Tag: FLOW

Record-Eagle Editorial: NMC can help create a future water agenda

Published on June 19th, 2014 by - News

Click here to read the editorial in The Record Eagle. AND Click here to read the feature article from the Record-Eagle.

By: Record-Eagle Editor

June 19, 2014

If you want to study volcanoes, you go to Hawaii. If you’re going to study fresh water policy, Traverse City and Northwestern Michigan College’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute are naturals.

NMC also is home to one of the few college-based maritime programs in the country and sits right on Grand Traverse Bay and a few short miles to Lake Michigan.

Now NMC is ramping up its water expertise through a new course titled “Water Policy and Sustainability” that represents a new alliance with the Traverse City-based advocacy group FLOW — For Love of Water —- and its founder, Jim Olson.

Olson is an attorney with the firm Olson, Bzdok and Howard and a recognized expert in environmental and water law and policy. He co-designed and will co-teach the course.

Olson said the course will look at water policy from a historical and current policy perspective and “then build upon the history and present water laws and policy to ask the question: Are we ready for what’s coming in the 21st Century?”

The future is what matters here. In Michigan, there can be no bigger issue than fresh water. It is our greatest asset and its value will only increse. How we prepare ourselves to protect that asset through sound policy and robust laws could determine our future.

Olson says water is “common to all of us and that imposes limits on what we must do to preserve it from one generation to the next.”

Preserving the resource likely includes fending off — or at least controlling — efforts from outside the Great Lakes watershed to tap into what appears to be an unlimited resource that could all too quickly look all too limited.

Water Studies Institute education coordinator Constanza Hazelwood said the course is part of an effort to expand the Institute’s global policy curriculum. Any talk about water policy must be global to matter.

NMC has an opportunity to become a leader in future debates over water policy and to set the agenda. We as a state and nation need to learn how to talk about water and how to protect — and share — the asset.

NMC, Olson and FLOW all bring different skills and perspectives to the debate, and all three need to be heard.

Dark Snow is “Not Cool” – Peter Sinclair on Climate Change and Showstoppers

Published on June 18th, 2014 by - H2Olson, News

Peter Sinclair is tall and brawny, and while the climate change communications expert looks like he could scale a mountain or scramble a glacier (and soon he will), he doesn’t look like a baseball player on steroids. What looks like a baseball player on steroids, he says, is climate change. While a baseball player on steroids may have an overall improved performance, like more home runs, it’s not possible to connect the steroids to any single home run.   Climate change and global warming is the same way, says Sinclair, climate change causes cumulative losses, sometimes devastating to earth and humanity.  The overall trend is that climate change contributes to weather extremes, and it is happening at a more frequent pace. But just like the ball player, it’s not practical to attribute climate change to any one specific weather event or another. Today’s cool rains, for instance, cannot disprove global warming. All you have to do is ask an insurance company’s actuary or risk analysis department. The extreme events and frequencies are rising fast.

Sinclair, a native of Midland with a family background in environment and energy activism, visited Traverse City Monday to give a presentation on global climate change issues. At lunch with Sinclair and water attorney-cum-nonprofit-policy-advisor Jim Olson, the conversation kept returning to the notion that the media and grassroots communications need to step up and drive home the reality that climate change is here, global warming is now and it is serious.

Our climate baseball player has been dosing for some time, and even if we successfully cut carbon emissions, we’ll still be dealing with the repercussions of the past, and the consequences are dire. Like addiction, the consequences of actions can take decades to subside. The actions of our past have created climate conditions contributing to significant issues, like warming average lake temperatures, making our Great Lakes more invasive species-friendly, and more apt to bloom with toxic algae. We might not see the greenhouse gasses of yesteryear, or of today, but the rippling impacts manifest in our everyday struggles. Sinclair and Olson are both acutely aware of is the invisibility of their respective fields, and the importance of bringing issues like climate change and the hydrological cycle out of hiding and into focus. FLOW’s work connects the dots between serious systemic threats like climate change to the impacts on water and the hydrologic cycle and our daily lives, and helps us understand the commons through which we must holistically address these threats.

