Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
A popular vehicle decal says the Great Lakes are “unsalted and shark-free.” Is it true? Not if you consider road salt and salt from water softeners. In 2021, scientific researchers estimated chlorides in Lake Michigan had risen from about 1-2 milligrams per liter before European settlement to more than fifteen milligrams per liter. Canadian researchers… Read more »
By Carolan Sonderegger, FLOW Policy Director With my sema, or tobacco, in hand, I prepared to perform the sacred and culturally significant act of seeding manoomin. Sema serves as a conduit for acknowledgement and a way to communicate with Gizhemanidoo, the creator. I gave my gratitude to Gizhemanidoo by offering the sema into the water,… Read more »
Out of Michigan’s 24,000 Contaminated Sites, These Are Among the Most Notorious Once upon a time, Michigan scientifically ranked our thousands of contamination sites by the hazard they represented to public health and the environment. Released annually, the list generated extensive publicity and legislative attention, resulting in significant appropriations for the cleanup of the worst… Read more »
To find a cranky, resolute, dry-witted champion for Michigan’s water, you need look no farther than Michael Delp. In his prose and poetry – especially as his alter ego, the Mad Angler, he has written lyrically of trout and forcefully condemned polluters. Mike is just out with a collection, The Mad Angler: Poems, that deepens… Read more »
A proposal to turn artesian groundwater that feeds Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin into a product for sale continues to run head-on into the law, the community, a tribe, and a citizens group, Lake Superior Not for Sale (LSNFS). The most recent defeat for Kristle KLR came in June, when the Wisconsin Court of Appeals… Read more »
The true economic, ecological, and social costs of relying on land use restrictions to address groundwater and soil contamination instead of active clean up are likely significantly higher than generally estimated. That is a conclusion of a new report submitted to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). Institutional Controls for Groundwater… Read more »
Lake Ontario is the only one of the Great Lakes that Michigan does not border. Receiving the waste of the other four Great Lakes and the impact of industrial development in its own watershed, Lake Ontario faces special challenges. In his new book, The Lives of Lake Ontario, Daniel Macfarlane explores the checkered environmental history… Read more »
A disastrous growing season for northwestern Lower Michigan’s cherry crop is resulting in calls for federal aid and a growing sense that climate change is warping the health of this iconic fruit. The sweet cherry crop has been deemed a failure, and similar conditions have affected tart cherries. It’s estimated that cherry growers lost 30%… Read more »
Growing up I never thought of water as a controversial issue. My grandparents (born in the 1890s) built a log cabin on Pickerel Lake in Northern Michigan a few years before I was born. My fondest memories were summers spent Up North swimming, fishing and exploring the wonders of the woods on that small lake… Read more »
Now that major party candidates for Vice President are designated, it’s an appropriate time to check their records on two environmental concerns vital to Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Climate Change Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, as Governor of Minnesota, has called for strong federal action to abate and prepare for the effects… Read more »
