Echo
Waving goodbye to coal – looking to Great Lakes swells for electricity
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A company proposes to drop converters into anchored buoys in Lake Erie and let the waves bounce them around to generate power that would be routed back to the main grid.
Echo
Invasive but tasty: Great Lakes fish dine on bloody-red cocktails
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Scientists are still unsure about what impact bloody-red shrimp have on Great Lakes ecosystems, but the tiny invaders seem to be a popular snack for some hungry fish. New research suggests bloody-red shrimp may become a new food source for Great Lakes fish, easing concerns that the invader would negatively impact food webs. Researchers from Queen’s University in Ontario looked in some fish bellies to see what they’re eating. They also measured the carbon and nitrogen in their muscle tissue to see if it matches the carbon and nitrogen in areas with a lot of bloody-red shrimp. And several species — the round goby, yellow perch and alewife — are dining on bloody red cocktails.
Echo
Organizations encourage creative uses for dead city trees
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For decades, dead city trees have had a dreadful fate — the wood chipper.
But some Michigan organizations and businesses are fostering a new mentality in cities — one that sees more than just dead wood.
Wildlife
Camera lovin’ cougar keeps strutting around Michigan’s UP
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For years there was great disagreement about the presence of cougars in Michigan, and now one photogenic cat keeps dismissing the naysayers by strutting in front of trail cameras in the Upper Peninsula. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed a radio-collared cougar on Nov. 17 caught on camera in northern Houghton County. They consider it to be the same one caught on camera twice before. “This is the third time this animal has been captured on trail cameras in the Upper Peninsula,” said Adam Bump in a prepared statement.
Echo
More contaminants may be added to Great Lakes fish consumption advisories
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Great Lakes officials are examining risks of contaminants not covered under current fish consumption advisories.
Echo
Taking a trip to the corner store? Leave the car in the garage
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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.
Echo
Former Echo reporters in the news
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Two former-Echo-reporters-turned-river-nerds were featured last week on the Greening of the Great Lakes radio show talking about their new website, Michigan River News. Jeff Brooks Gillies and Andy McGlashen launched Michigan River News this summer because, well, they love Michigan and its rivers. They report original news stories and also collect river stories from across the state. But that’s not the whole story. On their website, the founders note that rivers “sustain and enrich human life … provide food and drinking water … irrigate crops and generate electric power.”
And they’re right — rivers give us a lot.
Echo
Personal stories highlight water pollution issues in Indiana
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Indiana’s most polluted rivers and lakes suffer from toxins, pathogens and too much algae. Add public shame to that list. The Environmental Law and Policy Center calls out Indiana’s dirtiest rivers and lakes on their new website, INourwater. The site highlights four areas with polluted water and two areas where conservation efforts fostered cleaner water. The Environmental Law & Policy Center is an environmental legal advocacy organization based in Chicago.
Echo
States, organizations work with landowners to plan for the future of their forests
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It’s not easy to talk about your own death, but for landowners it’s a conversation that could save both vulnerable wildlife and a family legacy.
Echo
Racial disparities in the Detroit food system
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Gardens, nonprofits, farms and new businesses have recently bolstered Detroit’s food system but critics say it remains plagued by an old city foe — racism.