Michigan is a place of natural abundance, but one resource is paramount—water. Michigan Great Lakes and Freshwater Week (June 4-12) is an opportunity to learn more about our state’s water endowment, and how to protect it.
Introducing Mackenzie Joseph, FLOW’s summer 2022 Milliken intern for communications.
Protect the Great Lakes Now. Protect Them for Generations to Come. FLOW is dedicated to keeping the waters of the Great Lakes Basin clean and public so everyone can benefit from and enjoy our common freshwater resources. A big part of this work is ensuring that you, the public, are informed about your rights and… Read more »
During Drinking Water Week, recognized May 1-7 by the State of Michigan and nationally, filling knowledge gaps is a critical priority. Knowing the source of your drinking water is crucial, and so is knowing about threats to its safety and legal and environmental defenses to prevent its contamination.
One of the leading champions and practitioners of the Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) has been FLOW’s founder, Jim Olson. For 50 years, he has put MEPA to work in the courts and administrative processes, defending wetlands, streams, flora and fauna, and human health. Jim has adeptly used MEPA to protect the Great Lakes and its tributary rivers and streams, vindicate indigenous treaty fishing rights, and limit Nestlé’s withdrawal of Michigan groundwater.
When Lake Erie algae blooms worsened to a crisis in the 1960s, Canada and the United States shared the problem—but no mechanism to combat it jointly. Out of that gap came the binational Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Signed 50 years ago this Friday by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and U.S. President Richard Richard Nixon in Ottawa on April 15, 1972, the pact embraced the reality that Great Lakes water flows across the international boundary and that only through joint effort can the lakes be restored. FLOW asks the question: Has it worked?
On March 30, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a $4.7 billion bill that includes almost $2 billion for water infrastructure. Overwhelming majorities of the State House and Senate approved the bill on March 24. Relying heavily on federal COVID-19 relief and infrastructure dollars, the legislation funds wastewater and drinking water projects, efforts to curb… Read more »
Acclaimed author and FLOW Senior Advisor Dave Dempsey stands on the shore of Lake Michigan’s West Grand Traverse Bay. Editor’s note: This opinion article was originally published on April 2, 2022, in the Lansing State Journal. By Dave Dempsey A natural resource on which nearly half the population of Michigan depends every day is one that… Read more »
If you tuned into WNMC, the public radio station at Northwestern Michigan College, recently you may have heard Kurt Westie interview FLOW Executive Director Liz Kirkwood on the air. Westie, a singer-songwriter and member of the band “The North Carolines,” wrote a song during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown titled, “Leave the Oil in the Ground”—an artistic call to shut down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. He spoke to FLOW about his environmental inspiration, his interest in FLOW, and his most recent album.
You’ve heard, no doubt, of Greta Thunberg, the 19-year-old Swedish environmental activist. But you have probably not heard yet of Bebe Schaefer and Rachel Roberts, two students at American University in Washington, D.C., who recently launched the nonprofit organization Water&, on a “constant journey of collective action.” We at FLOW are thrilled to join hands with Water& and other young adult-led organizations in the Great Lakes Basin, and in our nation’s capital, to expand hope and leadership in the protection of our public waters. We intend this effort to support not just the youth climate movement, but also help feed the emerging“youth water movement” focused on a clean environment, public health, and equitable outcomes.
