Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/category/test/page/63/)
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Last week I covered the release of an animated model of an oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac. The greatest question it prompted in my mind: Why didn’t we do that? I’ll grant that the researcher who put that one together had studied Great Lakes currents for 30 years. Journalists aren’t going to replicate that kind of expertise. But journalists aren’t expected to generate the data.
Mercury has found its way not only into our households, but also into our aquatic environment, according to this public service announcement from the Michigan Department of Community Health. “A person’s susceptibility to being harmed by the mercury in fish depends on their age, current health status, genetics, and chemical exposure history,” said Christina Bush, a health department toxicologist. “Given this complex set of factors, it is not known how much mercury it would take to harm any given individual. MDCH issues Fish Consumption Guidelines to help people choose fish that are low in mercury and safer for consumption by everyone, including pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and young children.” The state hosts a website where these guidelines are available.
Commentary
Many reporters of my generation went into journalism because of the Watergate scandal. Holding public officials accountable — public service journalism – was the attraction then. So, too, were Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in All the president’s men, the movie version of that story. Me? I was more of a Lou Grant kind of guy.
You are reading a milestone — the 3,000th post on Great Lakes Echo. And we’re celebrating with a new look. Echo recently turned five years old. That’s ancient for Internet publications, particularly those that produce news. But this facelift is no middle-aged desperate grasp to retain youth.
At the end of each month Current State checks in with Great Lakes commentator and journalist Gary Wilson for updates on environmental stories from around the Basin.
Commentary
The local historical society recently hosted a panel discussion of the history of the Lansing (Michigan) State Journal. That’s my local newspaper and I was particularly interested in the event as I had once worked there as an editor. What really caught my interest in a video of the discussion was a longtime State Journal staffer’s explanation of the publication’s increasing use of metrics to measure how news is consumed. She described how a video screen in the newsroom reports and ranks in real time the top 10 stories that people are reading online. Every week reporters get a report of how many people read their stories each day.
Farmers are treating cows with more than the usual number of pneumonia cases, chapped teats and udders, disturbed calving cycles and injuries from slipping on ice.
Many scientists predict that as climate change becomes more extreme, dry and coastal regions around the globe will be heavily impacted by drought and rising sea levels. Entire communities could disappear. The art project, ‘A People’s Archive of Sinking and Melting,’ documents these threatened areas.
Despite the near-record snowfall in Michigan that created a banner year for snow-related sports, snowmobile fatalities haven’t climbed with the piles of snow.
Lansing, Mich. and Madison, Wis. are two of three capital cities who will receive Green Design Assistance from the EPA. With the grant, Lansing plans to develop a park on the state capitol complex .