Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/garywilson/page/7/)
Current State checks in monthly with Great Lakes commentator and journalist Gary Wilson for updates on environmental stories from around the basin. For today’s Great Lakes Month in Review, we’re focusing on petcoke piles and Asian carp.
A Sisyphean task is one that is “endless and ineffective.”
Does protecting the Great Lakes fall under this definition?
Jon Allan describes himself as a “systems guy” and says that’s what drives his world-view.
That’s important to know because his current “system” happens to be the Great Lakes and the waters of Michigan.
This Great Lakes Month in Review, focuses on fracking, ballast water and petcoke.
We’re trained to trust numbers when analyzing complex issues.
The assumption is that numbers don’t lie and will take us to the answer — the truth.
But is that always the case?
We all need an occasional wake-up call.
Hopefully that’s what Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein provided recently to “Big Green” environmental groups.
Klein says Big Green groups have adapted to the “rise of corporatist government”… and now believe that working through corporate partnerships should be a big part of the solution.
Each month Echo commentator Gary Wilson recaps news from around the basin.
This week, Gary reflects on Great Lakes Week, the International Joint Commission’s recommendations to fight algal blooms and water use in fracking.
Waukesha’s water diversion continues to get lots of attention.
But do we care about diversions and Great Lakes water consumption as much as we profess?
Chicago takes two billion gallons of Lake Michigan each day.
Policymakers now must decide between Great Lakes algae action with measurable results or the more familiar place of knowing what to do but unable to muster the will to do it.
As we approach Great Lakes Week in Milwaukee, there is a pause in the volatile Great Lakes funding battles. Let’s take advantage of that.