Tag: sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore

From Earth Day 1970 to Today: 50 Years of Lessons Learned and the Path Forward

Published on December 28th, 2020 by - Blog Posts, News

Throughout 2020, FLOW has been remembering and reflecting on one of the most consequential years for the environment in America’s history: 1970. The year of the first Earth Day, in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was authorized, the Michigan Environmental Protection Act became law, and much more — made 1970 a year to remember.

As 2020 ends — a consequential year for other reasons – it’s a good time to reflect on what happened 50 years ago, what has transpired since, and where we’re headed on environmental sustainability, public health, and community justice.

The good news is that the nation’s attack on visible air and water pollution since 1970 has made a noticeable difference. Between 1980 and 2019, nitrogen dioxide air pollution in the U.S declined 65%, sulfur dioxide concentrations fell 92%, carbon monoxide levels fell 85%, and airborne lead levels plummeted 98%.

In 1969, both the Cuyahoga River at Cleveland and the Rouge River at Detroit caught fire, symbolizing the nation’s poor stewardship of surface water and leading to public support for a new Clean Water Act. The fraction of monitored water bodies considered unsafe for fishing has declined since then from 30% to 15%. That’s a step forward, but one that leaves considerable room for further improvement. As former EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus said in 2010, “Even if all of our rivers are not fishable or swimmable, at least they are not flammable.”

But many pollutants remain at unacceptable levels, particularly in urban areas whose residents are at risk from multiple contaminants in air, drinking water, recreational water, and subsistence fish. This environmental injustice was not a major issue on the Earth Day 1970 agenda. Bringing down pollution levels in these areas and achieving environmental justice for all has been a large part of the Earth Day 2020 agenda.

Gaps in our environmental laws have become apparent. For example, loopholes in the Clean Water Act have allowed agricultural pollution and groundwater contamination to fester. The policy agenda must include modernizing such laws.

A 1970 slogan was “Think Globally, Act Locally.” We’ve proven abler at the second than the first. Citizen power has resulted in many community initiatives from recycling programs to land conservation.

But at the same time, problems that we recognize as global have remained challenges or even worsened. For example, domestic U.S. mercury emissions have plummeted since 1970, but we now know that mercury emitted as far away as Asia can travel on the wind and be deposited in the Great Lakes and inland lakes.

Even more significantly, we have come to recognize greenhouse gas emissions as a threat to the global climate and to humanity. That reckoning should have led to major change in the United States more than 30 years ago, when a prominent scientist warned Congress it was time to act. Reducing greenhouse emissions in one or even scores of countries will not be enough — all must contribute, a difficult feat in a world of diverse peoples and governments. But it must be done. And the United States must lead.

To many alive in 1970, bringing America’s environment back seemed a daunting task. The persistence and courage of millions of citizens forced the government to respond. The lesson for our time is clear. We cannot expect “leaders” in government to take the initiative. Instead, the public must lead them to use their powers for the common good. FLOW’s mission is, and will remain, to help make that happen.

A Truly Golden Anniversary: 50 Years Since the Environmental Awakening of 1970

Published on January 1st, 2020 by - Blog Posts, News

Photo: Students and faculty at the University of Michigan organized an environmental teach-in attended by 50,000 people in March 1970. It led to the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.

By Dave Dempsey

Although American environmentalism reaches back to the early 20th century, public demands for clean water, clean air, and healthy ecosystems reached a crescendo in 1970. As 2020 dawns, FLOW believes it’s time to remember and reflect on all that happened that 50 years ago—and how we can make the next 50 years a time of further dramatic progress for our precious waters and the environment.

In the minds of some who were present then, the most prominent environmental memory of 1970 is likely the first national observance of Earth Day, April 22—with Michigan out front on that one. In March 1970, students and faculty on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor organized what they called an Environmental Teach-In. 

At the five-day teach-in, in which an estimated 50,000 people participated, Victor Yannacone, a nationally recognized environmental attorney, spoke on use of the courts to halt pollution. He told students, “This land is your land. It doesn’t belong to Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler…it doesn’t belong to any soulless corporation. It belongs to you and me.” A new student group called ENACT organized the week’s events, which included an “Environmental Scream-Out,” a tour of local pollution sites, music by singer Gordon Lightfoot, and speeches by entertainer Arthur Godfrey, scientist Barry Commoner, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, and Senators Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Edward Muskie of Maine.

The national observance of Earth Day followed on April 22.

Earth Day 1970, however, was just one of many events and accomplishments—and a few crises—both nationally and in Michigan. During 2020, FLOW will note these and other milestones from 50 years ago:

  • January 1, 1970: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) took effect.
  • January 1970: Michigan Governor William G. Milliken unveiled a broad agenda of proposed environmental reforms.
  • March 1970: The discovery of alarmingly high levels of toxic mercury temporarily shut down fishing in Lake St. Clair.
  • March 1970: Environmental Teach-In at U of M in Ann Arbor
  • April 22, 1970: Earth Day
  • July 27, 1970: The Michigan Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) took effect.
  • October 21, 1970: Legislation creating Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northwest Lower Michigan took effect.
  • December 2, 1970: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was officially created.
  • December 3, 1970: The Michigan Natural Rivers Act took effect.
  • December 31, 1970: The U.S. Clean Air Act took effect.
  • December 31, 1970: The Michigan Great Lakes Shorelands Act was signed into law by Governor Milliken.

