Climate

Michigan tourism preps for a colder winter

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By Victor Wooddell

Capital News Service

The 2023-24 winter was the warmest on record in the U.S. with average temperatures throughout the state above freezing, with close to average precipitation, according to the National Weather Service. Data from the Southeast Regional Climate Center shows that average daily maximum temperatures in the Midwest were several degrees above normal between December 2023 and February 2024. But this year may be different. The outlook for Michigan for the 2024-25 winter is for increased precipitation and lower average temperatures than last year due to an expected “La Niña” effect, the National Weather Service says. A La Niña is when cold water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean affect the weather across the continental United States.

Land

Fraudsters face sentencing in fake green energy venture 

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By Georgia Hill

Two men who admitted conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud await sentencing for cheating 22 investors out of more than $2 million from June 2016 to April 2018. Former Pittsburgh resident Jonathan Freeze and Kevin Carney of Euclid, Ohio, have pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh. Freeze, Carney, and a third defendant, Robert Irey, who died after also pleading guilty, created a business called Alternative Energy Holdings to use investments from their victims to build plants that would convert biodegradable waste into renewable energy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. According to the department, they promised high rates of returns to prospective investors who made short-term loans. The three defendants assured those investors that they would use all of the loan money for the company.

Land

Students at Michigan State and Wisconsin win EPA funding for environmental health innovations

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By Isabella Figueroa

Student researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin are among the winners of an Environmental Protection Agency contest for innovations in sustainability. Muhammad Rabnawaz, an associate professor of packaging at Michigan State, brainstorms with his team

The EPA established the People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition to support teams of undergraduate and graduate students working to develop solutions to environmental and public health challenges. The latest round of grants, announced in September, provided around $100,000 each for teams that previously received up to $25,000 from the agency for promising projects. Michigan State’s team is working to create more sustainable materials for disposable cups, takeout containers and other single-use items. Today many of those products are made with microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” due to their extremely slow breakdown in the environment. The team is developing fiber-based and paper packaging that works as well as plastic without using harmful substances.

Land

Animal shelters struggle with challenges

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By Victor Wooddell

Capital News Service

Animal shelters in Michigan are at capacity, even while facing staff and resource shortages. According to experts, more animals are being abandoned and too few pet owners are having their animals spayed or neutered. In 2020, adoption rates soared due to pandemic-related stay-at-home orders across the country, according to an article in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine. A study by the American Humane Association found a dramatic increase in the rate at which previously adopted animals are being returned. Shelter directors in Michigan say that results in long waiting lists for kennel space and more abandoned animals, with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic making the situation worse.

Land

An uncommon wildfire season is exceeding averages 

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By Gabriel S. Martinez

Capital News Service

An unusually busy fall fire season in Michigan has produced more than double the seasonal wildfires originally anticipated so far. About 100 prescribed burns are scheduled on both state and federal land for next year to help reduce damage from future wildfires. According to the state Department of Natural Resources, dry debris is the main cause of wildfires this year, contributing to about 58 more wildfires and 255 more acres burned in September and October than the usual fall average. Jeff Vasher, a DNR fire specialist, said the lack of moisture is a factor in the high number of wildfires. The Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula reported that the Summit Lake wildfire, started by dry wood underneath the forest floor on Oct.

Land

Great Lakes Echo founder retires

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Dave Poulson, the founder and editor of the Knight Center’s award-winning environmental news service, has retired after more than 21 years on the MSU Journalism School faculty. We at the Knight Center miss him already. Poulson, a professor of practice, spearheaded the center’s initiatives to boost diversity among environmental journalism students and practitioners, securing grant support from the Mott Foundation and Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments program. “Dave has been committed to the notion that knowledge about the environment belongs in the hands of everyone. He’s been a powerful science communicator – through Great Lakes Echo, the Knight Center and other news outlets – and a terrific science educator, helping those with scientific knowledge communicate that insight to the public,” J-School director Tim Vos said.

Echo

Study shows value of culturally appropriate environmental health resources

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The research collaboration among the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan and the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan has demonstrated how an advisory program designed for the Anishinaabe is a useful tool for tracking fish consumption in Great Lakes tribes.