The Lake Erie – Niagara Monitoring Hub is testing the recreational water quality at three locations along Lake Erie’s North Shore for the second year in a row. Read the full story by CKTB – Ontario, CA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-erie-monitoring
Fish and Wildlife Service News
Fish and Wildlife Service News
http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=partnership-driven-efforts-lead-to-downlisting-of-the-american-burying-&_ID=36762
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Michigan’s Bay County to lose millions in tax revenue with closure of coal plant; a COVID-19 study looking at energy crises cites rural areas and tribal nations in Michigan; and Ohio legislators begin the repeal process for controversial House Bill 6.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/great-lakes-energy-ohio-nuclear-michigan-coal-crisis/
Educators who participated in a recent six-week online workshop series about the Great Lakes and inland waters, “Trimming our Sails” were especially wowed by one presentation. “Plastic Debris Identification” was offered by Daniela Leon, an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Superior who is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry.
Daniela Leon, submitted image.
Leon described a method to identify the common types of plastic, many of which make their way into lakes and break down into smaller pieces to form microplastic pollution. The method can be used in classrooms or at home and is especially geared toward high school students.
According to Ginny Carlton, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s education outreach specialist, one reason it’s important to know about the various types of plastics is because some float and others sink. “The differences in buoyancy means that a particular type of plastic will be found within a different vertical location of the water column. Where it is found influences the impacts it can have. For example, if it floats, then organisms that are surface feeders may be impacted,” Carlton said.
Identification of plastic types is also useful because it gives clues to the sources of the pollution – whether the plastic came from a fast-food container or from plumbing materials, for instance.
“Another reason . . . is that different chemical compounds can attach to different types of plastic,” said Carlton. These other chemicals basically attach to the plastic and ‘catch a ride’ through the water column or float across the water surface. The plastic acts like a magnet to gather up and concentrate various chemical compounds. Previous research has shown some of these chemicals are hazardous to human health.”
Leon’s activity uses simple materials like isopropyl alcohol, acetone, corn oil and plastic pellets. First come the tests to see how buoyant the plastic is. Students drop the plastic into water, then isopropyl alcohol, then the oil. Six types of plastic are commonly used in the plastic industry and each have different densities and abilities to float.
The next test is solubility or how long it takes the plastic to dissolve. That’s what the acetone is for. Students place the plastic into the acetone and record the length of time until it dissolves. As with the float test, the different types of plastic have varying solubility.
At the end of Leon’s presentation, the workshop teachers met in small groups. The high school teachers were enthused, saying they thought this exercise could be done by students even in virtual environments with supplies they have on hand at home.
Leon is mentored by professor Lorena Rios Mendoza at UWS. Mendoza was the main presenter for this part of the workshop and was also joined by another mentee, professor Tania Pelamotti. The workshop was organized by the Center for Great Lakes Literary (CGLL) and hosted by the Wisconsin and Minnesota Sea Grant programs.
The first four videos of the workshop series are now available on the CGLL YouTube page, including Leon’s session, which is contained in Workshop 4.
For more information about the toxicological effects of plastic, visit this webpage by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/plastic-identification-activity-wows-educators/
By Timberly Ferree, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Indiana University and Purdue University have each been awarded $1.6 million Environmental Protection Agency research grants to better understand the potential impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on water quality and availability in rural communities and agricultural operations across the United States.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/indiana-universities-pfas-impact-water-quality/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news//news/humans-ncei-ebenezer-nyadjro-phd
Federal, state and tribal officials are hailing the completion of a more than $1 billion cleanup of contaminated sediments in the Lower Fox River in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The cleanup, which removed 700,000 lbs of toxic sediments, is considered one of the largest and most expensive in the nation. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-lower-fox
Environmental officials confirmed the presence of the invasive plant known as the European frogbit in four inland lakes in southeast Michigan. European frogbit forms dense mats on the surface of waters and can impede boat traffic and affect wildlife habitats. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-frogbit
Environmental groups are claiming that recent dredging in Duluth Harbor and beach restoration along Lake Superior may be illegal because it violates a 40-year-old settlement that prohibits dredging from Duluth harbor. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-duluth-dredging
A recent report from the EPA Office of Inspector General faulted a lack of training and internal controls at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes regional office for the loss of records the agency was required to preserve. Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-wolf-protections
The Pays Plat First Nation community in Ontario is looking forward to receiving nearly $100 thousand in federal government funding through the Great Lakes Protection Initiative to continue its Protecting Gitchigumi project that focuses on improving water quality in Lake Superior. Read the full story the Aniskinabek News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-gitchigumi-project