Sinclair’s video series aim to make those kinds of connections, and his “Climate Change Crock of the Week” YouTube segments became so popular with politicians, journalists, and scientists, that now Sinclair contracts with Yale Climate Connections on a new series, “This is Not Cool.” Sinclair’s foray into the climate change video world was kick-started into gear after he was among the first to train with Al Gore in Nashville about seven years ago, an effort that has expanded globally into what is now the Climate Reality Leader Corps. The difference is Sinclair’s knack for irony, smart editing, and droll scripts that debunk the climate denial myths and translating without trivializing the science and scientists that prove climate change is indisputable.

Presently Sinclair is working with the “Dark Snow” project, a mission to Greenland led by expert climate scientists and a pro media and communications team. For two weeks, the team will weather intense sun, extreme cold, and a constant, slippery battle to get their data. Describing his experience from last year’s Greenland excursion, Sinclair says “it’s like climbing the Sleeping Bear Dunes for four hours before you can even get your first measurement… and it’s ice.”

Despite the challenges of battling the elements, they will help show the climate scientists in action and are trying to raise funds to set up a live stream from their encampment. All the ice core and surface water samples will be analyzed to measure the on-the-ground effects of climate change on Greenland’s ice sheet. The team is specifically investigating how and why dark snow is accelerating the ice melt there. Why? With causes of climate change running amok under a cloak of invisibility, it’s important to be able to identify tangible “showstopper” issues, says Sinclair. By finding out the cause of dark snow, scientists can identify a “limiting factor” that can be prevented or mitigated in a meaningful way. Rather than trying to stop the whole juggernaut of climate change, finding a lynchpin to stop the wheels of climate change from turning is just as important for avoiding critical catastrophes, like hyper-accelerated ice melt in Greenland.

At FLOW, Olson is working on gaining traction for identifying the “limiting factor” of phosphorus loading that is feeding the growing harmful algal bloom problem in the Great Lakes. Of course, climate change effects on the Lakes accelerate and increase the magnitude of the algal bloom problem. Which is why solutions for preventing further global warming is critical, too. Identifying the “showstoppers” is a critical mission for the Dark Snow project and for FLOW’s work in the Great Lakes, but these projects aren’t happening in a vacuum. Both Sinclair and Olson are studying and working on the “nexus” intersection of water, energy, agriculture, and climate change issues. Of these, issues like carbon tax regimes and price parity of renewable energy are increasingly relevant to Great Lakes water levels and Greenland’s ice sheet albedo.

As Sinclair points out, “we still have a choice” in our future, and we should choose climate change solutions like greening our energy supply and optimizing energy demand efficiency. Making small choices on a collective scale isn’t as difficult as moving – or in Sinclair’s case, climbing – mountains, and with leaders like Sinclair and Olson, solving essential, trim tab issues like dark snow and algal blooms can deliver a real home run for our shared environment and our future.

Record-Eagle: NMC and advocacy group test unity waters

Published on June 17th, 2014 by - News

Jim Olson FLOW

Click here to read the article in The Record Eagle. AND Click here to read the Record-Eagle Editorial about this program.

By Michael Walton

June 17th, 2014

Northwestern Michigan College officials will expand NMC’s water studies programming through a course launching this fall with the help of a local water policy and education group.

NMC and For Love of Water — or FLOW — joined to create the course “Water Policy and Sustainability.”

Jim Olson, founder of FLOW and a partner in the Traverse City-based law firm Olson, Bzdok and Howard, said the course offers something unique.

“That is, the course will look at water policy historically, in present times, and then build upon the history and present water laws and policy to ask the question: Are we ready for what’s coming in the 21st Century?” he said.

Olson, an expert in environmental and water law and policy, co-designed and will co-teach the course.

Olson will focus on three areas: the connections between water and things like food, energy and transportation; the hydrological cycle; and the balance between an individual’s right to access water and the necessity to protect the resource for future generations.

“To solve the problems in this century, we have to understand water is not only individual to each of us, but it is common to all of us and that imposes limits in terms of what we must do to preserve it from one generation to the next,” he said.

Constanza Hazelwood, education coordinator for NMC’s Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, said water is an increasingly important resource both regionally and globally.

