Echo

Network to find your water-conscious neighbors

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If you’re the only one in your neighborhood with a rain barrel, rain garden, green roof or porous driveway, don’t worry. You’ll never feel alone again. Networked Neighbors for Eco-Conservation Online connects you to other water-conscious people in the Great Lakes region. You can map projects around the region, calculate how much water you’re conserving and share pictures of your water conservation efforts. The site, developed by the Institute of Water Research at Michigan State University, has fostered friendly competition among neighbors who want to see who can save the most water with home projects like rain gardens.

Wildlife

Wildlife cameras put you in the nest

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Ever since Panda Cam hit the watching-baby-zoo-animals-from-the-comfort-of-your-office-chair scene, other animal cams have appeared to give viewers a look into the lives of wildlife. That’s including cameras following some Great Lakes birds. You can see Ms. Harvey, the great horned owl at The Feather Rehabilitation Center in New London, Wisc.; Big Red and Ezra, a pair of red-tailed hawks at the Ornithology Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and a great blue heron at the Ornithology Lab. “It allows people to build a connection with birds from their computer screens,” said Charles Eldermire, BirdCams project leader at the lab. The Ornithology Lab at Cornell University has been monitoring birds with minute-by-minute photos for over 10 years, but launched their high-definition BirdCams in March.

Flash Point: Ken Scott’s toughest Great Lakes photo

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We asked Great Lakes photographers to send us their toughest Great Lakes shots. Ken Scott of Ken Scott Photography sent us this photo. South Manitou Lighthouse

Lit by a full moon, this is a stack of 350, 30-second exposures. The hard part was getting the timing to work out so I could travel out to the island when there would be a full enough moon to light the landscape and no clouds to interfere with the shoot. It was a crap shoot and took a few trips out to get the timing the way I wanted it.

Recalls of unsafe children’s products drop

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By Xinjuan Deng

Capital New Service

LANSING — After an increase in 2010, federal recalls of unsafe children’s products dropped by 24 percent last year. Nursery products were the most-recalled category, accounting for 30 percent, followed by toys at 26 percent. But some advocacy groups say the figures from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission are incomplete. Kids in Danger, a nonprofit organization in Chicago, said injuries and other incidents associated with those recalls grew 7 percent. “We don’t know if the Consumer Product Safety Commission looked to recall more products and were unable to persuade manufacturers, or if this represents a decrease in dangerous products in the marketplace,” said Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger.

Echo

Caramel Apple official summer flavor for Michigan’s state parks

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This summer families cuddling underneath a warm blanket to watch the sunset at one of Michigan’s state parks can enjoy Pure Michigan Caramel Apple ice cream. That’s the state park system’s official flavor. “So many people get ice cream and watch Michigan’s great sunsets, in state parks or along our shorelines,” said Maia Stephens, a recreation programmer with the state’s Department of Natural Resources. Dawn Dummer of Houghton Lake created the new signature flavor, Stephens said. The state and the Holland-based Hudsonville Creamery and Ice Cream Co.