The recent algal blooms in Torch Lake in Michigan have prompted residents and local environmental groups to investigate why the lake’s historically clear waters are turning brown. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-torch-lake
The Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council is calling for action by the Wisconsin state legislature to address hazardous chemicals known as PFAS found in a growing number of drinking water supplies. Their report recommends establishing enforcement standards for PFAS in groundwater. Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-wi-groundwater
The Michigan House voted Tuesday to send an additional $9 million in state funding to the Midland and Detroit areas for flooding relief efforts. The bill also includes $8 million in funding for putting up a barrier at Brandon Road Lock in Illinois to stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-mi-house
Michigan environmental officials announced that it will order the owner of failed Edenville and Sanford dams to make temporary repairs to avoid a repeat of the May flooding. The state also announced further examinations of dam integrity across the state. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-sanford-dam
Scientists in Ontario are calling on the minister of natural resources and forestry to provide a scientific explanation for a scheduled province-wide hunt on double-crested cormorants. The scientists argue that the hunt fails to meet the principles of North American wildlife conservation. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-cormorant
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan lawmakers on Tuesday began approving a budget bill that would authorize the federal government’s supplemental $300-a-week unemployment benefit during the coronavirus pandemic and provide $6 million in state funding for costs related to devastating flooding in the Midland area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-michigan-house-jobless-benefits-flood-costs/
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/09/02/judges-declaw-indiana-zoo-for-illegally-declawing-big-cat-cubs-abusing-animals/
The Trump administration plans to lift endangered species protections for gray wolves across most of the nation by the end of the year, despite contention from the Humane Society of the United States and other wildlife protection groups that argue wolves are still vulnerable. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-wolf-protections
The Trump administration on Monday relaxed strict Obama-era standards for how coal-fired power plants dispose of wastewater laced with dangerous pollutants like lead, selenium and arsenic, a move environmental groups said would leave rivers and streams vulnerable to toxic contamination. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-epa-rule-coal-waste
Alongside the illnesses, deaths and closures caused by COVID-19, the threat of climate change still hangs over communities across the Great Lakes region and around the world. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-climate-justice
Drenching rains, wet winters, warmer air and water, less ice cover and more runoff have formed a meteorological cocktail that has contributed to unprecedented Great Lakes water levels, flood-producing storms and the degradation of the shoreline, scientists say. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-lake-ontario-shoreline
The agency that regulates outflows from Lake Ontario has announced plans to increase those flows slightly after the Labor Day weekend, following through on a decision made in May to let water levels drop in September in Lake St. Lawrence, just upstream of the Moses-Saunders Dam between Massena and Cornwall, Ontario. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-lake-ontario-outflow-levels
The wetland ecosystem of Braddock Bay in Monroe County, New York, is a prime example of how climate change and fluctuating Lake Ontario water levels have altered the shoreline habitat. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-climate-change-lake-ontario
The Shaw Point Historic District on Sand Island in Lake Superior has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The historic district on Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands National Lakeshore holds a unique collection of three neighboring properties at Sand Island’s southeastern edge. Read the full story by the Ashland Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-historic-lake-superior
Throughout the past few years, millions of dollars in grant funding have been utilized in Greenville, Michigan, to properly map, identify and locate deficiencies within the city’s wastewater system. Read the full story by The Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-michigan-sewer-line
Booming exports of grain are driving the Great Lakes shipping industry’s rebound, with shipments of Canadian grain up 13 percent from last year. The demand for grain helps offset downturns among many other products, like coal, steel and iron ore, which have brought the overall amount of cargo shipped on the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway down eight percent year-to-date. Read the full story by The Stony Plain Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-shipping-grain
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday finalized its weakening of an Obama-era rule aimed at reducing polluted wastewater from coal-burning power plants that has contaminated streams, lakes and underground aquifers
The change will allow utilities to use cheaper technologies and take longer to comply with pollution reduction guidelines that are less stringent than what the agency originally adopted in 2015.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-trump-administration-coal-plant-pollution-rollback/
By Judith Lavoie, 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.
New global industry standards for dealing with mine waste are not enforceable, fail to set measurable standards and will not protect communities, workers or the environment from disasters such as the 2014 Mount Polley spill or the deadly 2019 Brumadinho dam failure in Brazil, says an international group of scientists, community organizations and non-profits.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/new-global-standards-mine-waste-dam-failures-critics/
Topics include aquatic invasive species, eating local fish and Green Bay’s ecosystem
Wisconsin Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks” series of free, public events will return this fall—in cyberspace. Four virtual events in the series will take place on Thursdays at 7 p.m. between Sept. 10 and Nov. 12.
