For two straight summers, residents of Detroit’s Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood watched water pour into basements and pool in streets, a result of coastal flooding that will become increasingly common throughout the Great Lakes as climate change progresses.
Great Lakes
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Report: Lake Michigan is ‘running a fever.’ More storms, less fish possible.
A federal study finds that climate change is warming even the deepest waters of big lakes, which could shorten their winters and have a ripple effect on their health.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan warns of PFAS contamination in Lake Superior smelt
Weeks before the start of Michigan’s spring smelt run, state officials announced it could be dangerous to eat more than one serving a month of the small, shimmery fish from Lake Superior. Officials call the limit a precautionary measure.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Last dam standing: Traverse City fish restoration project on the ropes
The FishPass project uses technology that would allow migratory fish to freely travel the river while keeping out invasive species. But some residents are suing, saying it would alter a local park. They want a citywide vote on the project.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan communities turn to wetlands to prevent damage during floods
Devastating Midland floods would have been worse were it not for the sponge-like properties of a newly-restored wetland along the Shiawassee River. As climate change brings more intense rainstorms to Michigan, the incident is an example of how wetlands could help mitigate flood threats.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
As Michigan climate changes, Grand Rapids uses green space to mitigate floods
Changing climate threatens to bring more intense storms and worse floods to the Great Lakes region. In Grand Rapids, one park takes neighborhood stormwater runoff and stores it until it returns to the earth.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Too few farmers are curbing pollution in Lake Erie. Should they be forced?
As climate change complicates Lake Erie’s algae problem, scientists say farmers must do far more to reduce phosphorus runoff. But will enough farmers change their ways without a government mandate?
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Lake Superior is warming faster than many of the world’s big lakes
With warming temperatures, fluctuating water levels and a series of extreme storms, Lake Superior is undergoing dramatic alterations amid climate change.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Water could make the Great Lakes a climate refuge. Are we prepared?
For all climate change has wrought, Michigan and the Great Lakes region — with an abundance of fresh water, warming winters and less fire-prone forests — stand to attract millions of new residents in future decades eager to escape flooded coastal areas and the parched land of the West.
Posted inGuest Commentary
Opinion | What can reconcile our painful political differences? Nature.
In Michigan, the Great Lakes manifest our attachment to nature and overcome our political differences.