Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
By Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director — This remembrance is for Katie Horvath in appreciation for her brilliant and soaring spirit, her demands for meaningful change, and her life-long passion for protecting the places and water she loved here at home in the Great Lakes. In the early years at FLOW, our board was comprised of… Read more »
Saturday, March 22 is World Water Day, a global day established by the United Nations to celebrate water, reflect on the progress we’ve made, and acknowledge the challenges ahead. This year’s theme, glacier preservation, is a powerful reminder of how climate change is reshaping our world and threatening freshwater supplies. Here in Michigan, where the… Read more »
PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of human-made chemicals found in everything from nonstick cookware to drinking water, and they pose serious health risks. These “forever chemicals” do not break down in the environment or the human body, leading to long-term exposure that has been linked to cancer, immune system suppression, hormonal disruption,… Read more »
John Flesher vividly recalls his first up-close encounter with the Great Lakes. He had flown into Michigan the day before and seen Lake Erie from his plane, but it was nothing like stepping onto a Lake Michigan beach that day in August 1989. “The waves were just pounding the shore,” he says, “and I was… Read more »
National Groundwater Awareness Week, which began on Sunday, March 9, is as invisible to most of us as is groundwater itself. Yet groundwater plays an important role in the lives of all Michiganders. Here’s a chance to test your groundwater knowledge, or gain some. Take the test below! The volume of groundwater in the… Read more »
By: Carrie La Seur, Legal Director — Hey there, water lovers. It’s time for a little more plain talk about the mess that is the Pine River of central Michigan. No sooner had it begun to recover from toxic contamination than tens of thousands of cattle moved in upstream. Every year, millions of gallons of… Read more »
The child who grew up in the natural wonderland of the Traverse City region is now the sage of the environmental community in Michigan. On Wednesday, February 26, FLOW founder Jim Olson, whose legal work transformed both the law and the landscape, turns 80. It’s a milestone that gives Jim the opportunity to look back,… Read more »
Nitrate pollution might not be a familiar term, but it could be affecting your drinking water more than you realize. Nitrates are a naturally occurring form of nitrogen found in soil and water, but human activities, particularly industrial agriculture, have significantly increased nitrate levels in rivers, lakes, and groundwater. This invisible, odorless, and taste-free contaminant… Read more »
Michigan Court of Appeals Affirms Line 5 Tunnel Permit; FLOW Asserts Michigan’s Public Trust Responsibilities Traverse City, Mich.— For Love of Water (FLOW) participated in consolidated appeals challenging a Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) order conditionally approving Enbridge Energy’s application to replace the segment of its Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac,… Read more »
By: Carrie La Seur, Legal Director — Stand aside Silicon Valley, the next big tech disruptor might be a giant manure scooper. Why? Because the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater system on Earth, are becoming a sea of livestock excrement. Traverse City is pleasantly distant from the factory farms of central and southern Michigan – but… Read more »