The series was launched earlier in 2020 with an in-person event in Green Bay in early March. However, remaining spring events were canceled due to public health concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Now, because of ongoing health concerns and university policy, the series will move to a virtual format this fall. Wisconsin Sea Grant is headquartered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Lake Talks cover topics of special interest to residents in communities along or near the Lake Michigan shoreline—though anyone is welcome to attend.
Fall speakers and topics are:
Sept. 10: Molly Bodde of Kenosha, Wisconsin Sea Grant aquatic invasive species outreach specialist for southeast Wisconsin, will present “But It’s So Pretty: Combating Purple Loosestrife with Look-a-likes.”
Sept. 24: Chris Litzau of Racine, Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps director.
Oct. 22: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay graduate students Cadie Olson and Brandon Falish will speak about “Green Bay: A Saga of Life, Destruction and Restoration.”
Nov. 12: Titus Seilheimer of Manitowoc, Wisconsin Sea Grant fisheries specialist, will offer “How to Eat Wisconsin Fish.” Seilheimer will talk about his favorite fish, the benefits of eating Wisconsin fish—both wild-caught and farmed—and how you can incorporate local fish into upcoming holiday celebrations.
Zoom will be used as the online event platform. Each event will last one hour and include time for Q&A after the presentation.
While web links and other technical details for the sessions are still being finalized, those interested can get more information when it is announced by following Wisconsin Sea Grant on social media (at the handle @UWiscSeaGrant on both Facebook and Twitter), or by going to the Wisconsin Sea Grant website at seagrant.wisc.edu (search for “Lake Talks”).
Questions about the series may be directed to Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith at smith@aqua.wisc.edu.
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/wisconsin-sea-grant-to-host-virtual-lake-talks-this-fall/
Alongside the illnesses, deaths and closures caused by COVID-19, the threat of climate change still hangs over communities across the Great Lakes region and around the world. And the people and organizations fighting against climate change and for environmental justice have found themselves caught between these two threats to public health.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/intersecting-crises-climate-change-justice-covid-19/
A major agronomic debate about the Nutrient Management Practice Standard, regulations limiting runoff from livestock farms or more commonly known as Code 590, is happening in now Columbus, with potentially large ramifications for western Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-manure
Unlike fish, native mussels take years to establish in a previously polluted stream, and since so many mussel species are in a precarious position, Ohio has strict laws to protect them. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-ohio-mussels
In a report card generated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the Western Lake Erie basin scored a 58%, or a C+. The overall report card is a holistic summation of all factors for the Western Lake Erie Basin and watershed. Read the full story by The Daily Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-erie-graded
A new study finds fishing lines are one of the highest potential pathways for spread spiny water fleas. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-spiny-water-fleas
Recent sturgeon deaths in Lake Michigan highlight the fragile nature of Great Lakes ecology and should be a reminder of the urgent need for protective state and federal efforts to preserve the lakes. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-save-the-sturgeon
There is no clearly defined marker in either Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence River about where the boundary of the United States ends and Canada begins, meaning recreational boats may unknowingly cross federal lines. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-uniform-boater-rules
The Detroit Zoological Society’s Piping Plover Captive Rearing Program, a breeding program for the endangered Great Lakes piping plovers, had its best year ever after welcoming 39 new hatchlings in 2020. Read the full story by WLHT – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-piping-plovers
Lake Erie saw several record high monthly mean water levels in 2019 and 2020, but U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projections show the lake is not expected to reach any more records for at least the rest of the year. Read the full story by The News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-erie-water-levels
The International Joint Commission announced that it will adjust its outflow strategy and allow water levels in Lake St. Lawrence, an artificial lake in the international portion of the St. Lawrence River, to decline to the normal navigation season minimum following Labour Day. Read the full story by Seaway News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-st-lawrence+
The Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, has completed $1.5 million worth of improvements designed to show off its outdoor artifacts and take advantage of its riverfront location. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-dossin-museum
Fish and Wildlife Service News
Fish and Wildlife Service News
http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service-determines-designating-critical-habitat-is-&_ID=36761
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/08/31/pandemic-impacts-library-services-budgets-in-long-term/
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
https://noaaglerl.blog/2020/08/28/glansis-technical-memos-add-new-data-to-invasive-species-risk-assessments/
Amid COVID-19, Freshwater Future has doubled down on their support for water councils through the Great Lake region to ensure people have running water in their homes.
