The University of Pennsylvania earned the number one spot on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s top green power purchasers list.

The EPA compiles the quarterly top 20 lists to spur competition among schools.

For almost a month now, I have been watching an interesting discussion unfold about school food safety occur on the ComFood Listserv, a discussion place for people interested in issues dealing with community, food and agriculture. And today, I feel I have to finally weigh into the conversation. The public procurement of local food has recently made its way through a variety of unique institutions. Hospitals, prisons, schools, and universities are now purchasing and using the food. They are supporting local farmers, reducing their food miles, and providing themselves with …

Has Toyota’s sticky gas pedal debacle shaken your confidence in Asian cars? Why should we expect anything different from Asian carp? If we’re going to have carp, we better build them here, says Flickr member Michelle B4.

Don’t forget to submit your own carp bomb. And check out the waves these bombs are making in the local press.

What do members of an international environmental group that has eight Great Lakes chapters have in common with a sweet, but communist fruit?
Members of the local chapter of Waterkeeper Alliance are “watermelons: green on the outside and red or socialist on the inside,” said Maryland State Sen. Richard Colburn.
Waterkeeper Alliance member Richard Dove, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel and a registered Republican responded in a press release:
“I understand that Sen. Colburn aligns himself with big agriculture and the commercial farms that keep him in office, but … having served …

Researchers found mercury and PCB contaminants in every fish they sampled. Fish in about half of all lakes had dangerous mercury levels. But the study found thriving lakes in much of the Great Lakes region.

I had to cringe a bit at this Echo headline on a link to a Toledo Blade story Monday: Homeowners are urged to have plan for toxins’ escape
The headline is taken directly from what the Blade copy editors wrote. It’s also wrong. The first sentence of the story:
“Countless shipments of toxic chemicals travel the highways and railways of metropolitan Toledo every day, but these chemicals often are ingredients in products that support Americans’ standard of living and conveniences, …”
That’s fine, but the headline refers to toxins, not toxic chemicals. And …

The Great Lakes may have a strong new voice in Michigan State House Rep. Dan Scripps. The first-term Democrat has introduced legislation that he says would strengthen citizen protection of the state’s groundwater through the public trust doctrine.
Check out this piece from The Great Lakes Town Hall’s Gary Wilson. It’s an engaging interview with Scripps, covering his political motivation, his legislation, why the Great Lakes Compact falls short, and a reaction to Chicago media criticism of Michigan’s carp response as being “hysterical.”
My favorite answer came when Scripps was asked whether …

In January, the Supreme Court denied Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox’s request to halt the incoming Asian carp by closing the shipping locks between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes.
That decision has come back to haunt them, according to today’s carp-flavored photobomb from the Conservation and Restoration Network.

Based on their facial expressions, most of the justices seem happy to face their carp judgment. Except the stoic Justice Samuel Alito (standing, top left), who’s only missing a blindfold and cigarette.
Where else will the carp sneak now that they’ve breached …

People in Indiana and Ohio spend more than $500 a year on fast food – hundreds more than the Great Lakes state average. Uncover such food-related information with this U.S. Department of Agriculture mashup of food environments.