A global aquatic resource under threat from drainage, filling and development is the focus of World Wetlands Day, which is observed on Wednesday, February 2. Michigan has a special stake in preventing wetland destruction and promoting wetland restoration.
This week Grand Rapids-based Madcap Coffee announced its initial membership in 1% for the Planet and the company’s intent to donate 1% of annual sales to support nonprofit organizations focused on the environment, climate change, and water conservation. To celebrate its 1% membership and to highlight its retail expansion into Leelanau County, Madcap is partnering with FLOW to launch its seasonal Lake Effect winter coffee blend and a supporting merchandise collection. 10% of café and online sales from Madcap’s Lake Effect coffee and collection will directly benefit FLOW, whose mission is protecting and preserving waters in the Great Lakes Basin through public trust principles like education, policy, and solutions to urgent energy, water, and climate issues.
What’s the natural resource that is critical to the survival of billions of human beings but invisible to the vast majority of them? The answer is groundwater, both in Michigan and globally. Out of sight but not detached from our economy and health, groundwater plays a critical role in Michigan communities, supplying 45 percent of Michigan’s population with drinking water. Yet groundwater is a neglected and much-abused part of our state’s natural endowment. This year, groundwater will be in the spotlight on the annual World Water Day, March 22.
As she begins her fourth year in office, Governor Whitmer, who will deliver this year’s State of the State message on Jan. 26, has an opportunity to build on past environmental successes and set the tone for a historic year of accomplishment. Thanks to significant federal COVID relief aid and a state economy performing better than forecast, Michigan has a rare abundance of funding to attack the state’s multi-billion-dollar backlog of sewage and drinking water infrastructure needs and attend to other urgent environmental needs. Here are a few ways she can strengthen public health protections and restore our environment.
In Michigan, water in its natural state, including groundwater, is held by the state as sovereign for the benefit of the people. Michigan’s 2008 groundwater withdrawal law declares that lakes, streams, and groundwater–indeed springs, seeps, and wetlands–are a singularly connected part of the water cycle. The removal of water from one arc of the water cycle affects the other, often substantially.
For years my family lived in steamy Arkansas, driving for days to get to northern Michigan in the summers. The air cooled down mile by mile. The moment we rounded a curve and our lake glimmered into view I was transported, transformed. I wanted nothing but to be in it, on it, all over it, writes poet and Traverse City resident Fleda Brown.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of two historically significant steps toward healthy streams and lakes, the U.S. Clean Water Act and the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. But are these silver anniversaries truly green? Let’s take a look.
Fifty years ago, on December 11, 1971, 22 workers died in a tragic explosion while completing a tunnel designed to bring Lake Huron drinking water to the Detroit metropolitan area. The anniversary of the disaster was marked by a ceremony earlier this month. “We are honoring the 22 men who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our clean drinking water and they need to be remembered,” said Joel Archibald, business manager for a labor union that organized the ceremony.
A recently-released survey of residents of the Great Lakes watershed reveals strong support for government funding and actions to protect the Lakes, but also suggests the public believes the lakes are not in good shape.
FLOW senior policy advisor Dave Dempsey recently posted a survey on both Twitter and Facebook asking followers and friends to name their favorite Great Lake and to explain their allegiance. The answers were both quantitative and qualitative.
