By Haley Walker
Walkerh4@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 30, 2009
Great Lakes water levels could drop by up to two feet by the turn of the century as temperatures rise, according to a recent series of reports released by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The water decline is a response to global climate change, according to the report by the group of scientists and citizens that advocates for science-based solutions to environmental problems. Warming temperatures reduce ice cover and increase evaporation. Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are projected to have the greatest changes.

(OH) Cleveland Plain Dealer – A Senate version of controversial and far-reaching federal climate-change legislation is expected Wednesday with initial hearings possible later in the week and throughout October.

(IL) Chicago Tribune – In the lunchroom at Stowe Elementary School in Duluth, Minn., forlorn piles of half-eaten sandwiches and bruised bananas are transformed from trash to treasure.

(MI) The Detroit News – Ethanol has been discredited as the answer to America’s energy needs everywhere except in Washington.

(MI) MLive – It’s become a cliche to compare Detroit to post-Katrina New Orleans, but here’s a valid point: Urban planners and academic researchers say Detroit has more vacant land than any city in the nation besides Nola.

(MI) Grand Rapids Press – Beekeepers  tend farm and backyard hives for the honey, to help pollinate gardens to earn cash and because they like bees.

(NY) The New York Times – Three years ago, a technological breakthrough gave dairy farmers the chance to bend a basic rule of nature: no longer would their cows have to give birth to equal numbers of female and male offspring. Instead, using a high-technology method to sort the sperm of dairy bulls, they could produce mostly female calves to be raised into profitable milk producers.

By Rachael Gleason
Great Lakes Echo
rachaelkaygleason@gmail.com
Sept. 29, 2009
Winter road safety is adding salt pollution to Great Lakes streams, according to a recent government study.
The U.S. Geological Survey examined approximately 100 streams in 19 northern states for road salt and other sources of chloride.
Of the 52 streams tested in Great Lakes states, a quarter had chloride levels that exceeded federal standards designed to protect drinking water supplies.
Levels higher than 250 milligrams per liter give water a salty taste, according to the study.
Excessive chloride can also be harmful to fish, plants, insects, worms …

Jeff Gillies
jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 28, 2009
Great Lakes climate science is often stuck in the past. Studies show that all five lakes have warmed up over the past century. But they rarely predict how much the water will warm in the next one.
A new tool from Canada could help buck that trend, warning policymakers of new threats from foreign organisms and other waterborne consequence of global climate change.

(MI) The Detroit News – A push by corn-producing states and alternative fuel proponents to increase federal rules boosting the amount of ethanol mixed into gasoline is being fought by automakers because it would be costly and could damage engines.