Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/echo/page/2/)
By Lillian Williams
The shrinking number of farms in Michigan – down by about 1,300 between 2023 and 2024 – and the trend of existing farms to expand to survive is changing the culture of rural communities.
By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira
A recent study featuring Grand Rapids, Michigan suggests that climate migration may not significantly change how some cities grow.
By Bauyrzhan Zhaxylykov
Bankruptcies of Michigan farmers are troubling despite a dip in their Chapter 12 filings last year. Major reasons are higher expenses for inputs such as fertilizer coupled with flat commodity prices.
By Mia Litzenberg
The Six Nations of the Grand River face ongoing water insecurity from pollution, climate change and corporate extraction. Many years of Indigenous water advocacy have led to the development of a new Haudenosaunee Environmental Research Institute as the next step to overcome these challenges.
By Ada Tussing
If you’ve noticed fewer birds in the sky recently, they haven’t all flown south for the winter. The North American bird population has dropped nearly 30% in the last 50 years. Mariette Nowak’s book “Birdscaping for Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Region” offers a solution: birdscaping.
A new study examines the uniqueness of work that research centers conduct in the Great Lakes region, highlighting their importance amid dramatic changes in federal funding.
By Bauyrzhan Zhaxylykov
New U-M survey finds only about 5% of rural Michigan residents say they would choose an electric vehicle as their next car. Researchers attribute much of that reluctance to misinformation about the availability of public chargers and the cost of EVs and replacement batteries. The Whitmer administration is pushing to expand electric vehicle use to meet climate and clean energy goals.
By Julia Belden
An Alanson-raised author whose book on Ernest Hemingway’s ties to Northern Michigan explains the region’s influence on the novelist’s work. The book “Picturing Hemingway’s Michigan,” has just been released in paperback.
By Justin Fox Clausen
Lawmakers are making another effort to adopt Michigan’s first statewide septic code with mandatory inspections, intended to protect drinking water from contamination. It’s the only state without one.
By Karlee VanAntwerp
Critics of the proliferation of data centers are calling for a one-year moratorium on the approval of new projects.