In April of 2020, a reporter in Chicago, IL disclosed information cultivated through an investigation on the number of Chicago residents living without running water. Revealing a staggering 150,000 reports on water disconnection since 2011. With handwashing being the top preventive measure aside from social distancing and wearing a mask, the Chicago Water Council (CWC) has been working to understand the present situation for the rest of the community.
As a result, the CWC has discovered local residents without running water. Partnering with the Center at Englewood organization as they serve hundreds of residents by hosting a food distribution point, CWC now has a place within Englewood to provide free bottled water while working with the residents to pinpoint who is living without water.
Freshwater Future has assisted by establishing a working relationship between the two organizations in addition to coordinating with Elevate Energy to have bottled water delivered to the Center at Englewood for CWC. The Chicago Water Council has been working tirelessly to support and aid their community amid COVID-19 with a goal of continuing the work with the support of Freshwater Future to locate homes living through this pandemic without a basic human need — access to clean, safe, and affordable drinking water.
Blog – Freshwater Future
https://freshwaterfuture.org/uncategorized/chicago-water-council-locates-residents-without-water-and-theres-more/
Residents of Benton Harbor, Michigan have always carried a strong spirit of justice and equitable treatment. They are not to be pushed around and their tenacity caught the attention of Freshwater Future — summer of 2018 a partnership was conceived and the Benton Harbor Community Water Council (BHCWC) was born. Spring of 2018 water samples were drawn throughout the community homes to look deeper into its water quality and elevated levels of lead double the limit allowed in drinking water were discovered.
Since then, BHCWC has rolled up its sleeves and have gone to work with diligence and tenacity. The Chairman of BHCWC Reverend Pinkney with numerous community leaders and activists have joined him to resolve the lead issue to ensure their neighbors have clean and safe water to drink. They’ve established partnerships with the health department, city commissioners, and the youth to work in unison for the health of the people. Recently, BHCWC successfully secured an exclusive supply of water filters from the health department and organized their own drive thru a water filter distribution pilot program with the health department which attracted local residents in staggering numbers.
While enforcing social distancing and distributing filters at a proficient rate, BHCWC and their youth executed leadership and organization that impressed the health department distributing a total of 300 filters and 2,000 masks in 3 hours while keeping everyone safe from spreading COVID-19 with an innovative drive thru event.
Benton Harbor Community Water Council is passing out water filters October 21 from 11am to 3pm at River Terrace Apartments. Come get your filter or replacement! They’ll see you there.
Blog – Freshwater Future
https://freshwaterfuture.org/uncategorized/bhcwc-water-filter-drive-thru-event-shows-up-and-shows-out/
Freshwater Future has worked for years to help ensure people can protect themselves from lead and other contaminants in drinking water, and one thing is clear to us: there is no safe level of lead. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has long held “the best available science which shows there is no safe level of exposure to lead.” Our work in partnership with the Flint Development Center and the University of Michigan Biological Station laboratory have also clearly indicated that when there is lead in drinking water, filters reduce the amount of lead when used and maintained properly.
In Michigan, a revised Lead and Copper Rule now has communities utilizing a new testing protocol that is more accurate at finding lead at the tap. Unfortunately, as communities and water systems are learning they are out of compliance with the rule, we have not heard strong recommendations for using filters in these communities coming either from the state or municipalities. Instead, we have seen alerts and educational materials that recommend filters only for pregnant women and children.
While we agree that children and pregnant women should use filtered water in communities out of compliance with the rule, we strongly believe EVERYONE in these communities should utilize filters to protect their health. Because the testing that the rule relies on is conducted in only a few homes, it is impossible for most residents to know whether they too could be drinking tap water with elevated lead levels. Therefore, filters that connect directly to the tap to filter out lead (be sure they are labeled Standard 53) are an important tool to protect residents of all ages in communities that are out of compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule.
We hope that the State of Michigan and water system operators will also begin to take a more proactive approach to public health by recommending everyone in, out of compliance, communities utilize filters.
Blog – Freshwater Future
https://freshwaterfuture.org/uncategorized/public-health-and-lead-in-water-our-view/
Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission announced today that it will be appointing Erika Jensen to serve as its interim executive director. Erika first joined the Commission in 2006 and currently oversees the agency’s aquatic invasive species prevention and control program. She will be the first female executive director of the Commission since it was established in 1955.
Darren Nichols announced that he will be stepping down from his current role as executive director on September 8. He will provide transition guidance to executive leadership as needed through January 2021 and will work to ensure a seamless transition for the Commission. He plans extensive travel and distance learning with his wife and three teenage sons through the next school year.
