How an infamous Great Lakes shipwreck became trendy on TikTok

By Clara Lincolnhol

As the gales of November approach, social media users are channeling an infamous Great Lakes shipwreck as tongue-in-cheek inspiration for a new fall aesthetic. It began with a video comedian Django Gold posted to TikTok in September. “Brat Summer is over. It’s time for Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Fall,” Gold says in the short video, which has nearly 23,000 likes. Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” plays in the background.

Lake Erie algae mucks up fishing trips

A Michigan State University study estimates that up to $5.9 million annually in economic activity is lost in Michigan’s small portion of Lake Erie due to harmful algal blooms.

Study shows value of culturally appropriate environmental health resources

The research collaboration among the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan and the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan has demonstrated how an advisory program designed for the Anishinaabe is a useful tool for tracking fish consumption in Great Lakes tribes. 

Regional aquaculture collaborative receives federal support

An aquaculture group recently received $425,000 in federal support to strengthen the aquaculture community in the Great Lakes region. The goal for the grant is to build up the local economy of aquaculture producers.

New technology provides hope for the Great Lakes’ polluted waters

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Environmental Protection Agency have demonstrated a new technology designed to reduce harmful algal blooms as part of a wide range of efforts on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border to address the threat of Eutrophication on the Great Lakes and other inland bodies of water.

Water test: a long history and hopeful future of human impact on Great Lakes ecology

The Lake Michigan and Lake Huron waters governed by an 1836 treaty are at the heart of negotiations between Michigan, the federal government and Native American tribes to determine how much and what kinds of fish can be harvested. Much has changed since the treaty was signed in 1836, notably because of invasive mussels. But human activity changed the lakes long before then.