Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/echo/page/45/)
One county in Indiana is taking sustainability seriously – very seriously.
After installing one of the state’s largest solar panel systems, Monroe County, Indiana decided to tackle energy reduction in even more facets of government, from vending machines to thermostats.
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: Ryan Field
School: Northwestern University
Built: 1997
Capacity: 47,130
2012 diversion rate: 39 percent
Scouting report: Ryan Field began recycling bottles and cardboard on game day in 2008. Most recycling collections come from tailgate lots, said Julie Cahillane, Northwestern’s manager of recycling and refuse.
Nationwide, there are 1,320 final sites on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List of waste sites that have released or can release hazardous contaminants. They are either awaiting or currently undergoing cleanup. Sites can be deleted from the list when “no further response is required to protect human health or the environment,” according to the EPA. Each site is scored through the Hazard Ranking System on a scale from 0-100. The higher the score, the greater threat they represent.
A revolution in green infrastructure – and two new funding programs – are helping urban communities in Greater Cleveland create small green space projects with a big potential impact to control storm water flooding.
State natural resource officials are wondering how a mysterious virus found its way to Wisconsin trout and what it will mean for the health of aquatic life.
Despite the uncertainty, state authorities confirm that they released 270,000 brown trout this year from hatcheries where fish tested positive for the cutthroat trout virus. An additional 160,000 had already been released last year before officials got the test results.
State workers and environmental groups will use a federal grant to help get the Kirtland’s warbler off the list of endangered species.
The $171,000 grant will go toward a range of activities in Northeast Michigan, including the planting of two million jack pine seedlings, which are the only habitat the bird can nest in.
Mr. Great Lakes (Jeff Kart) reports from Bay City, Michigan’s Delta College Q-90.1 FM
.Sept. 27, 2013 – Mr. Great Lakes – Jeff Kart – The Environment Report by jeffkart
This week, Kart discusses a draft report on renewable energy in Michigan. Text at Mr. Great Lakes
Each month Echo commentator Gary Wilson recaps news from around the basin.
This week, Gary reflects on Great Lakes Week, the International Joint Commission’s recommendations to fight algal blooms and water use in fracking.
This August photographer Ken Scott captured this panorama, highlighting a storm front moving over Lake Michigan, near Northport, Mich. The photo was taken just before sunset, showing colorful clouds and a low hanging sun. This photo was featured on Earth Science Picture of the Day.
Scientists are linking the ear bones of fish to the water chemistry of the wetlands they visit.
The research is a new tool in figuring out just where fish travel and has implications for targeting wetlands for protection.