Echo
VIDEO: Great Lakes advocate to retire from Congress; pols weigh Ehlers’ legacy
|
The 76-year-old moderate from Grand Rapids helped gain the visibility and funding for the Great Lakes that have long been available to the East and West Coasts.
Recreation
VIDEO: Freshwater surfers are Great Lakes activists
|
Last February, Deur was asked by the Healing Our Waters Coalition, a group working to restore the Great Lakes, to lobby in Washington, D.C. on Great Lakes Day. He was the only surfer among 100 business leaders, lobbyists and activists discussing the restoration and protection of the lakes on Capitol Hill.
Echo
VIDEO: Chicago canal carp kill roundup
|
Dec. 5, 2009
Michigan Now has an audio report of the Chicago canal carp kill. (And by audio, we don’t mean you can hear carp scream.)
And here’s a roundup of carp stories. Broadcast news report:
Echo
VIDEO: Can ants carry us to the biofuels promised land?
|
By Alice Rossignol and Jeff Gillies
Oct. 27, 2009
Wisconsin researchers hope six-legged fungus farmers can speed the switch from gasoline to plant-based fuels. The farmers are leafcutter ants, and for millions of years they’ve been breaking down plants into the ingredients people now hope to use to brew environmentally friendly fuels. By studying how plants break down in a leafcutter ant colony, we might do a better job of breaking them down in a big biofuel production facility, said Cameron Currie, a bacteriology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We can learn about how natural systems do it to model our own attempts to do it,” he said.
Echo
VIDEO: Five questions for author and invasive species gumshoe Jeff Alexander
|
By Andrew Norman
Oct. 16, 2009
Covering the Great Lakes and its environment for two decades made Jeff Alexander the obvious environmental sleuth to write a comprehensive history and investigative exposé of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway. The award-winning reporter and author’s most recent book, Pandora’s Locks: The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway, does just that.
Echo
VIDEO: Physical barrier, rapid response to fight Great Lakes invasive species may be years away
|
Editors note: This story is part of a series relevant to the International Joint Commissions biennial meeting next Wednesday and Thursday in Windsor. Two approaches to keep ravenous carp and other invasive species out of Lake Michigan are gaining ground, but both could be years from completion. Electrical barriers in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal are the only obstacles keeping silver carp and other aquatic invasive species from entering the lake. The carp could harm native Great Lakes fish that use similar resources. And silver carp can injure boaters when they jump out of the water.
Echo
VIDEO: Fighting to farm by greening the rust belt
|
By Troy Hale & Geri Alumit Zeldes
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 9, 2009
Each week about 50 high school and college students feed the hens, tend the greenhouse and sift the new compost at Harvesting Earth Educational Farm located in Beecher, a community outside of Flint. To break up the tasks, farm owners Master Jacky and Dora King, black belts in karate, teach these young workers self-defense moves using rakes, hoes and shovels. For many of these young people, this is their first job. For the Kings, the farm is sowing the seeds of sustainable agriculture that may save Flint.
Echo
VIDEO: Sewage plant uses natural systems
|
By Mary Hansen
mehansen4@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 6, 2009
Muskegon County’s Wastewater Treatment Plant in Michigan was established more than 35 years ago because of an overburdened system that polluted waterways. Sandy soil filters and treats wastewater. The system encompasses 11,000 acres and a natural bird sanctuary – one of the largest inland nesting areas for seagulls. The operation produces hydropower and is considering windpower.
Echo
VIDEO: Michigan residents urge public input for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
|
Editors note: Catch tweets of hearing from Echo and others on Twitter at #GLRI Related stories here. Related poll here. By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 3, 2009
When more than 30 Michigan residents approached the microphone at a Great Lakes public hearing Monday, two messages were repeated: the public needs to be included in the Obama Administration’s $475 million plan to restore the Great Lakes, and there needs to be an effort to educate others. “If we don’t educate people to understand how their day-to-day activities impact the quality of the Great Lakes, our efforts may be lost,” one resident said.
Echo
VIDEO: Smart growth in Grosse Ile
|
By Mary Hansen
mehansen4@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
July 27, 2009
Michigan ranks among the most resource-rich states, yet comes in 47th in per capita conservation spending and dead last in the conservation spending gap, according to a March 2008 report by Michigan State University’s Land Policy Institute. Grosse Ile Township just south of Detroit, the largest island on the Detroit River, is a bright spot contrary to that trend. It takes a unique approach to conservation of natural spaces with a township Open Spaces Committee and millage and the private non-profit Grosse Ile Nature and Land Conservancy. The strong sense of community and commitment is a national example of smart growth decision-making.