Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/echo/page/42/)
Michigan may be the Great Lakes state, but its neighbors to the east and west are leading efforts to turn water-based technology, academic research and tourism into jobs and revenue.
Click here to watch Battling the Bloom: Lake Erie
In 1970, sections of Lake Erie were declared dead due to an excess of toxic algal blooms created by industrial pollution. But a little over a decade later, the lake went through a transformation that saw a return of wildlife and recreation to the area. Over the past five years, the blooms have returned. These blooms are largely caused by fertilizer and farmland waste nearby running off into Lake Erie. The video linked above discusses the past and current threats posed to Lake Erie by these blooms, and what scientists and conservationists are doing to stop them.
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 is widely considered to be the defining tragedy of the region. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the storm that claimed the lives of more than 250 people and destroyed 19 ships. Now that tragedy is coming to the stage. “The Great Storm,” a play directed by Warren L. Robinson, follows the stories of two families whose worlds are shaken by the disaster. The play is part of the three-month long “A Remembrance of the Great Lakes Storm of 1913“ event, established by the Port of Goderich in Ontario and a group of volunteers in the Lake Huron community.
For the first time in Michigan, three ospreys have been fitted with tracking devices in order to get a better look at the birds’ migration patterns. One of the birds, named Monroe Spark, recently made it to Cuba.
A football stadium may have green grass but does it have green habits? Each week, Great Lakes Echo highlights a Big Ten football stadium’s attempts to do the most to impact the environment the least. All schools have information on the stadium’s diversion rate – the amount of waste recycled instead of put in a landfill. Stadium: Beaver Stadium
School: Penn State University
Built: 1960
Capacity: 106,572
2009 diversion rate: 48.6 percent
Scouting report: Penn State has been recycling at Beaver Stadium for almost 16 years, but a recent initiative to promote recycling helped the university more than triple its recycling average. Since 2008, Penn State has diverted more than 100 tons of trash from landfills from Beaver Stadium, university officials said.
Michigan state Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, wants you to keep your roadkill — please. He, along with colleague Sen. John Pappageorge of Troy, are trying to lessen the paperwork involved in those interested in keeping roadkill.
More access to forests, lakes and trails are among the goals the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has in store for public lands.
Achieving nuclear fusion has proven to be elusive for generations of scientists. According to the BBC, American scientists have brought us one step closer to nuclear fusion becoming a viable source of clean energy.
Michigan’s most scenic destinations – like Traverse City and – are typically affordable enough to live at for the state’s tourism workers, according to a new report. This bucks a national trend which shows tourism workers typically can’t afford to live in the cities they work in.
In this series, Echo samples successful and ongoing restoration projects in each Great Lakes state.
Minnesota projects include restoration efforts to help the moose population and a campaign to fight invasive the spread of species.