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Great Lakes Echo - Environmental news of the Great Lakes region

Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/karen-hopper-usher/)

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Karen Hopper Usher

Karen Hopper Usher
Climate

Five things the region does to get ready for climate change

By Karen Hopper Usher | June 1, 2017

Climate change is all but inevitable, but experts around the region have come up with ways to adapt and prepare for it.

Climate

Will the whole country descend upon Michigan in 2100?

By Karen Hopper Usher | May 25, 2017

Experts are skeptical.

Climate

The state of the Great Lakes: What to expect from climate change

By Jack Nissen and Karen Hopper Usher | May 24, 2017

The first in a series of stories on what the Great Lakes region can expect from climate change in the not-so-far-off future.

Wildlife

A frog concert after dark

By Karen Hopper Usher | May 16, 2017

Citizen scientists survey the state’s wetlands, listening to male frogs and toads croak their pick-up lines into the dark.

Catch of the Day

Green, fast locomotives coming to region

By Karen Hopper Usher | May 8, 2017

Greener locomotives will soon start transporting passengers around the Great Lakes region.

Agriculture

Some farm equipment too heavy for soil

By Karen Hopper Usher | April 20, 2017

We gotta be nicer to the planet’s dirt.

Art

Giving new life to road kill

By Karen Hopper Usher | April 17, 2017

Taxidermist Jonathan Wright is making a name for himself by giving new life to raptors in Michigan and beyond.

Echo

New York man gets 16 months in border patrol incident

By Karen Hopper Usher | April 5, 2017

A New York man who tried to flee and then threatened border patrol agents is sentenced to 16 months in prison.

lyme disease

Humidity could be key to understanding ticks and Lyme disease

By Karen Hopper Usher | March 8, 2017

Ticks’ love of humidity could be behind the Lyme disease disparity in northern and southern states.

5k

Run a 5K on an actual runway

By Karen Hopper Usher | March 7, 2017

A runway 5K comes to West Michigan.

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About Great Lakes Echo

Environmental news of the Great Lakes region from the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University.

  • Michigan allocates $77 million to clean thousands of contaminated sites

    By Clara Lincolnhol Michigan is pouring $77 million into clean-up of contaminated abandoned real estate such as former factories. The director of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says the goal is to make the cleaned-up sites safe for housing, commercial developments and other uses.

  • Winter makes curved roads dangerous; researchers seek solutions

    By Eric Freedman Flashing light on warning signs near curves can slow drivers and reduce the odds of a crash during winter weather conditions, says a new study by Michigan State University engineers.

  • The cover of “Dead Moose on Isle Royale: Off Trail with the Citizen Scientists of the Wolf-Moose Project." The cover is moose antlers on the ground.
    Great Lakes books for your holiday gift list 

    By Eric Freedman   Looking for a holiday gift for a reader who loves the Great Lakes? Here are five prospects to consider – and what our reporters learned from interviewing their authors this year.

  • A side-by-side of the historic Portage Canal and modern Portage Canal from an aerial view.
    Restoration of historical site improves quality of life for Portage, Wisconsin residents

    By Joshua Kim Following the completion of segments 1 and 2 of the Portage Canal, local residents and visitors can use the historic site and its amenities following years of disrepair.

  • What herring gulls tell us about plastic pollution

    By Victoria Witke Christina Petalas, a doctoral student McGill University, studies herring gulls to learn about plastic pollution near the St. Lawrence River. Across two studies, she found plastic additives in every bird sampled, which could have human health consequences.

  • Scientists update geological map of northern Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula 

    By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva The U.S. Geological Survey has began large-scale low-level airplane flights over Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin to obtain high-resolution data on subsurface mineral structures and bedrock composition. The data will be used to create two- and three-dimensional maps to better understand the geological structure at depths of about 10,000 feet.

  • ‘Refusal is insisting on your own terms’: Indigenous activism in the Midwest

    By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira “Indigenous Activism in the Midwest: Refusal, Resurgence and Resisting Settler Colonialism” explores how Dakota and Anishinaabe communities in Minnesota continue their relationships to the land and challenge dominant settler narratives about ownership, belonging and identity.

  • Cannabis workers are developing job-related asthma and some have died, study says

    By Clara Lincolnhol New research says workers picking, grinding and packaging cannabis are developing workplace-related asthma, and two deaths have occurred so far.

  • Swiss researcher studies ‘abandonment tourism’ in Detroit

    By Camila Bello Castro A recent case study of a former “abandonment tourism” business in Detroit found a disconnect between the lived experience of many city residents and the lives of the tour participants who were generally white, younger and more international than most Detroiters and generally first-time visitors to the city.

  • Wolves hunt beavers in Isle Royale National Park, changing the ecosystem

    By Akia Thrower A new study reveals how gray wolves in Isle Royale National Park seasonally alter their habitat preferences to align with beavers’ habitat preferences, a shift that might have implications for the island’s ecosystem.

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