“We hear more and more that water is scarce, water is an issue in boundary conflicts, and the students want to learn more about, how they can look at our freshwater assets in light of those developments around the world,” Hazelwood said.

The new course is part of an effort to expand the Water Studies Institute’s global policy curriculum, Hazelwood said. It also dovetails with NMC’s wider efforts to develop relationships with education institutions in China, including the Kaifeng-based Yellow River Conservancy Institute.

Individuals interested in enrolling can visit nmc.edu/water.

Morning Sun: FLOW forum educates on Great Lakes advocacy

Published on May 24th, 2014 by - News

Click here to read the article in the Morning Sun.

By Malachi Barrett

May 24, 2014

Pure Michigan may not be as untainted as one would think.

Environmental advocacy policy organization For Love of Water spoke in front of an assembly of students and faculty members at Alma College recently on the dangers facing the Great Lakes and Michigan watershed.

Climate change, invasive species, polluting contaminants and nutrient runoff are just a few of the issues afflicting one of the most valuable natural resources in America.

The forum discussion was sponsored by students in an Alma College environmental communication course.

Students sponsored the event to facilitate the discussion of projects and issues that they studied over the spring term.

“It is a real pleasure to work with this generation to figure out what motivates people to be passionate about the most important issue, and that is water.” said Liz Kirkwood, FLOW executive director.

The main goal of FLOW is to build public awareness and educate decision makers to provide a framework for governance over the Great Lakes Basin so they are protected for future generations.

“We have a number of issues that are systematic and not easy fixes, one of the most important things that we do is education,” said Allison Voglesong, FLOW Communications Designer.

Kirkwood said FLOW’s understanding of Michigan’s relationship with water is defined by the public trust, an idea that the government is responsible to act as a trustee of water, much like a bank trust protects money, with citizens being the beneficiaries.

Because water is cyclical in nature, protection of surface water connects people to every part of hydrological cycle. The Great Lakes hold 20 percent of the world’s fresh water.

“What happens here affects the Great Lakes, we supply the contaminants that go down and get into the Great Lakes,” said Alma Environmental Studies Professor Murray Borrello.

He cited fish in Lake Huron containing a fire retardant chemical only manufactured in St. Louis, Michigan. He also warned the audience of the dangers of overdrawing water from wells and agricultural waste produced that enters the Great Lakes Basin.

Most dangerous of all to the watershed is hydraulic fracking, a process that maximizes the output of natural gas and oil wells by pumping water and chemicals into formations deep into the ground. Building pressure fractures rock layers that release oil reserves to the surface, at the cost of irrecobly contaminating large amounts of water.

“The greatest danger to Michigan right now is fracking,” said writer Michael Delp. “It takes 22 millon gallons of water to frack a well in Michigan, and the water that they take back out of the ground is full of toxins.”

It is tough for the average person to judge what 22 million gallons of water looks like, so Delp made a conservative comparison to the amount of water dumped by Tahquamenon falls in ten minues. Fracking fluid is composed of 90 percent water by volume, but not even the most advanced filtration systems can remove the .5 percent of chemicals in the composition.

Delp is writer of poetry, fiction and nonfiction who focuses on nature, especially rivers and lakes. He opened the forum with three poems in his character of the “Mad Angler” a persona used to take on a vengeful, uncomprimising stance against the destruction of natural habitats.

FLOW Founder Jim Olson steered the conversation towards legal action. He has been practicing environmental and water law for forty years and has been involved in a variety of state and federal court decisions protecting the public commons.

Olson spoke at length about the need to protect the public trust and keep waters out of the hands of individuals or corporations. He said America has strong public trust laws that have been used by the Supreme Court in the past, but they are often overlooked.

“The free markets wil not exist if theyr are owned by a few at the cost of the commons,” Olson said. “What we’re talking about is saving the markets through decentralization so that young people can be the entrepreneurs of renweable energy, new water techology, conservation, health; the things, ideas and connections we can make to do something about this.”

