A Green Idea: Wind Power
April 22, 2010
Wind Turbines in the Lakes
As we celebrate Earth Day today, Michigan’s Governor Granholm believes Michigan is in a good position to manufacture wind turbines and to develop wind farms but with regulations. She believes turbines in Lake Michigan should be six miles offshore and not in shipping lanes.
Lake Michigan Sunset with Perch
April 17, 2010
I liked this photo so much that I painted a picture of it.
The so called singing sand is some of the best sand on Earth for beaches. The fishing is good. Perch are being caught. I’ve enjoyed a couple of good perch dinners lately fresh from the freshwater seas.
A Lake Michigan Poem for March
March 18, 2010
Lake Michigan Aubade
Mist rises, March morning
a song bird’s longing shears moist air,
drifts from thickets.
From empty porches of summer homes
wind chimes play, hollow melodious shards of clay.
And the lake never ceases sounds in March:
ice chunks chink, shards break and break
against the shore.
Waves dash ice against troll caves of ice
and break ice feet.
Mist rises from green briars
where wild birds braid their songs
through tangled skeins
and the blood that rushes through my veins
echoes
the waves
on shore.
–Barbara Spring
From my book, The Wilderness Within
Eagles are Environmental Indicators
March 13, 2010
High above the sand dunes in West Michigan, a pair of American bald eagles cavort; they dart, dive and swirl through the air at dizzying heights. Suddenly one of them turns on its back and they grasp talons spinning into a daring, cart wheeling free fall toward earth. They unlock talons and flap their powerful wings, flying upward at the last instant before hitting the ground. This, their courtship ritual, will bond the two eagles together for life.
Today, bald eagles are seen around the Great Lakes more andmore often, but in 1978, these magnificent birds were threatened.
Threatened with extinction. Their eggs never hatched since pesticides that lingered in the environment long after they were sprayed to kill insects magnified in Great Lakes food pyramids. The eagle is at the peak of the food pyramid and its favorite food is fish.
This makes the eagle an environmental indicator; a measuring stick of how well the whole ecosystem is faring. Where the ecosystem is healthy, eagles can live and raise their young.
Since DDT was banned in 1972, the nesting eagle population has increased.
Excerpted from The Dynamic Great Lakes by Barbara Spring.
37 Aging Nuclear Power Plants in the Great Lakes Basin
March 10, 2010
By 
Tanya Cabala
The Great Lakes region is host to nearly 40 nuclear power reactors, several in the decommissioning stage, 9 of them situated around Lake Michigan (An Advocate?s Field Guide to Protecting Lake Michigan, Alliance for the Great Lakes). Many of the reactors are nearing the end of their original licenses, but instead of being decommissioned, they are being re-licensed to run for several more decades. Nuclear power plants were originally licensed to operate for 40 years, but there has been a nationwide movement by government regulators and the nuclear power industry to extend the licenses well beyond that time period, even though the reactors are beginning to show signs of aging, raising considerable concerns about safety. 39 of the nation?s 103 nuclear reactors have already received 20-year extensions, while 12 others are in the process, including the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township, Michigan. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved all applications to date. Last year, an extended license for the Cook Nuclear Power Plant in Bridgman, Michigan was approved. A pending 20-year re-licensing application for the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant is also expected to be approved this year. Where?s the public outcry?
High-level radioactive wastes from the operation of Palisades since it began operation in 1971 are currently being stored in 29 massive concrete storage casks on the Lake Michigan shoreline. The plant will generate approximately 290 more tons of high-level radioactive wastes in 20 additional years with no national repository likely to be established to receive the wastes. The plan for transporting the wastes generated during the first license will involve barging up to 125 or more giant rail-sized containers of the wastes from Palisades to the Port of Muskegon, up along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Where?s the public outcry?
Extended and new nuclear power generation is now being promoted as a ?clean? alternative to the use of fossil fuels. Nuclear reactors, including Palisades, are not clean, nor are they ?green.? They emit harmful radioactivity into the environment on a daily basis and generate long-lasting radioactive wastes. Further, nuclear power relies heavily on the use of fossil fuels in the mining, milling, processing, transportation, management, and storage of its fuel and waste products. Where?s the public outcry?
A number of grassroots organizations have long been dedicated to monitoring and calling for attention to the nuclear power issue in the Great Lakes, but unfortunately, overall, it remains a low priority. Is it because the issue is poorly understood by the public, as well as the environmental community? Is it because the problem and potential solutions are too complex and too long-term? