FLOW applies tools drawn from science, art, and public trust law to protect the Great Lakes and their tributaries, and the public’s right to use these wondrous waters. We educate and empower citizens and communities to wield the power of the public trust doctrine to defend the public ownership of water against privatization schemes. We… Read more »
Prioritizing Great Lakes Protection in Key Discussions about Our Shared FutureThe Great Lakes hold one-fifth of the earth’s fresh surface water. More than 35 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water, jobs, and a way of life. Yet all too often protecting our water is not part of the equation when leaders… Read more »
Challenging Harmful “Net-pen” and Antiquated “Flow-through” Aquaculture Operations in the Great Lakes Commercial aquaculture or fish farming takes various forms in tanks, ponds, rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Current legislative proposals are now on the table to use the open waters of the Great Lakes on the U.S. side for commercial net-pen aquaculture and to expand… Read more »
Your Gift HAS A Lasting Impact Donate Today Click here to give online FLOW staff partnering in Lansing to save the Great Lakes It takes tremendous resources to do the work needed to save and protect the fresh bodies of water surrounding our beautiful state, and to safeguard the rights of Michigan citizens as… Read more »
Do you enjoy celebrating the holidays with your friends and family? How about checking items off your bucket list, or watching the Super Bowl? Are cookies, chips, and pizza some of your guilty pleasures? Believe it or not, you can thank your friendly neighborhood pipeline company for all of these things and more! (Unless your… Read more »
Watch the Webinar here! Wilderness, Water, and Rust: A Journey toward Great Lakes Resilience asks us to consider what we value about life in the Great Lakes region and how caring for its remarkable ecosystems might help us imagine new, whole futures. Weaving together memories from her life in the upper Midwest with nearly fifty… Read more »
Longtime Great Lakes advocate Jane Elder’s new book, Wilderness, Water and Rust, (available from Michigan State University Press) is a compelling story of both progress and backsliding in policies and practices affecting the Lakes. It is also a memoir of growing up in Michigan and more than 40 years of fighting for a clean environment… Read more »
On Earth Day, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced a $290 million expansion of the MI Clean Water Plan with proceeds from the bipartisan, voter-approved 2002 Great Lakes Water Quality Protection Bond. The funds will expand state low-interest loans to local governments for drinking water and water… Read more »
Citizen action and public engagement safeguards Michigan waters Most everyone familiar with the beauty and majesty of Long Lake regard it as an exceptional example of the stunning natural features that are so abundant in Northwest Lower Michigan. The largest lake in Grand Traverse County and the headwaters of the Platte River, Long Lake harbors… Read more »
With worsening water scarcity in the US and around the world, pressures to share Great Lakes water will grow. The Great Lakes Compact allows water to be diverted outside of the watershed basin for “short-term humanitarian emergencies.” But what does this mean, and who defines it? What are the ethics of sharing water? Is it right, and… Read more »