By Malachi Barrett, mbarrett@michigannewspapers.com @PolarBarrett

Photos: Maude Barlow Presentation in Detroit: Great Lakes and Water Privatization

Published on May 23rd, 2014 by - News

2014-05-22 PWB Barlow panorama

The Wayne State Engineering Building auditorium was full for Maude Barlow’s presentation on Great Lakes and Water Privatization issues.

2014-05-22 PWB Barlow Will See speaking

Artist Will See opened the evening bringing a poetic voice to describe the situation of water issues in Detroit.

2014-05-22 PWB Barlow Olson speaking

FLOW Founder Jim Olson discussed the public trust as the legal basis for preventing the privatization of public water supplies, in Detroit and around the world.

2014-05-22 PWB Barlow Maude speaking

Keynote speaker Maude Barlow helped contextualize the issue of water privatization and shut-offs in Detroit in the scope of global water privatization struggles, and the ultimate successes of the public in maintaining cost-effective, shared water systems.

2014-05-22 PWB Barlow Gaia Women singing

The Gaia Women led the group in song to close the evening, “to connect the head to the heart” and capture the essence of the importance of water both physically and spiritually.

2014-05-23 PWB and Maude Barlow

Maude joined a number of People’s Water Board Coalition members after her presentation.

Photos: FLOW and Alma College Environmental Communications Class Project

Published on May 23rd, 2014 by - News

2014-05-21 Alma enviro comm and staff photo

FLOW Staff with Dr. Mike Vickery and the students from his Environmental Communications class at Alma College.

2014-05-21 Alma enviro comm lesson board

The students were hard at work brainstorming new ideas and communications tactics for FLOW’s public trust education.

2014-05-21 Alma enviro comm jim present

FLOW had to opportunity to give a public presentation at Alma an had a great discussion on Water, Public Trust, and the Future of our Great Lakes Commons.

Summary – Virtual Townhall Webinar on Nutrient Pollution, Harmful Algal Blooms, and Dead Zones in the Great Lakes

Published on May 16th, 2014 by - H2Olson

Click here to view on YouTube.com

FLOW’s May 13th webinar hosted four speakers who provided their insight on nutrient pollution in Lake Erie. We were fortunate to hear from

  • Dr. Don Scavia, professor from the University of Michigan
  • Codi Yeager-Kozacek, correspondent from Circle of Blue
  • Dave Dempsey, member from the International Joint Commission
  • Jim Olson, FLOW Founder, President and Environmental Lawyer

Close to 60 participants tuned in; evident of concern across the Great Lakes Water Basin about the issue of reappearing harmful algal blooms (HABs) and “dead zones” in Lake Erie. Below is a quick summary of the discussion.

Moderator Liz Kirkwood gave an overview of the issues: In the 1960’s, point source nutrient pollution was the root cause of HABs, under the regulations of the Clean Water Act and Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, it appeared that the crisis was solved by the 1980’s.

University of Michigan Professor Don Scavia gave an overview of the data that indicated the causes of modern HAB emergence: models require an average load input of dissolved reactive phosphorus to be reduced by 78%. Non-point source pollution is now the predominant issue of Lake Erie’s HABs.

Circle of Blue correspondent Codi Yeager-Kozacek reported on the agriculture factors creating the new, emerging HAB problem: Today, farm technology and increased agricultural competition are factors to a different kind of nutrient pollution. Incentives to combat excessive nutrient runoff encourage updating Best Management Practices (BMPs), which today are not mandatory of farmers. The Great Lakes region generates about 15 billion dollars a year agriculturally. With high competition there is too much at stake to assume an unregulated industry will succeed.

Dave Dempsey discussed how the The International Joint Commission (IJC), a binational organization, will resolve disputes about the use and quality of boundary waters between nations. Their recent Lake Erie Ecosystem Priority (LEEP) report provided recommendations on nutrient pollution reduction and referenced FLOW’s Public Trust Framework as a strategy for future protection of Lake Erie.

JIm Olson concluded the webinar with an explanation of FLOW’s Public Trust Principle. With a struggle against time, resolutions must be made that controls further degradation of Lake Erie. The Public Trust Principle is beneficial because it is both flexible and holds states accountable. It allows for future protection considering public opinion and scientific data, while addressing concerns raised by the other presenters.

