The Great Lakes could reach record low water levels next year. With the state’s defining natural features dropping after a hot, dry summer, Bridge asked Alan Steinman, president of the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University and a leader on water issues in the Great Lakes region since moving here in 2001, […]
Great Lakes
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Doubt grows with knowledge” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 18th century German poet. * Rep. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, has filed a bill that would address what he termed “economic stonewalling” from government agencies confronted with Freedom of Information Act requests from the public. (Hat tip to Gongwer News Service.) The stonewalling technique, for the unitiated, is […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Green gunk visits Mich.’s ‘most beautiful place’
EMPIRE — Ron Long recently visited one of his favorite beaches at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, only to find it marred by dark green algae that clouded the water and piled up on the sand. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen this beach — and I’ve been coming here for 50 years. It’s […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone” — John F. Kennedy. * The way people speak around the Great Lakes is diverging from the rest of North America. “‘(T)he starkest […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Five ways to be a Great Lakes ‘steward’
By Patty Birkholz/Office of the Great Lakes In today’s technological age, there is a documented societal disconnect from nature known as the “nature deficit.” As a result, this disconnect has the potential for unfortunate and adverse effects on the Great Lakes, both from an environmental and societal standpoint. In order to counteract these adverse effects, […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Knowledge is the small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify” — Ambrose Bierce, 19th century American writer. * Owners of charter boats and ferries all around the Great Lakes are either having to curtail their passenger loads or upgrade their fleets to comply with a new federal standard on weight. “The rule went […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Invasive species burden Michigan, region with tens of millions in costs
By Helen Taylor/Nature Conservancy Tiny mussels that wash up on beaches and attach to boats, piers and underwater pipes. Mats of vegetation that blanket lakes and take the fun out of boating, fishing and water-skiing. Tall grasses that invade shorelines, blocking lake views. In the Great Lakes states, we’ve read about aquatic invasive species such as zebra […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives” — James Madison, “Father of the Constitution” and fourth president of the United States. * The overall student loan debt number isn’t cause for panic, argues Andrew Rotherham, the man behind […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not” — Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist. * Ice in winter has positive effects, too: http://greatlakesecho.org/2012/05/15/continued-ice-loss-on-the-great-lakes-may-cause-widespread-change-in-ecosystems/ * It was suggested, in comments to […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and of many things I don’t know anything about, but I don’t have to know an answer” — Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. * Michigan’s local governments were collaborating and sharing services […]
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