Echo
Karessa Weir

Moms, kids and health

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A  report recently broadcast by the University of Michigan Radio Consortium’s Environment Report reminded me yet again of the tightrope parents walk trying to ensure their kids’ health. It sometimes seems that the very things we do to keep ourselves and our children safe and free from disease end up hurting them. This report connected the use of “personal care products” while pregnant with an increase in ADHD. Researchers with the Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Study concluded “behavioral domains adversely associated with prenatal exposure to phthalates are commonly found to be affected in children clinically diagnosed with conduct or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders.”

The researchers measured the amount of phthalate metabolites in the urine of 479 mothers in their third trimester in New York City. Those children were then tested for cognitive and behavioral development between the ages four to nine.

Echo

Carp bomb: Sarah Palin goes rogue

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a big player in the Asian carp story. Echo writer Andrew Norman envisions a world in which the rest of the Army gets involved. And they’ve got a secret weapon. Carp bombs are fun for everyone. Here’s how to make your own.

Wildlife

Three cheers for the snake lady

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An Ohio activist dubbed “The Snake Lady” and a university researcher have been honored for their efforts to conserve the threatened Lake Erie watersnake. Kristin Stanford and Richard King of Northern Illinois University are among this year’s 18 recipients of the recently announced U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Recovery Champions awards. According to a U.S. F&W press release, the pair has put in a combined 35 years of work to save the snake and its habitat. King has been working since the 1980s and identified early declines in the population and threats to the species. Stanford has “worked tirelessly to reach out to residents of the Lake Erie islands”  to teach them how to live with the snake.”

“The dedication of Ms. Stanford and Dr. King to the conservation of the Lake Erie watersnake, through both scientific methods and strong public involvement, has recovery efforts for this species to the point that the next step is  to propose removing it from the list of endangered and threatened species.  There is no greater measure of recovery success,” said Midwest Regional Director Tom Melius.

Echo

Sampling menus: School lunches and dumpster dives

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Last February, I began a story that would end up being one of the greatest challenges and investigations of my journalism career thus far. I decided to investigate food waste by diving into dumpsters behind grocery stores and bakeries in my then town of residence, St. Augustine, Florida. I committed myself to eating only what I found in the dumpster, I suppose to prove how much food was going to waste. I documented what I ate everyday and my experiences while digging through the garbage.

Echo

Carp. It’s what’s for dinner.

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A Chicago fishmonger has a solution for the asian carp invasion:  If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em!  But it might not be that simple.  He sent carp to some of Chicago’s top chefs and they, well, struggled. The carp are bony, bloody and apparently have a flavor that’s entirely in the eye (or tastebuds) of the beholder. Mike Sula reported on the carp experiment for the Chicago Reader. Some choice excerpts:

From Paul Kahan at the Publican: “After a few attempts at butchering, we were adequately creeped out and will not go any further.” From Sean Sanders at Browntrout: “…tastewise I really don’t like it.

Echo

Carp bomb: The Marina City carp cobs

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The Marina City towers on the Chicago River are sometimes called “corn cobs” for their vegetal resemblances. I’m sure “carp cobs” will be an easy adjustment once this Asian carp invasion hits full swing. This carp bomb is brought to you by Katie Coleman and the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Remember, we want to show off YOUR Asian carp photobombs. Read all about how it works here.

Echo

Straight to the source: Great Lakes water use by Canada

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A quote attributed to Queen’s University (Ontario) biologist Linda Campbell in a March 22 Whig Standard story confused me:
“People hear that the Great Lakes have 20 percent of the world’s fresh water and they think, ‘We’ve got that much water around, so what’s the problem?’ Campbell said most of the fresh water used by people comes from rainfall or runoff and the usable amount of water is actually a little under 3 percent, or a little more than 10 percent of the commonly assumed figure. “We are living off the interest, not the capital,” she said. It was that line “usable amount of water.” Did that mean that the other 17 percent or so of Great Lakes water was, well, unusable?

Echo

Satellite watch: Animated Lake Huron ice breakup

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Worry wanes over the chance of flooding brought on by the melting ice bridge at the southern tip of Lake Huron. But a few freighters heading through the St. Clair River have gotten stuck in ice chunks that are gathered up like “sand bunched in an hourglass,” Tammy Stables Battaglia writes in the Detroit Free Press. The hourglass metaphor is apt. You can see it in action here:

Echo

Lake politics: With health care done, is climate right for a fight?

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Health care won’t be the only divisive political issue to consume Congress and the nation’s attention this year – at least not if 22 Democratic senators led by New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall have their way. Half of the Great Lakes Democratic contingent were among signatories of a letter requesting that Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) take up climate change legislation this year “with a renewed focus on jobs and reduced dependence on foreign oil.” The Great Lakes senators included Roland Burris (Ill.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken (Minn.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Arlen Specter and Robert Casey (Penn.). The House passed its version of climate legislation last summer. But the Senate’s job got that much more difficult when the Democrats lost their super-majority with the election of Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.).

Echo

Mixed reax to carp court case

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Within the Great Lakes, the industries that depend on their ecosystem is almost as varied as the organisms. And like predators competing for the same food, their interests aren’t always in sync. This became apparent in the wake of Monday’s refusal by the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately close the Chicago Locks. The closure was requested by the state of Michigan to prevent Asian carp from moving from the Mississippi River into Lake Michigan. It was supported by Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio as well as various environmental groups. The decision was hailed by the barge and tug industry.