The webinar stimulated thought and closed out with an engaging Q and A, a few questions below.

Q. Has the information on the need to ramp-up structural BMPs been shared with USDA/NRCS and EPA for consideration under the new GLRI Action Plan being developed now?
A. Yes, information is being shared throughout the region addressing all the variables, not just BMPs. Information they feel is well know, however the time frame is not.

Q. It appears the intensity of agriculture is WAY out spacing technological and political changes, what structures are in place for the political sphere to keep up with the industry?
A. There are structures in place, such as the Clean Water Act, however we still need further reform collectively on what to do. There needs to be new standards for TMDLs and framework through court action that will hold parties responsible. Implementing Public Trust principles will help move this action forward as our current political sphere shows major gaps.

Q. What current political structures are in place to effectuate political change to compel farmers to use strategies such as BMPs?
A. The Farm Bill is the only solid structure as of right now. Nutrient trading may be something to explore in the future, yet it does not address TMDLs directly. There have been successes with it, but the EPA sets limits, and the state also sets their own creating conflict. We can consider modeling off chemical-trading as it has been done with air-trading programs. Wisconsin has a number of test programs in place right now that examine nutrient trading, the problem lies however in finding the right scale to measure based upon each watershed.

Q. How does one get land tenants to change, we need non-farming landowners to implement these BMPs also but where is the incentive?
A. Land use regulation should apply to all, in terms of buffers and structural practices. Watershed groups have the authority to regulate land practices that cause harm to waterways, be they agricultural or not. Landowners will be required to regulate in land use through laws sanctioned and passed by the state. Regardless of their specific practice it will be in the best interest of all to follow BMPs.

FLOW Awarded NMEAC John Nelson Water Steward Award

Published on May 2nd, 2014 by - Reports & Media Releases

Click here to view and download the press release as a PDF.

May 2, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Liz Kirkwoood, Executive Director

231 944 1568 or liz@flowforwater.org

FLOW Awarded NMEAC John Nelson Water Steward Award

TRAVERSE CITY– On April 25, 2014, Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council (NMEAC) honored FLOW with the John Nelson Water Steward Award at their Annual Environmentalist of the Year Celebration. This award recognizes organizations for their water stewardship efforts. Its namesake, John Nelson, is the Grand Traverse Baykeeper, whose extraordinary leadership protects the waters through informed citizen and government engagement.

2014 marks NMEAC’s 26th year recognizing individuals and organizations who effectively advocate environmental awareness and protection in Northern Michigan. NMEAC was established in 1980 and is the region’s oldest grassroots environmental advocacy organization, influencing five county regions throughout Northwestern Michigan. The all-volunteer organization continues to operate under the mission: “Preserving the natural environment through citizen action and education.” http://www.nmeac.org/

“There was nobody more deserving than Jim Olson and Liz Kirkwood for the John Nelson Water Steward Award. The amount of time FLOW spends mentoring and inspiring our community is priceless. They are a true powerhouse team!” says June Thaden, a member of the board of directors for NMEAC.

FLOW’s mission is to advance public trust solutions to save the Great Lakes. To address the basin-wide systemic threats facing the Great Lakes, FLOW educates decision-makers and communities about the public trust doctrine and the commons as ways to protect our majestic Great Lakes.

Under the public trust, water is protected as a shared resource for the benefit of current and future generations. Our government’s job is to protect the water for everyone as a trustee. And citizens can assert their rights if our common waters are not being adequately protected as a shared resource and legacy for future generations.

“It is such an honor to receive NMEAC’s John Nelson Water Steward Award, named after our revered Grand Traverse Baykeeper who serves as the eyes, ears, and voice of this beautiful bay,” remarks Executive Director, Liz Kirkwood. “Like John Nelson and his stewardship work connecting citizens and decision-makers, FLOW works with local governments and high-level decision-makers to develop long-term policy solutions that protect our waters as a commons,” she says.

FLOW’s current programs include: (1) extreme energy transport and the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac; (2) local government ordinances to protect against air, water, and land impacts of fracking in Michigan; and (3) legal strategies to address nutrient pollution in Lake Erie and beyond. FLOW collaborates with local, regional, national and international organizations to promote policy changes and deepen public awareness through policy papers, presentations, and public events. This fall, FLOW will host the Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Traverse City.

