Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/2011/11/page/2/)
Ardella Lee sells her chow chow relish – made from an old family recipe – at the Flint Farmer’s Market in Flint, Mich. Watch the video below to hear her talk about the chemical-free relish and how she remains spry at 84 years old. This video was filmed and edited by Alyssa Firth
(Feature photo: sarrazak6881 via Flickr)
Great Lakes officials are examining risks of contaminants not covered under current fish consumption advisories.
A federal program that has spurred clean energy projects throughout the Great Lakes region is facing a huge cut this week as Congress finalizes the budget for next year.
Kayakers, rafters, hunters, anglers and birders rejoice – the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has purchased 2,354 acres of Upper Peninsula beauty and is granting you access. The land, located near the border of Michigan and Wisconsin, was purchased from the Wisconsin Electric Power Company for $2,534,400 with money from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and DNR Land Exchange Facilitation Fund. It’s divided into two parcels — Piers Gorge and Quiver Falls. There are almost 10 miles of access to the Menominee River within the parcels. Quiver Falls is adjacent to the Menominee River Natural Resource Area, a 4,450-acre parcel managed by Michigan and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources.
If you want to save your health, money, people’s lives and the planet, the answer is simple — ride a bike for short jaunts. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied 11 metro areas in the Midwest to see what would happen if people stopped using their cars for short trips (five-miles round trip or less). The results should really be in the next Huffy ad (is Huffy is still around?):
Replacing half of the short car trips with bicycle rides during the warmest six months of the year would save approximately $3.8 billion annually from avoided mortality and reduced health care costs for people in the areas studied. 1,100 lives would be saved each year in the areas studied from improved air quality and increased physical activity. And (surprise!) there are benefits from just moving your body instead of sitting on your behind.
With a name like “bloody-red shrimp,” the invasive species might seem like the Great Lakes’ worst nightmare. But it’s a misnomer for this miniature invader.
In the 1970s, most Michigan vineyards were making grapes for juices. But in the past 40 years, the industry has made room for a more mature product — wine grapes. The state’s wine industry has grown by 500 percent since 1973, increased in acreage and number of wineries, attracts 800,000 visitors every year and contributes $300 million to the economy, according to Michigan State University. Michigan’s environment is good for vinifera varieties, like chardonnay and reisling; hybrid varieties, or vinifera grapes crossed with native North American ones; and native varieties like concord and niagara, according to Michigan Wines. Most wine is grown within 25 miles of Lake Michigan where wind blowing over the lake collects water vapor and deposits more snow on the opposite shore.
House Democrats in Michigan are pushing bills to protect the state’s waters by regulating fracking, a process that injects water and chemicals deep into the ground to fracture rocks and force out natural gas.
Wind turbines popping up around the Great Lakes are getting a reputation among webbed-winged night prowlers as large, spinning murderers.
