Land

Great Lakes cities found at the intersection of walkable and affordable

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We’ve always known that the Great Lakes are the center of the freshwater universe. But who would have thought that they are the intersection of affordability and walkability? A group that’s developed a method of scoring a community’s walkability recently listed neighborhoods in a dozen U.S. cities that are not only easy to get around, they’re affordable to live in. They produced the list with Walk Score data – which measures walkability – the Cost of Living Index and the average rents for every major city in the country. And guess what?

Water

Microplastics discovered across the bottom of St. Lawrence River

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Researchers have discovered microplastics across the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, the first time these pollutants have been found in freshwater sediment. Scientists from McGill University and the province of Quebec published their discovery this month in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. The microbeads they found usually come from personal care or cleaning products that wash down the drain and pass through sewage and treatment plants right into bodies of water. Researchers collected sediment with a steel grabber from ten locations between Lake St.

Wildlife

Walleyes, rivers and pollution settlement

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Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM. This week, Kart discusses Consumers Energy’s cut to pollution, Huron Pines reconnecting rivers and Saginaw Bay Charters hooking more walleye. Text at Mr. Great Lakes.

Water

Federal legislation would ban microplastics in personal care products

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BUFFALO – A New York U.S. senator recently introduced legislation to ban tiny plastic particles in personal care products. These plastic microbeads are found in products like facial scrubs, body washes, hand cleansers and toothpastes. They are too small to be caught by wastewater treatment plants so they end up in large bodies of water like the Great Lakes. Illinois has already banned plastic microbeads in consumer products and similar legislation is being considered in New York, Ohio and California. The plastics concentrate toxins that would normally settle in sediment at the bottom of the lake.

Water

Great Lakes restoration picks up another $12 million in grants

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A public-private partnership focused on Great Lakes habitat restoration recently announced $12 million in grants to 31 projects, including 10 in Michigan. The recipients will add another $11 million to this year’s Sustain Our Great Lakes funding, according to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The Sustain Our Great Lakes program is funded and operated by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ArcelorMittal, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.D.A. Forest Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Support for the program also comes from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which supplements the program’s goal to improve the ecological health of natural areas in the region. The program targets 1,700 acres of wetland and 300 miles of stream for habitat restoration and the improvement of fish passage, according to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Water

Detroit Public Television covers Great Lakes Restoration Conference

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Organizations focused on maintaining the Great Lakes meet this week in Grand Rapids to discuss environmental issues. This year’s Great Lakes Restoration Conference, hosted by Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition, marks a decade of work. Attendees will diagnose possible future threats. Detroit Public Television is covering the conference the live on its Great Lakes Now program. Viewers can watch online speakers and panel discussions from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (EST) today and from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (EST) Thursday.