Lake Superior’s X account mixes satire with science to bring awareness to threats to the lake – and to launch a presidential bid. Image: Screen capture of Lake Superior on X.
By Elinor Epperson
Lake Superior is running for president.
The self-proclaimed #GLOAT (Greatest Lake Of All Time) is running on a “Water First Agenda.” The lake is active on X (formerly known as Twitter) and maintains a campaign website.
The freshwater candidate emphasizes issues like “universal liquid income” and efforts to “make lakes great again.”
“My campaign is not about politics,” the lake wrote on their website. “It’s about reminding humanity of its responsibility to safeguard the Earth for generations to come.”
The individual behind the account declined to be identified for publication. They prefer to let the lake do the talking.
Satellite imagery of Lake Superior captures the self-proclaimed #GLOAT (Greatest Lake Of All Time.) Image: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coast Watch.
“I like to use the comedic voice to build the account,” they said. “And then to use that to share the message of what people are doing around the Great Lakes.”
The account started in 2010 as satire meant to embody the “sassy, cocky, overly confident personality” of one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world.
It gradually acquired 230,000 followers. In recent years, Lake Superior has begun posting more serious content about conservation, climate change and even politics.
Relaying science
The anonymous account manager grew up near the shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota and has always admired the lake.
“I love the inclement weather, the absolute raw power of Lake Superior,” they said. “It is harsh and it is revitalizing, (it) awakens the soul.”
Though they do not have a formal background in conservation, the account manager said running the account has been an opportunity to learn more about issues affecting the lakes.
Lake Superior follows several scientists and organizations studying the Great Lakes, in a bid to spread information about the lakes.
“I try to relay the message of great scientists as much as possible,” they said.
Sharing correct information is only half the challenge for science communicators, said John Besley, a professor of communications at Michigan State University.
“It’s not just about conveying information,” he said. “It’s also about conveying a sense of action and belief.”
Jen Vanator, a policy analyst at the Great Lakes Indian Fisheries and Wildlife Commission, hopes the account spurs readers to get out and enjoy the lake more.
“I think the more you interact with it and the more of a relationship you build with it, the more in tune you are with how your actions may affect it.” she said.
Threats to Lake Superior
The lake isn’t as healthy as the general public may think, Vanator said.
“Superior is long considered the most pristine (Great Lake,)” she said. “People think that it is resilient…but it’s getting bombarded daily.”
The commission is a coalition of 11 tribes with ceded land along Lake Superior. This is land the tribes sold to the United States government via treaties in the mid-1800s.
The Great Lakes Indian Fisheries and Wildlife Commission is a coalition of 11 tribes with ceded land along Lake Superior. Image: Screen capture from Great Lakes Indian Fisheries and Wildlife Commission Map of Ceded Lands
The treaties ostensibly guaranteed members’ rights to hunt, gather and fish on ceded land. But state governments did not respect those rights until very recently, after multiple tribes fought a decades-long legal battle.
The commission focuses on maintaining those rights for tribe members. Most of their efforts focus on inland lakes. But they keep tabs on threats to Lake Superior, even if they can’t focus many resources on it, Vanator said.
“We always have an eye on pipelines going under and around any of the Great Lakes,” she said.
The commission also monitors new mining operations in the Great Lake region.
Legacy mining pollution continues to be an issue, too. Waste from the early 1900s threatens the lake’s wildlife and erodes its coastline.
Those areas may not get a lot of attention from regulatory agencies because they only affect a small region of the lake, Vanator said. But they are important to the communities nearby and can act as “a canary in the coal mine” for threats to the entire lake.
One such warning bell is the harmful algae, once thought impossible in the cold lake.
As the lake warms due to climate change, reports of algal blooms have increased, with the first appearing in 2012. It is difficult to tell if blooms have increased in recent years or if public awareness has led to more reports, according to the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve.
That’s the kind of public awareness the Lake Superior X account said they want to raise with satire and social media.
“You need to have fun with it,” the Lake Superior X account manager said. “Like, not everybody’s going to be engaging with science. I think you need…to keep it fun and to relay the message to the lay people who are not in the science or environmental communities, because there’s so much going on.”
Building trust
Effective science communication relies on the relationship readers have with the person sharing it, Besley said.
“You can’t just hope that people see you as competent, caring and honest,” he said. “You have to behave and communicate in ways that help people see that,” he said.
Effective communication requires trust.
Changes to X in the last 18 months have made it harder to build that trust, Lake Superior said.
Users can pay a monthly subscription fee to receive the once-coveted blue check that indicated a vetted source. The account manager had once hoped this feature would be extended to scientists, similar to how trusted journalists sported a blue check.
Now that it is available for purchase, it has lost its meaning – and deciphering who to trust on the platform is more difficult.
“I don’t know how to verbalize it yet,” they said. “It’s been a lot of ‘ick’ for me.”
A vision for the future
But the account manager is still hopeful they can take the #GLOAT on the road.
“This entire account is a creative exercise,” they said. “But something I’ve always wanted to do is take this fictitious Twitter account and put it into the real world so that it doesn’t only live on Twitter.”
The sun sets over Lake Superior in October 2011. Image: J. Cavaletto, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The presidential campaign they launched is one way to do that. The lake is looking for their running mate, likely another geographical feature outside of the Great Lakes.
Choosing a sister lake is out of the question.
“That would be nepotism,” they said.
Editor’s note: What should be Lake Superior’s presidential running mate? Make your pitch and the reason for it in the comments.