Exploring these webinars is a great way to dive into a range of interesting and important topics. Whether you’re curious about how we manage groundwater resources, eager to hear about new book releases, interested in knowing more about shutting down Line 5, or excited to learn about regenerative agriculture practices, each webinar offers a chance to hear from experts, join lively discussions, and get up-to-date information on these relevant issues.
Find your webinar:
Septic
March 2023 -- The Case for a Statewide Septic Code: Michigan Must Inspect Septic Systems to Protect Fresh Water
FLOW hosted a webinar on March 21, 2023, that offered legal, scientific, economic, and political perspectives on the urgent need and critical opportunity for Michigan to finally join the rest of the nation in adopting a state law to protect public health and fresh water from septic system pollution. Billions of gallons of poorly or untreated sewage flow each year into an estimated 330,000 failed septic systems. An unknown amount of that raw sewage ends up in lakes, streams, and groundwater, the source of drinking water for 45% of Michigan’s population.
Enbridge Line 5
July 2023 -- Enbridge Line 5: The Strait Story
Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline is over 70 years old and remains a threat to the waters and people of the Great Lakes region. On July 19, FLOW and Oil & Water Don’t Mix presented a special live webinar, featuring a panel of experts about how Michigan, Wisconsin, and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are working together in the courts to shut down Line 5 and bring an end to Enbridge’s trespass on state, sovereign, and indigenous lands.
Our expert panel:
- Riyaz Kanji, founding member and Directing Attorney of Kanji & Katzen and attorney for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
- Christopher Clark, Supervising Senior Attorney, Earthjustice – representing Bay Mills Indian Community
- Sean McBrearty, Campaign Coordinator, Oil & Water Don’t Mix and Legislative and Policy Director at Michigan Clean Water Action
July 2022 -- The Latest on Line 5: Key Pathways to Protect the Great Lakes from an Oil Spill Disaster
Presenters answered questions from the audience and discussed recent developments in the widespread effort to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac and stop the proposed oil tunnel. The online session was free and supported in part by a grant award from the Mackinac Island Community Foundation’s Natural Resources and Preservation Fund. Watch the livestream below and view the slides too.
July 2021 -- The Battle Over Line 5: The Legal Fight for Our Public Waters
FLOW and Oil & Water Don’t Mix hosted a webinar on Thursday, July 29—The Battle Over Line 5: The Legal Fight for Our Public Waters—for residents of Mackinac Island, the Straits Area, and beyond, supported with a grant award from the Mackinac Island Community Foundation’s Natural Resources and Preservation Fund. The webinar explored legal, economic, regulatory, tribal treaty, and frontline insights in support of the State of Michigan’s case to shut down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac.
August 2020 -- Securing a Brighter Future Without Line 5 or an Oil Tunnel
Presenters will share legal, scientific, and financial arguments for decommissioning Line 5 in the Straits before it ruptures and rejecting the tunnel scheme, and also will answer questions from attendees. The online event is supported with a grant award from the Mackinac Island Community Foundation’s Natural Resources and Preservation Fund. The timely session comes on the heels of Line 5 suffering “significant damage” and a court-ordered shutdown in June 2020, while the oil pipeline tunnel was dealt a major setback later that month when a state agency ordered a full review of the proposal rather than rubber-stamping it, as Enbridge had requested.
July 2020 -- Exploring Legal Pathways to Shut Down Line 5 and Stop Oil Tunnel to Protect the Great Lakes
This event is timed to closely coincide with the 10-year anniversary on July 25 of Enbridge’s Line 6B oil spill disaster near Marshall, Michigan, contaminating nearly 40 miles of the Kalamazoo River and its watershed with a million gallons of tar sands oil, sickening more than 300 people, and destroying wildlife and habitat.
Regenerative agriculture
May 2023 -- Learning about Factory Farming and Water Pollution in Michigan Presented by VegMichigan
Take a closer look at the impacts of factory farming and learn what you can do to aid in the fight to shut down factory farms in Michigan.
Groundwater
April 2023 --Water for All: The Future of Water in the Great Lakes Region Presented by Detroit WILPF’s Kitchen Table Talk
What is the future of water in the Great Lakes region? Liz Kirkwood, Director of FLOW (For Love Of Water), discusses water affordability, the water infrastructure crisis, a legal framework to ensure public water justice, groundwater withdrawal for profit, the Line 5 oil pipeline, and more. Sponsored by the Detroit Branch of Women's International League for Peace & Freedom.
March 2022 -- Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible on World Water Day & Every Day
FLOW hosted a livestream event – Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible on World Water Day & Every Day – on March 22, 2022. The online session offered perspectives on the critical importance of our groundwater resources and the work of the Michigan Groundwater Table, which is convened by FLOW. The Groundwater Table is made up of 22 knowledgeable and influential stakeholders from local government, academia, and regulatory agencies focused on the state of Michigan’s groundwater, the source of drinking water for 45% of Michigan’s population.
