Category: Great Lakes Now
The hidden rivers fueling urban floods
Flooding can destroy property and have serious effects on human health. And it can follow patterns of housing discrimination from almost a century ago. Ghost streams are waterways that were filled in or covered up during city development, and they’re a contributing factor to flooding events.
Many ghost streams are underneath historically redlined neighborhoods.
Canada is one step closer to burying nuclear waste in northwestern Ontario
By Fatima Syed, The Narwhal
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS, Michigan Public and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Moment: Michigan’s Port of Monroe fosters a blue economy that welcomes wildlife
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit PBS.
Historically, the prevailing thinking was that society could have either a healthy economy or healthy biodiversity, but not both.
Environmental cred questioned for Biden-backed ‘hydrogen hub’ in Northwest Indiana
By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, WBEZ
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for WBEZ newsletters to get local news you can trust.
Breaking Point: Minnesota’s mining legacy includes massive lake of wastewater
“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A Grand Portage Ojibwe direct descendant, she lives in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her nonfiction books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and the children’s story “A Family Tree” in 2024.
In Detroit’s Poletown East neighborhood, residents find healing among the trees
By Ethan Bakuli, Planet Detroit
This article was republished with permission from Planet Detroit. Sign up for Planet Detroit’s weekly newsletter here.
On any given morning, Marcel Wyckoff wakes up in Poletown East to a chorus of birds chirping in the forest outside his window.
Points North: Saving David
By Michael Livingston
Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.
This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
On a blustery September day in 2024, 68-year-old David Holtfreter decides to go kayaking in Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan.
5 Reasons to Build a Backyard Frog Pond
Great Lakes Now recently sat down with Margot Fass of the non-profit group, A Frog House. Located in Pittsfield, New York on the banks of the Erie Canal and on the edge of the Lake Ontario sub-basin. A Frog House helps to encourage ecological education, local advocacy and collaboration around clean water and thriving wetlands.
Where did all the climate voters go?
By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey
This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.
For those who worry about climate change all the time, the results of the November election seemed to send a clear message: American voters just don’t care as much as you do.
After a dramatic decline, lake trout have recovered in most of Lake Superior
By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
This article was republished here with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.
After decades of work, fishery managers say lake trout have fully recovered in most of Lake Superior after the invasive, fish-killing sea lamprey decimated their numbers.