Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/guest-contributor/page/2/)
Steve Hall used to call public health “the invisible profession.”
“Previously, when we did our jobs well, people didn’t know about us,” said Hall, who for 10 years has been the health officer for the Central Michigan District Health Department.
When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed off on expansive recycling reforms in December 2022, she also approved a last-minute amendment allowing chemical recycling — a process decried by many environmentalists — to be classified as a legal manufacturing process.
Chemical recycling, specifically the commonly used plastic pyrolysis process, turns plastic into fuel.
The number of farmhands in Michigan working on H-2A visas — which allow farms that are struggling to hire U.S. workers to bring in temporary laborers from other countries—increased from 277 in 2010 to over 15,000 in 2023, according to the Michigan Farm Bureau.
Precision agriculture technology has been evolving over the past decades, and farming has become more productive and efficient with the further implementation of artificial intelligence.
A 2023 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found only 27% of farms and ranches nationally used such precision agriculture practices, but the rate was around 40% in Michigan.
Being a state with direct access to a lot of freshwater creates opportunities for housing, jobs and tourism.
However, the quality of Michigan’s water is threatened due to poorly maintained septic tanks, according to environmental advocates pushing for legislation to require periodic inspections of septic systems statewide.
When even the slightest amount of mercury enters a fish’s body, it can begin a long cycle that ends in disaster for aquatic wildlife and health concerns for humans, experts say.
That’s because mercury, an element often produced as a byproduct of mining and fossil fuel production, never breaks down or leaves an organism’s body.
In a medical emergency, people generally want whichever emergency service they call to get to the scene fast, but ambulances in rural areas face special challenges to help residents.
The biggest obstacle for fire and rescue stations in rural areas is the distance between someone in need and the station.
It takes two to three hours for Kevin Villalta to filter and distill a gallon of tap water, and he says the process is as expensive as it is time-consuming.
But it’s worth it, said the Lansing environmental engineer, who works for the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
As the winter progresses, food banks and other nonprofit organizations continue to tackle the increasing demand to alleviate hunger in Michigan.
One in nine people in the state faced hunger as of 2021, requiring $696 million more per year to meet their food needs
Delilah, the 13-year-old cat of Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, had to visit a veterinarian every time it got a respiratory infection.
That is, until emergency orders by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed a broad expansion of veterinary telehealth, where owners and pets see their vets through video calls.