FLOW is grateful to organizations like NMEAC, which provide a platform to build important partnership coalitions and to work together to address key environmental issues.

# # #

FLOW is the Great Lakes Basin’s only public trust policy and education 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mission is to advance public trust solutions to save the Great Lakes.

 

 

Longtime FLOW Volunteer Eric Olson Steps Down as Communications Director

Published on May 1st, 2014 by - Reports & Media Releases

Eric Olson, FLOW, Great Lakes, public trust, policy center, water

Click here to view and download the press release as a PDF.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Liz Kirkwoood, Executive Director
231 944 1568 or liz@flowforwater.org

Longtime FLOW Volunteer Eric Olson Steps Down as Communications Director, Maintains Position as Board of Directors Vice Chair

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Presiding selflessly as an unpaid volunteer Executive Director from 2009 to 2012 and then as Communications and Education Director from 2012 to April 2014, Eric Olson has stepped down from his staff role and now maintains his position as Vice Chair and interim Secretary of the Board of Directors.

Eric Olson has been with FLOW since its infancy, and was the first Executive Director. He joined FLOW to help realize the lifelong dream of his brother—FLOW Founder and President Jim Olson—to start a Great Lakes policy and education nonprofit.

“Jim, of course, infected me with his passion for the Great Lakes, the public trust, and water justice,” says Eric Olson.

“If it were not for my brother Eric joining forces with me to form the original FLOW coalition, FLOW would not be the thriving, cutting-edge water policy and education nonprofit organization it is today,” says Jim Olson.

Some of Eric Olson’s notable contributions to FLOW include:

  • transitioning FLOW from a coalition to a nonprofit,
  • reimagining the FLOW website,
  • launching and managing FLOW’s Facebook page,
  • growing the very beginning of the Great Lakes Society, and
  • networking to bring FLOW together with world-renowned water advocate and National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Maude Barlow for a series of speaking engagements and workshops across the Great Lakes Basin.

“Eric has worked tirelessly to build a movement and a coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to protect the Great Lakes as a commons. We are so grateful to him for his volunteer work and service. Because of Eric, FLOW has become a strong policy and educational center for the Great Lakes,” remarks Executive Director Liz Kirkwood.

Eric Olson, who resides in Rochester Hills, MI with his wife Joyce, gave enormous amounts of his free time to FLOW during what he calls his “semi-retirement” from commercial real estate. He spent countless long weekends travelling hundreds of miles, dedicated to helping forge FLOW from an idea into reality.

“FLOW started because of the need to address questions and threats to the Great Lakes and waters of Michigan, and Eric understood the magnitude of this. He also shared the larger vision of the right of the public to use and enjoy the Great Lakes and our common waters, and the importance communicating this to the public in addition to our research and reports submitted to government leaders. Because of Eric, we now have a strong communications program and several partner organizations around the Great Lakes, in addition to our water policy program and projects,” says Jim Olson.

Eric Olson will remain with FLOW as Vice Chair and interim Secretary of the newly expanded Board of Directors, and his staff leadership legacy will continue to benefit FLOW for many years to come. “I’m looking forward to continue serving on the Board as Vice Chair to ensure FLOW’s leadership in educating the public and our government leaders about the threats facing our Great Lakes and the solutions FLOW is advancing to protect these majestic waters. These solutions not only protect the Great Lakes but also the public’s rights and responsible uses of these waters that have been handed down generation to generation by our forefathers through public trust doctrine,” says Eric Olson.

Serving alongside Vice Chair Eric Olson is newly-elected Board of Directors Chair and attorney Mike Dettmer. Also joining the FLOW Board of Directors this spring are former Executive Director of the Grand Traverse Land Conservancy, Lew Coulter; Senior Editor of Circle of Blue, Keith Schneider; and Food & Water Watch Water Program Director, Emily Wurth.

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FLOW is the Great Lakes Basin’s only public trust policy and education 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mission is to advance public trust solutions to save the Great Lakes.