Waste

Green Gridirons: University of Iowa

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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: Kinnick Stadium

School: University of Iowa

Built: 1929

Capacity: 70,585

2012 diversion rate: 52 percent

Scouting report: The Iowa Recycling Team has united with other school organizations to keep game days clean before, during and after football games. During pregame activities, 26 recycling bins are placed at the gate entrance of Kinnick Stadium for fans to drop their materials as they enter, according to Eric Holthaus, recycling coordinator at the school.

Echo

Officials want Michigan to pay for wildfires

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Michigan Rep. Bob Genetski, R- Saugatuck, has introduced a bill that would allow the state to compensate localities for fighting fires on state-owned land through the already-established Forest Development Fund. Wildfires strain the resources of small, under-equipped localities, he says.

Echo

Rural schools, roads lose timber payments

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Michigan is losing $229,491 in federal timber payments this year because of the budget sequestration — money that would otherwise be used for rural roads and schools, environmental work in the state’s three national forests and county wildfire projects.

Echo

Dust-up over keeping the dust down

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Commentary
By Ken Winter

Back years ago, there used to be a joke that rural dirt roads were either sprayed just before local elections to keep the electorate happy or a township or county official lived along the road. Same held true for snow plowing. The roads still get sprayed, but some people are beginning to ask with what? After the Traverse City Record-Eagle first reported on a road spraying complaint last month in Benzie County, west of near Traverse City, other county road commissioners are being asked the same question. The incident started when Bryan Black, a Benzie County farmer and former oil industry welder, first raised concerns about the liquid a truck was spraying on dirt roads around his farm north of Lake Ann to the Michigan Department of Environment Quality.

Echo

Photo Friday: Whiting Event

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This photo was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite from the International Space Station. It highlights a late-summer “whiting event” visible across Lake Ontario. Whiting events are caused by changes in the water’s temperature,  which leads to increased photosynthesis by phytoplankton and other microscopic marine life. That photosynthesis reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the water, which changes the water’s acidity. Change in acidity and temperature then allows fine particles of calcium carbonate to form in the water column, and it’s these particles that cause the characteristic lightening, or “whiting,” of the water’s color.

Echo

Which Great Lakes communities have the best parks?

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ParkScore measures how well the 50 largest U.S. cities meet their residents’ need for parks. The rating system evaluated the parks of several cities from Great Lakes states on size, ease of access and city investment. The ratings are designed to help local communities identify where parks are needed and improve services for existing parks. On the Parkscore website, cities are rated  on a scale of zero to five park benches. For example, one bench means the city’s park system needs major improvement, while five benches indicate an excellent park system.