Data and Findings from the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup’s 2024 Season Point to it Being the Most Impactful Yet
New technologies provide rich insights on plastic pollution and strengthen efforts to protect the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup (GLPC), a joint initiative of Pollution Probe and the CGLR Foundation, the charitable arm of the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR), is pleased to release data from its 2024 season. The findings showcase the initiative’s continued success in removing plastic and other debris from the Great […]
Actions, Behavior Changes, and Support Needed
Convenience Drives Environmental Action, Study Finds As shown in parts 1 and 2 of this 3-part article series, residents in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, comprising the U.S. Great Lakes region, report strong concern and high knowledge about climate change aspects and the causes. The data from the 2024 EcoFocus […]
Final Report of the IJC Great Lakes Science Advisory Board Work Group on Microplastics
Monitoring, Ecological Risk Assessment, and Management of Microplastics in the Laurentian Great Lakes Plastics are a diverse and ubiquitous group of materials that have seen a surge in production in the past century. The widespread use of plastics coupled with unsustainable materials management has led to plastic pollution, including the ubiquity of microplastics across the […]
Knowledge and Understanding of Environmental Issues
Study Finds: Great Lakes Residents Show Understanding of Environmental Facts, but Struggle with Making Green Choices Climate change acceptance and efforts to lead an eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle has become a broad trend in the U.S. However, without knowledge of the contributors to climate change, we as a nation and each of us individually, will […]
Big Ten Expansion Will Double Carbon Emissions From U-M Football Team
The Big Ten Conference and its football teams have given fans plenty to cheer about in its first year with four new members from the West Coast. Although the University of Michigan didn’t defend its 2023 national championship, the 2024 College Football Playoff saw an intense competition, culminating in Ohio State defeating Notre Dame to […]
Environmental Attitudes and Regional Concerns
“Water Quality, Microplastics Top Environmental Concerns for Great Lakes Residents” The Great Lakes make up 20% of the earth’s fresh surface water and is the source of drinking water for 40 million residents. They contribute to a thriving economy and support industries like commercial fisheries, agriculture and tourism, to name a few. In a time […]
Green Stormwater Infrastructure Case Study: Davidson Park
Davidson Park is a signature Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) project developed through the Fresh Coast Protection Partnership (FCPP), a community-based partnership between CIS and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD). Located on the Harley-Davidson headquarters campus on the west side of Milwaukee, Davidson Park transformed what was a large employee parking lot into a signature […]
Potential for U.S. Agriculture to Be Greenhouse Gas Negative
Carbon is the foundation for agricultural products beginning with the conversion of carbon dioxide into sugar through the process of photosynthesis and ultimately converted into compounds that are harvested through grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and fiber and animals convert into meat, milk, eggs, or wool. Carbon dioxide is released back to the atmosphere through processes […]
Consequences of Less Ice on Lakes Due to Climate Change
The lakes in the Great Lakes region and around the world don’t freeze over as they did in past centuries. That has serious consequences for people, wildlife, and the environment as a whole. That’s been shown by many scientific studies — but the consequences of that reduction of ice coverage have been scattered across many […]
Global Foresight on Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing
The below is taken from the Executive Summary of the 2024 Global Insights report “Navigating New Horizons: A global foresight report on planetary health and human wellbeing”. As the leading global authority on the environment, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) plays a critical role in keeping the environment under review and finding solutions that […]