Echo

Mercury in newborns likely from mothers eating contaminated fish

By |

Fetuses, newborns and infants are most at risk for mercury exposure, and a sampling of newborns in the Lake Superior basin showed 8 percent of them testing above safe levels. The study, conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health from 2008 to 2010, tested 1,465 newborns living in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota for mercury. The 8 percent testing above safe levels had methylmercury in them, the kind from fish. Even small amounts of mercury can hurt infants’ developing brain and nervous system. Babies born in warm months were more likely to have higher levels, which, when coupled with the methymercury findings, suggest that fish consumption is the culprit.

Echo

No Impact project inspires sustainable living

By |

Imagine if you could cause no environmental impact. I’m not talking about recycling a few bottles here and there. I’m talking about no transportation, no plastic, no trash, no meat, no new things, no take-out food and no electricity. Colin Beavan imagined what it would be like as well, and along with his wife Michelle and 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, he turned it into reality. In the 2009 documentary “No Impact Man,” Beavan and his family lived a “no impact” lifestyle in New York City for a year.

Echo

Occupy Planets: Environmental Footprints and Sustainability

By |

There are 7 billion people in the world. In the past dozen years the Earth’s population has grown by about 1 billion. If all 7 billion lived like the average United States resident, how many planets do you think we’d need? I asked that question of 10 classmates at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. Most said their environmental footprint would be about average.

Echo

Does warm winter warrant hybrid sports gear? Check out the Snourfboard

By |

It’s been a weird winter in the Great Lakes region. We’ve had warm temperatures, almost no snow and I’ve even seen the sun in February. Although not having to shovel the driveway is nice, I have had a very disappointing cross-country ski season. Maybe it’s time to invest in more versatile winter sporting equipment. Take, for example, the Snourfboard.

Water

Comedy on tap (water)

By |


I recently got an email about a free comedy show in Ann Arbor, Mich. Featuring Canadian stand-up comedian Derek Forgie.  Derek is not a typical comedian.  He’s an activist whose entire show is about the bottled water industry. He prides himself on being raised on tap water (according to one of his YouTube videos), entertains a crowd while serving up a great lesson about water quality and why tap water is (much) better than anything bottled.  One of his four reasons: the price. Forgie compares paying for bottled water to buying an Oh Henry candy bar for $10,000.  He asks if you would buy a dollar candy bar if someone were to charge you ten thousand times what it’s worth. The Ann Arbor show was in collaboration with Food and Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy group.

Echo

Help scientists track disease with Wildlife Health Event Reporter

By |

If scouring the shoreline for dead birds is one of your favorite pastimes, there’s a citizen science project just for you. Beachcombers around the basin can help scientists track potential outbreaks of a disease caused by a dangerous toxin, avian botulism, using the Wildlife Health Event Reporter. “What we’re trying to do is broaden the core of people who are looking for things,” said Joshua Dein, wildlife veterinarian with the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. “Often what we find is when you have five or 10 dead animals in one spot it gets people’s attention. Where we don’t have a lot of information is dead animals in ones and twos, which may be just as significant.”

The Wildlife Data Integration Network, a partnership between the National Wildlife Health Center and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, put together the Wildlife Health Event Reporter.

Wildlife

Scary invaders threaten Great Lakes, environmentalists warn

By |

By Jon Gaskell

Capital News Service

LANSING— Beware the Northern snakehead. Beware the inland silverside. And beware a host of other invasive species prompting a recent report recommending spending billions to separate the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes. The Asian carp is the media darling that gets all the attention.  But according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there are 39 other “high-risk invasive species” that might migrate through Chicago waterways and have the potential to wreak ruin on native ecosystems.

Of these species, 10 could potentially cause huge environmental damage, the agency said. “Asian carp are sort of the canary in the coal mine,” said Jared Teutsch of the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Echo

VIDEO: Scientists examine the world’s freshwater lakes

By |

The Large Lakes Observatory is observing the Great Lakes to better understand threats to the world’s freshwater resources. Research teams are studying everything from climate change impacts on the lakes to nitrate build-ups. And it’s not just the Great Lakes. With support from the National Science Foundation, the observatory’s scientists are studying the biology, chemistry, physics and geology of large lakes around the world. The video below highlights some of their research in the Great Lakes.

Echo

Environmental portraits at the birth of the EPA

By |

I was pretty excited when a few years back Jeremy Herliczek, a photographer and a graduate student at Michigan State University, offered to create a portal to a little known gem of the Environmental Protection Agency. Called Documerica, the EPA project attempted to document the state of the environment at the birth of that agency. The trouble is that accessing those old environmental images is difficult. So, too, is simply sorting through them. Jeremy’s project for his masters thesis was to create galleries of some of the best images, explain the history of the project and also explain how to manipulate the ponderous system for retrieving them. MSU’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism – which produces Great Lakes Echo – sponsored his research and hosts that effort.  Take a look.