Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/catch-of-the-day/page/126/)
By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
The quagga mussel and Eurasian watermilfoil proved to be worthy opponents in last week’s semi-finals tussle. At first, it seemed like the two water-cloggers were playing nice. But one of the lake invaders prevailed in the end. Was it the thick and slimy Eurasian Invasion? Or the highly adaptable and shielded Quagmeister?
By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
The sea lamprey and the alewife both fought successful battles and made it to the Great Lakes SmackDown! semi-finals last week. And it’s time to reveal whether the eel-like fish, which sucks the life out of its victims, or the alewife, a 6-inch silver fish that eats things like young fish, will prevail. And the winner is…
THE GREEN LAMP-REY! Thirty-five percent of those who filled out brackets guessed that the lamprey would dominate in Round 2.
Last April, Echo investigated the amount of waste created by phone books — paper directories that are often used as bookends rather than their intended use. The city of Seattle, Wash. became the first U.S. city earlier this month to implement an opt-out program for these hefty paper weights. Publishers will also be required to pay the recycling bill. The Yellow Pages Association also created a website for people to search for opt-out options.
The second round of invaders now duel in the SmackDown! semi-finals:
The Alewife, “Vlad the Impale-wife,” out-ate the White “The Incredible, Edible, Egg-eater” Perch in a gluttonous match. And the Sea “The Green Lamp-rey” sucked the win from the Round “Roundy Goboa” Goby, asserting its dominance as a more well-known and established invasive species.
Now the alewife and the sea lamprey face off!
See how the Great Lakes SmackDown! Round 1 champions fair in the next stage of the game. Will the water-clogging Eurasian watermilfoil outmatch the filter-feeding quagga mussel?
Click here for Round 2, Bracket 1:
Since July Echo has been following “The Greening of Flint” a project by Michigan State University faculty and students. The project follows Flint, Mich. — a city abandoned by an automobile industry – as it attempts to revitalize itself through sustainable and green programs.
A screening of the project’s 8-minute film, “The Kings of Flint” will be shown at the Flint Film Festival this Saturday, Oct. 16th from 1 to 3 pm. This film will also be shown at the MSU Journalism School Centennial Saturday, Oct.
Don’t forget about Echo’s new series: Great Lakes SmackDown! We’ve chosen eight formidable invasive species to compete against each other over the next few weeks. And we want you to help us to decide which one is the ecologically most destructive to the lakes. We’re still accepting brackets until next Friday, Oct. 15th.
By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
Welcome to the Great Lakes SmackDown! Which invasive species is the most ecologically destructive to the Great Lakes? We pitted eight of the region’s most formidable aquatic invasive species against each other in “lake fights” in true March Madness form. We asked biologists, resource managers, invasive species experts and Echo readers to weigh in on each battle. Follow the links below to see how the contenders fared in three rounds of lake fights.
Last week Echo reported that a new event, “Recycle Rama,” recycled thousands of pounds of material in Michigan’s Ingham County. David Smith, an environmental specialist with the city of East Lansing, let us know the event’s finals counts excluding things like mercury thermostats, CFL light bulbs and fluorescent tubes that haven’t yet been weighed. Items recycled (in pounds):
Electronic waste: 78,000
Scrap metal: 5,000
Appliances: 16,700
Bikes: 1,400
Books: 9,400
Miscellaneous re-sale items: 4,200
Clothing: 2,500
Shoes: 1,000
Air conditioners: 2,280
Dehumidifiers: 3,780
Unwanted medications: 548
Cooking oil: 414
Miscellaneous recyclables (mainly cardboard): 440
Holiday lights: 550
That’s 126,212 pounds (about 63 tons) of materials total. That’s about 1,262 Asian carp, assuming they are on the heftier end. If only those could be recycled in mass too.
“The glaciers made you, and now you’re mine” is a song lyric from a Canadian folk rock band called the Great Lakes Swimmers. The song – “Your Rocky Spine” – is a metaphoric love poem about the region. The words perfectly capture the affinity I now feel for Lake Michigan. A wilderness writing course brought me face to face with a Great Lake for the first time in my life last weekend. We camped at Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area in Manistee, Mich.