The first milestone, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), was co-authored by the late Congressman John Dingell of Michigan. As its title suggests, the law established a federal policy on the environment, created a federal Council on Environmental Quality, and required environmental impact statements on proposed major federal activities affecting the environment.

President Richard Nixon, who signed the legislation, said, “I have become convinced that the 1970s absolutely must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters and its living environment.”

In 1970, there was a broad bipartisan consensus that the United States and Michigan needed to do a much better job of protecting our environment. It’s a lesson from which we can learn today.

 

Share Your Environmental Recollections from 1970

FLOW is looking for contributions from you for this 50th anniversary year of Earth Day and related milestones. Here’s how you can help:

  • Suggest additional local, state, or national milestones from 1970.
  • Provide short guest commentaries (500 words) with your views on the significance of 1970, what’s happened since then environmentally, and where you hope we stand 50 years from now.
  • Provide your historical photos of significant environmental events from 1970.

If you are interested in submitting material, please contact us at info@flowforwater.org.

Dave Dempsey is FLOW’s senior policy advisor.

Dave Dempsey, Senior Advisor

Walking the Water Line — a Legal Right, But Difficult as Great Lakes Levels Rise

Published on June 3rd, 2019 by - Blog Posts, News

Pack away those dreams of walking miles from bay to bay along the shores of Lake Michigan this summer—unless you want to get wet, that is—reports Linda Dewey for the Glen Arbor Sun.

The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the public’s right to walk the Great Lakes shoreline in February when it declined to hear an Indiana case filed by riparian landowners who live along the south shore of Lake Michigan. But with near-record breaking high water levels this spring, the reality isn’t so simple.

“Public spaces, infrastructure, and Great Lakes beaches are underwater,” says FLOW founder and president Jim Olson. “We see the effects of rising Great Lake water levels everywhere, from Chicago’s treasured waterfront, to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, to Clinch Park here in Traverse City.”

“The question becomes: What does this mean, and what might citizens do about it?”

Legally, the Public Trust Doctrine protects the rights of citizens to walk along the beach or shore in the area below the Natural or Ordinary High Water Mark (OHWM) along the Great Lakes, along with the rights of fishing, boating, and swimming, explains Olson. But what happens when the water rises above the Natural High Water level or mark?

The Public Trust Doctrine assures walking the beach along the shore above the Natural High Water Mark as long as people walk within the so-called “swosh” or wet zone. This is why the doctrine relies on the definition of “natural”—the beach defined by wave action and other natural forces. Generally, this means that if you stay within the wet, compacted sand or stones you are safe and not trespassing on the property of riparian landowners.

So when the water is high, that means that walking the Great Lakes shoreline along private property is allowed. Plopping down with your beach towels, cooler, or firewood is not.

Climate Change Infringes on Public Trust

“The public is also right to wonder: what happens when the water rises to the toe or up a bluff, completely shutting off public access along the shore?” Olson said.

Legally, the Public Trust Doctrine prohibits any interference or impairment of the public’s right to access and walk along the shore. Members of the public can insist, by court action if necessary, that the interference or impairment must be prevented or minimized by those who are responsible.

In the case of the current extremely high water levels, the most recent United Nations International Panel on Climate Change pins the cause of  unprecedented high water levels in the Great Lakes on the effects on climate, evaporation, precipitation caused by greenhouse gases.

So, legally, citizens have a right to demand—through lawsuits if necessary—that government and industries causing higher and higher levels of global warming reduce their greenhouse gases. Why? Because their action or inaction is impairing one of the public’s valuable protected rights—access to walk along the shore–in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine.

Danger at Sleeping Bear Dunes

The Glen Arbor Sun reports that with the “Ordinary High Water Mark” on Sleeping Bear Bay currently under water and cliffs marking the Natural High Water Mark, the question of where one can walk the beach becomes more than a question of trespassing or the Public Trust. Now the issue is safety.

That has prompted staff at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, in northwest lower Michigan to discourage the public from running down popular water-facing dunes or cliffs like the overlook from Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.

The issue is serious—and potentially dangerous. National Lakeshore Deputy Superintendent Tom Ulrich said that Lakeshore staff recently had a meeting to figure out how to help climbers stuck on the dune below the Pierce Stocking overlook. They used to help those not in need of immediate life support walk back down to the shoreline and then south to North Bar Lake (sometimes with the help of their ATV, if needed).

“No more!” Ulrich said. “That route is impossible now. You cannot walk to North Bar Lake.” The only alternative is calling a boat out of Leland, which will take an additional 30-60 minutes to arrive.

“That’s why, this year, we’re going to try to let people know this is a really bad choice … to descend that slope, because our rescue is so limited.”

The problem exists up and down the Lake Michigan shoreline. One beach at the Indiana Dunes National Park is temporarily closed because wave action has created a cliff-enclosed beach. Walkers are also warned not to walk out on piers when waves break over them for fear they will be washed away.

On May 20, ABC Channel 57 in Indiana reported that last year was the deadliest ever for Lake Michigan with 42 deaths. This year has already seen seven fatalities, according to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project.