June 2021 -- Managing High Water & High Tension along the Great Lakes Shoreline
While Great Lakes waters have receded from their 2019-2020 historic high levels, surface waters remain higher than their long-term average—except for Lake Ontario. Concerns remain regarding high water levels, construction of seawalls and other armoring, and impacts to public and private property, the environment and wildlife, and the public trust rights of people to safely access the shoreline and water.
March 2021 -- Deep Threats to Our Sixth Great Lake: Spotlighting and Solving Michigan’s Groundwater Emergency
FLOW hosted a webinar providing insight and commentary on the state of Michigan’s groundwater and what can be done to better protect the source of drinking water for 45% of Michigan’s population. Out of sight and therefore out of mind, Michigan’s groundwater faces deep threats, including contamination in thousands of places by everything from failing septic systems to industrial chemicals. A Zoom webinar hosted by FLOW on Wednesday, March 10 provided insight and commentary on the state of Michigan’s groundwater and what can be done to better protect the source of drinking water for 45% of Michigan’s population.
June 2020 -- Nestlé: Stopping the Groundwater Grab
FLOW and the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation co-hosted a webinar providing frontline, scientific, and legal insights into citizen-led efforts to challenge Nestlé, the Swiss-based corporate giant, in its quest to expand its groundwater grab in Michigan. Every year, Nestlé in its operations near Evart pumps hundreds of millions of gallons of public groundwater virtually for free, bottles it, and sells it under the Ice Mountain brand back to the public at a huge markup – while threatening streams that provide aquatic habitat and flow to Lake Michigan.
Book releases
June 2022 -- “Still Hopeful”: A Livestream Conversation with Maude Barlow
FLOW hosted a livestream event on June 15, 2022, with lifelong and world-renowned champion of water, Maude Barlow, who has authored a book built on her career of activism. Its title, appropriately, is Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism. In the book, Barlow tells stories of her work on many issues, perhaps most importantly her successful advocacy of water as a human right.
December 2021 -- Conversation with Author Dave Dempsey on his Freshly Updated Book, “Great Lakes for Sale”
FLOW hosted a conversation on Dec. 8, 2021, with author Dave Dempsey on his freshly updated book, Great Lakes for Sale. Sally Cole-Misch, author of The Best Part of Us, and longtime communicator for the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Regional Office, facilitated the conversation with Dave. “A call to action for every Great Lakes resident to recognize the lakes as our most immense gift from nature, something to be cared for as if our lives depended on them—because they do,” Cole-Misch said about Great Lakes for Sale. “This is a must-read for every resident of the Great Lakes region.”
August 2021 -- Virtual Launch of “The Accidental Reef,” Featuring Author Lynne Heasley and Illustrator Glenn Wolff
FLOW held a virtual book launch of “The Accidental Reef” on Wednesday, August 25, featuring author Lynne Heasley and book illustrator Glenn Wolff. “The Accidental Reef and Other Ecological Odysseys in the Great Lakes” was published by Michigan State University Press. With dazzling illustrations from Glenn Wolff, the book helps us know the Great Lakes in new ways and grapple with the legacies and alternative futures that come from their abundance of natural wealth. This virtual book launch featured the author and the illustrator for a Happy Hour reading and glimpse into the book’s creative collaboration
June 2021 -- An Evening with Robin Wall Kimmerer, Best-Selling Author of “Braiding Sweetgrass”
FLOW co-hosted this event with the National Writer Series and guest hosted by FLOW Board Member Matthew L.M. Fletcher, the Foundation Professor of Law at Michigan State University College of Law and Director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science.
September 2021 -- Sally Cole-Misch Discussing her Novel, “The Best Part Of Us”
FLOW co-hosted Sally Cole-Misch discussing her novel, The Best Part Of Us. The reviews are in—and they’re very, very good. The first novel by Sally Cole-Misch, The Best Part of Us, is attracting favorable reactions from the critics. The Michigan Daily calls it a “captivating celebration of nature that pushes us to consider our connections to the Earth.” Reader’s Favorite calls the novel “a lush and lovely homage to the natural places where her protagonist grew up.”
January 2021 -- Alison Swan Discussing her Poetry Collection, “A Fine Canopy”
FLOW hosted a virtual book event with Alison Swan discussing her poetry collection, A Fine Canopy. A book of ecopoetry, A Fine Canopy garnered this praise from environmental writer and activist Janisse Ray, “It makes sense that a terrain as extraordinary as the Great Lakes would find voice in a poet as glorious as Alison Swan. I am smitten. Swan writes with bone-deep passion, astonishing clarity, and watchful tending about life ‘at the edge of a freshwater sea.’”
Water advocacy
March 2022 — Environmental Justice–Hosted by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
FLOW Executive Director Liz Kirkwood on March 3, 2022, participated in a livestream event on Environmental Justice hosted by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Her remarks begin at 15:56 in the recording.
Upcoming events
August 20 @12 pm via Zoom!
On August 20, join FLOW and Oil & Water Don’t Mix for a special live webinar, and learn from a panel of experts and advocates about how Michigan, Wisconsin, and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are working together in the courts to shut down Line 5!
