Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/solutions/page/2/)
Stories that offer environmental solutions.
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.
Chicago is joining a nationwide trend of large cities incorporating equity or justice goals into preparing for climate change’s impact on public health.
The idea is to better protect Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and other socially vulnerable and marginalized communities. That hasn’t always been the case.
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.
Fish-leather purses and wallets may make their way into Great Lakes fashion with an initiative to use 100% of commercially caught fish by 2025.
One of the latest projects of a binational Great Lakes organization is to fully use the region’s whitefish, lake trout, yellow perch, walleye and white sucker.
Hundreds of years ago a lord of the Tohoku region in Japan offered villagers a deal – equal weight in silver to any who could find a rare mushroom.
The villagers danced with joy when they found the valuable fungus, inspiring the mushroom’s name, “maitake,” or “the dancing mushroom.”
Canada is turning to Indigenous fire safety knowledge after record wildfires raged across the country last summer.
“One big issue with Indigenous services is there’s a gap,” Lazare said. “What we are doing is closing that gap to make sure First Nations are included.”
A newly discovered chemical compound that makes it difficult for invasive sea lamprey to find their breeding grounds may be a new tool in the toolbox for controlling a parasite that threatens Great Lakes fish.
Anne Scott, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, and her team of researchers are creating a new method of sea lamprey control
Michigan is the second-most agriculturally diverse state, with farmers growing a wide variety of produce and specialty crops, such as cherries, asparagus and blueberries.
One bonus of buying locally grown produce is that the community’s economy benefits.
Michigan farmers, looking to expand crop insurance and research funding, are pushing to see their needs recognized as the federal Farm Bill moves along on the congressional agenda.
“This would not be the first time that a Farm Bill was extended. It’s happened several times, but we need leadership to sit down to get the job done,” he said.
As cities continue to expand, the amount of unused rooftop space grows too.
Steven Peck, the founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, said that flat roofs are wasted spaces. The organization is an association of the green roof and wall industry.