Echo

VIDEO: Smart growth in Grosse Ile

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By Mary Hansen
mehansen4@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
July 27, 2009

Michigan ranks among the most resource-rich states, yet comes in 47th in per capita conservation spending and dead last in the conservation spending gap, according to a March 2008 report by Michigan State University’s Land Policy Institute. Grosse Ile Township just south of Detroit, the largest island on the Detroit River, is a bright spot contrary to that trend. It takes a unique approach to conservation of natural spaces with a township Open Spaces Committee and millage and the private non-profit Grosse Ile Nature and Land Conservancy. The strong sense of community and commitment is a national example of smart growth decision-making.

Echo

Public dollars for natural resources

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Check out our coverage of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Echo is reporting occasional stories on a plan to invest new funds into restoring the Great Lakes. The Stories
Aug. 26, 2009,
Federal agency proposes to study urine and blood of residents to evaluate effectiveness of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: At least one agency is poised to find out if restoration projects will lower pollutants in people. Aug.

Echo

Study of Great Lakes fish eaters adds to evidence showing link between environmental contamination, diabetes

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By Andrew McGlashen
Environmental Health News
July 22, 2009

Eat right and exercise, conventional wisdom has it, if you want to avoid joining the diabetes epidemic. But a new study adds some muscle to a growing body of research suggesting those steps, although beneficial, might not be enough for people exposed to chemicals in the environment. The scientists linked diabetes and people’s body burdens of DDE, a chemical produced as the body breaks down the pesticide DDT, banned in the United States more than 35 years ago. “Even though we haven’t used DDT in decades, its metabolites are still detected in almost everyone in the country,” said lead researcher Mary Turyk, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s School of Public Health. Since the early 1990s, researchers have monitored a group of Great Lakes charter boat captains, recreational fishermen and others to learn about the health effects of eating fish tainted with persistent organic pollutants — chemicals that remain in the environment for decades and grow more concentrated as they move up food chains.

Echo

Wilderness fills Great Lakes classroom; Environmental education at Isle Royale

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By Andy McGlashen
amcglashen@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
July 20, 2009

One night shortly after Michael Jackson’s death last month, as mourners’ stereos pulsed with Billie Jean and Beat It, Emily Mugerian was on a craggy island in Lake Superior, training her ears to an unfamiliar note. “I heard the wolves one night,” said a beaming Mugerian, a pre-med senior at Michigan State University. She and 10 other students were camped on Isle Royale National Park for a weeklong outdoor philosophy course offered by MSU. “It was a whole week of personal growth,” Mugerian said.  “I’m just more aware of my actions, and I hope that continues.”

That’s just the reaction that instructors Michael Nelson and Lissy Goralnik hope for. “Good classroom experiences of any kind are supposed to change us,” said Nelson, an environmental ethicist at MSU.  “In environmental education, people say there’s something important about learning in the outdoors, with your feet on the ground, and what we’re trying to do is test that hypothesis and put our finger on what that is.”

Philosophy is “a very indoor pursuit generally,” and the challenges of organizing outdoor classes within the routines of academia make them rare, Nelson said.   Very few other universities offer similar courses, he said, Oregon State and the University of North Texas among them.

Echo

Special Report: Lake Huron sinkholes

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Great Lakes Echo explores the exotic life of Lake Huron sinkholes off the coast of northeast Michigan. Lake Huron discovery is a window on the past and future: Lake Huron’s depths hide a colorful, ancient world that holds keys to the planet’s history and clues for new cancer treatments and antibiotics. Lake Huron sinkholes give clues to ancient life: The scientists studying the Lake Huron sinkholes know the colorful bacteria they host have a prehistoric ancestry, but a major question remains: Where did it all come from? Bacteria in Lake Huron sinkholes may hold keys to new cancer treatments, antibiotics: The colorful cyanobacteria coating the sinkholes in Lake Huron may be ancient, but researchers are hoping they will provide new medicines for cancer and infection treatments. Sinkhole background information: Profiles of the three Lake Huron Sinkholes, how sinkholes form, and a sinkhole glossary.

Echo

Big pigs, big problem: Feral swine spread to Great Lakes region

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By Chris Parks
parksch3@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
July 10, 2009

The wild pigs already troubling southern states are slowly becoming an issue in the Great Lakes region. In recent years these feral swine have been concentrated in California, Texas and southeastern states. But in Michigan alone there were 200 sightings of these animals in more than 60 counties as of late 2008. “Unfortunately, most statewide agencies don’t have individual numbers, but the pigs are now in at least 35 states,” said Seth Swafford, project manager for the United States Department of Agriculture’s feral swine management. And their numbers appear to be increasing in the Midwest, he said.

Echo

Getting hands dirty with environmental education

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By Andy Balaskovitz, abalaskovitz@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
July 1, 2009

On the west side of Michigan’s Okemos High School is Zach Trelstad’s favorite classroom. To the right of the greenhouse entrance is the sandy ground with desert-native plants. To the left is the tropical area filled with large overhanging leaves, ponds with amphibians and intricate vines on lattice. It’s about the same size as a regular classroom but filled with sunlight and plants instead of light bulbs and desks. “When I whisper at them, the frogs will croak back pretty loudly,” said Trelstad whose independent study in this mid-Michigan school’s greenhouse is one of his favorite school experiences.

Echo

Environmental education: Problems and solutions

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By Andy Balaskovitz, abalaskovitz@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
June 30, 2009

Environmental education changes how kids learn. And educators integrating it into other subjects say it’s worth the effort. A nationwide study – Closing the Achievement Gap: Using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning – found environmental education raises standardized test scores and reduces discipline and classroom management problems.

The economic downturn makes it tough for such programs to flourish in Michigan and elsewhere. But there are hopeful signs. Recent legislation diverts some civil fines into a state Environmental Education Fund.

Echo

Special Report: Environmental Education

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A look at the benefits, barriers and solutions to an environmental curriculum in public schools. Part one: The case for K-12 environmental education
Randy Showerman leads his boy scout troop out his back door and into the dark and silence. There are no lanterns or campfires, no knot-tying or shelter-building lessons. Silence is key. Part two: Sidestepping funding shortages
The economic downturn makes it tough for such programs to flourish in Michigan and elsewhere.

Echo

The case for K-12 environmental education

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Click for descriptions of environmental education efforts. Larger map. By Andy Balaskovitz,
abalaskovitz@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
June 29, 2009

Randy Showerman leads his boy scout troop out his back door and into the dark and silence. There are no lanterns or campfires, no knot-tying or shelter-building lessons. Silence is key.