western Basin didn’t do well on its first big test: a report card produced by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
The report card gave it a mediocre score, an overall C+, based on a various factors regarding the lake’s condition. The watershed surrounding western Lake Erie scored a C.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/western-lake-erie-mediocre-score-report-card/
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/2020/09/pfas-news-roundup-pfas-puts-pregnancies-at-risk-nestle-and-la-croix-among-waters-with-elevated-pfas/
By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos
This story originally appeared in Eos and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
As Chicago’s industries and population boomed in the late 1800s, city officials decided to reverse the course of the Chicago River so that it flowed away from Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/chicago-wetlands-shrank-40-20th-century/
YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — Eastern Michigan University will test campus wastewater for the COVID-19 virus and other signs of infectious diseases.
The testing, part of the school’s return-to-campus plan, is intended to track the presence of the coronavirus in wastewater flowing from residence halls and apartment complexes.
The monitoring might provide early detection of asymptomatic cases of the virus, according to the school.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-emu-campus-wastewater-covid-19/
The teenagers and scientists searching for the 2017 meteorite in Lake Michigan found more than they had been looking for, representatives from the team reported yesterday.
In a live update on the Adler Planetarium’s YouTube channel, students and researchers shared two major finds from The Aquarius Project’s years-long attempt to find the meteorite: a sample that could be from that meteorite and a sample from a meteorite much, much older.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/aquarius-project-findings-update-meteorite-fragments-lake-michigan/
Three years after a meteorite crashed into Lake Michigan, the Adler Planetarium is giving a live virtual update on the search to find it.
Join at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT on Thursday, Sept. 10. Watch here:
In February 2017, a meteorite lit up the night sky before crashing into Lake Michigan off the Wisconsin shoreline.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/planetarium-update-lake-michigan-meteorite/
By Jimmy Thomson, The Narwhal
This story originally appeared in The Narwhal and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
This is the first part of Carbon Cache, an ongoing series about nature-based climate solutions.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/climate-change-carbon-canada-natural-landscapes/
ESCANABA, Mich. (AP) — A bald eagle launched an aerial assault on a drone operated by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy — known as EGLE — ripping off a propeller and sending the aircraft into Lake Michigan.
The attack happened July 21, when the drone was mapping shoreline erosion near Escanaba in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to document and help communities cope with high water levels, the department said in a statement.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-bald-eagle-drone-lake-michigan/
Rich Americans produce nearly 25% more heat-trapping gases than poorer people at home, according to a comprehensive study of U.S. residential carbon footprints.
Scientists studied 93 million housing units in the nation to analyze how much greenhouse gases are being spewed in different locations and by income, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/ap-rich-american-more-carbon-pollution-poor/
Scientists believe a dry spring in Lake Erie’s western basin watershed will help keep the annual harmful algal bloom in check this summer and early autumn.
The bloom’s biomass is expected to rank 4.5 on a scale of 10 in terms of severity, according to Rick Stumpf, oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/toxic-algae-2020-harmful-algal-bloom-forecast-lake-erie/
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/2020/07/pfas-michigan-wisconsin-legislation-foam-covid-19/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Indiana:
When its water supply was running low in May, Andrews tapped into an unused well but was forced to shut it down again after the town found high levels of cancer-causing chemical vinyl chloride left over from a factory now owned by Raytheon Technologies.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/drinking-water-ohio-shutoffs-lead-exposure-private-wells/
The virus can be detected in infected people’s feces – sometimes even before they begin exhibiting symptoms.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/sewage-check-researchers-look-to-wastewater-for-data-on-covid-19/
As the author of Great Lakes Now’s Collection of Lesson Plans, educational consultant Gary Abud Jr. is now providing more support for parents, teachers and caregivers who want to incorporate Great Lakes learning into their time with children and students. His series of writings can be found HERE along with the lesson plans and a Virtual Field Trip.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/great-lakes-learning-younger-learners-2/
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
https://noaaglerl.blog/2020/03/04/eight-years-of-great-lakes-underwater-glider-data-now-available-to-the-public/
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
https://noaaglerl.blog/2020/01/29/sinkhole-science-groundwater-in-the-great-lakes/
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
https://noaaglerl.blog/2018/12/03/the-hab-season-is-over-but-the-work-goes-on/