“I am so pleased to announce that Erika Jensen has been named to serve as interim executive director,” said Chair Sharon M. Jackson, Deputy General Counsel for Governor Eric J. Holcomb of Indiana. “Erika is highly regarded throughout the Great Lakes community and has spent more than 14 years with the GLC, spearheading many regional initiatives and serving in several leadership roles during this time. Erika has the ideal combination of experience with Great Lakes issues and stakeholders and fresh new ideas for the agency.”
“The Commission sincerely appreciates Darren’s significant contributions to the Commission and the Great Lakes basin,” said GLC Vice Chair Todd L. Ambs, Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “We wish him and his family the very best.”
Erika joined the Commission as a Sea Grant Fellow and has a master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University. She currently serves as coordinator for the Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species and the Invasive Mussel Collaborative and works with a variety of regional partners on projects focused on invasive species and other topics.
The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Sharon M. Jackson, Deputy General Counsel for Governor Eric J. Holcomb of Indiana, is an interstate compact agency established under the Great Lakes Basin Compact of 1955. The Commission is authorized by state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin and its residents. The Commission consists of governors’ appointees, state legislators, industry and nonprofit leaders and agency officials from eight states and two provinces. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a “Declaration of Partnership.” The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission office is in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Learn more at www.glc.org.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/news/leadership-082820
During this pandemic many of us have had to take our work home with us, and now that children are returning to school they will be, too. Everybody is at home battling with their own stress, so dealing with others too can be tough. It becomes more daunting when days just can’t seem to go right. You know what I am talking about. Confined within the same four walls everyday can start to feel as if they are closing in when there is so much that “has” to be done. By that time, anxiety rises, motivation withers and you want to throw your hands up, curl up in bed and eat your favorite dessert, mine is ice cream, while watching Netflix wishing all deadlines and projects go away.
We’ve all been there but during the pandemic it has a chance to happen a lot more often. The reality is we will be knocked off our square and being able to recognize when we are knocked off, provides us an opportunity to realign with our internal self. Without peace, we can’t think straight. Without thinking straight, let’s be honest, we’re no help to anyone, including ourselves. So what can we do to quiet the madness inside and keep our hands from ripping out our hair? (Though I’m bald already.) We must incorporate activities that bring us peace during our work day, and practice them daily. Practicing these activities daily ensures they become second nature and ensures the practice of self-care, which some would say we need more than ever. The holy grail to the consistent high level productivity you expect from yourself is self-care. Take care of your body, mind, and spirit, and in turn, they will take care of you. The key is to understand that you must give to yourself before you give yourself to others. Sounds too simple? Perhaps, but it is as easy as making a choice.
If you’re looking for ideas to recenter yourself and allow time to recharge and re-calibrate yourself to be the best you for others read the following suggestions and see what works best for you.
Meditation: a way to really center yourself is finding a relaxing spot, sitting down, closing your eyes and just breath. It may not make sense since most of us have a million thoughts passing by, but next time, sit down and focus on your breathing in and out while observing your thoughts as they come and go. This will clear the fog in your mind and has been proven to reduce anxiety while boosting clarity.
Self Talk: You ever wake up in the morning, stub your toe, and the first thoughts you have are unhappy? Those negative thoughts can create a snowball effect with the expectation that the rest of the day will be a bad day. I invite you to wake up and before you grab your phone or think of the million and one things you have to do that day, to write down or say to yourself at least three things you are grateful for and try this for at least 10 days. Practicing gratitude opens the door to more and better relationships, improves physical and psychological health, enhances empathy, reduces aggression, and improves sleep and self-esteem.
Being totally focused on what’s in front of you: I know a lot of people take pride in being multi-taskers but I will, respectfully, ask you guys to cut the crap. That may be one of the reasons why you feel overwhelmed at times. You don’t need to do it all at once. Take the most important task in front of you and put all of your focus on it and finish it before moving to the next one. You will experience a dramatic change in your productivity.
These are only a few options out of thousands to choose from. I invite you to begin thinking about what you can do for yourself. In this productive society we are constantly thinking about what we can do better at work, for our family, and for our friends. Now it’s the time to think about the most important person — yourself. Take care of yourself and enjoy the benefits of a more relaxed, centered you. I guarantee others will.
Written by Brandon Tyus, Policy and Community Program Associate
Blog – Freshwater Future
https://freshwaterfuture.org/uncategorized/a-closer-look-at-self-care-during-covid-19/
Please also visit:
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
https://www.greatlakescoast.org/2020/08/28/please-also-visit/
