Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
A resource invisible most of the time to Michigan residents may be coveted more and more by other regions of the U.S. It’s called groundwater. Found underground in cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock, groundwater is vital to human health and the environment. And while Michigan has an abundance of groundwater, significant regions… Read more »
On February 15, FLOW presented an “Art Meets Water” virtual event with Maryann Lesert, novelist and author of the book, Land Marks. FLOW senior policy advisor Dave Dempsey hosted the talk via Zoom, which is now available to watch on YouTube. And, when you pre-order Land Marks from Bookshop.org in February, the proceeds will benefit… Read more »
A fish kill in Oregon may seem to have little to do with Michigan waters – but if you look closely there is a close connection in law. As the result of large-volume groundwater withdrawals like that in Oregon’s Deschutes River, western states have documented the serious impairment of streams, their ecosystems, fish, and the… Read more »
Media Release: January 3, 2024 Download printer-friendly PDF Traverse City, Mich.— For Love of Water (FLOW), a Great Lakes water law and policy center, filed an appeal on December 22, 2023 with the Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn the Michigan Public Service Commission’s December 1 decision to approve the application from Canadian oil company… Read more »
By Carrie La Seur, FLOW Legal Director My lungs remember. While I was an Iowa Environmental Protection Commissioner, I said yes to a chance to visit a relatively small hog confinement run, by the dad of one of my son’s best friends. It was just a few miles from our home in Mount Vernon, population… Read more »
In this new book by author and FLOW senior advisor Dave Dempsey, learn the true stories beneath the surface of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem. Everybody who looks at the Great Lakes knows they’re big, but why are they Great? From sea serpents to sunken ships, from lonely lighthouses to fish on Prozac, this book… Read more »
By Daniel Macfarlane Daniel Macfarlane is an Associate Professor in the School of the Environment, Geography, and Sustainability at Western Michigan University. He is also a senior fellow at the Bill Graham Center for Contemporary International History, University of Toronto, and President of the International Water History Association. His research and teaching focus on the… Read more »
Traverse City, Mich. — FLOW is shocked that the collective efforts of thousands of Michiganders and treaty-protected tribes to protect our waters from the catastrophic risks of Line 5 have been ignored in today’s decision by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to grant authorization for a Line 5 tunnel. The Straits are no safer… Read more »
FLOW is pleased to announce that Douglas Jester has been elected to a two year term as chair of its Board of Directors. Douglas has served on the FLOW board for over 4 years. A partner at 5 Lakes Energy, Douglas specializes in utility regulation and energy policy, research, and modeling, and brings a wealth… Read more »
Illustration: Mariah Alexander By John Hartig, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor Last month, 13 people representing diverse backgrounds met in a Traverse City workshop to brainstorm on how to make better use of something called “an ecosystem approach” in Great Lakes protection and restoration. Part of an effort spanning the entire… Read more »
