Water
Smart buoys help brace Great Lakes for environmental challenges
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Lake Erie is the first of the Great Lakes getting connected to the internet with a series of offshore “smart” buoys.
And it’s not just for sending texts on the water.
Transportation
Bicycle accidents increase drastically in Michigan, study says
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A bike ride is meant to be a relaxing and fun way to engage in physical activity. For other riders, bicycling is an essential form of transportation. All bicyclists want to feel safe.
Art
Reporting on the environment is a tough job
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Environmental journalism is a difficult yet important field, says a freelance journalist who will be speaking at an upcoming environmental festival in Manistee, Michigan.
“Sometimes you’re asking people difficult questions,” said Genevieve Fox, a former Great Lakes Echo reporter who now writes for Planet Detroit, Metromode and The Keel.
Art
Dance groups leap into environmental communication
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Pirouettes, leaps and pliés don’t come to mind when you think of environmental justice.
But for Michigan State University theater professors Deric McNish and Rob Roznowski, dance and theater are the perfect communicative devices for such serious topics.
Recreation
Lawsuit could complicate drone laws for Michigan hunters and anglers.
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The founder of a company that uses drones to recover deer carcasses that hunters cannot find says that Michigan’s prohibition of the practice violates his First Amendment rights.
The suit questions one of the core principles of hunting and fishing in the United States, some experts say.
Solutions
Twenty companies pledge to use all parts of Great Lakes fish by 2025
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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.
Climate
Dirty steelmaking unfairly threatens low-income communities
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Michigan residents and activists are pushing the auto and steel industries to buy cleaner, more sustainable steel to clean up pollution in the Detroit-Dearborn area.
Recently Industrious Labs, a climate advocacy group, gave guided tours of Detroit and Dearborn auto and steelmaking factories to try to convince automakers to switch from steel produced traditionally into sustainable, cleaner steel.
Art
Great Lakes authors bare their motives
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Books usually speak to readers through words and, sometimes, illustrations.
But we can learn what motivated their authors by speaking directly to them, as Great Lakes Echo correspondents did in interviews this year about new books about environmental issues in the region.
Recreation
Michigan snowsports organization promotes outdoor recreation
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For outdoor recreation enthusiasts, the colder weather heralds the arrival of snow sports.
One of the more popular winter recreation sports is skiing, with over 2 million skiers visiting Michigan slopes every year, according to Pure Michigan, the state’s tourism and information agency.
Wildlife
Caution urged for holiday travel with dogs due to virus
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With holiday travel approaching, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is urging dog owners to be aware of a “mystery illness” that is sweeping the nation.
The illness affects dogs’ respiratory systems, causing an unusual increase in coughing, sneezing, loss of appetite, eye and nasal discharge, fever and lethargy.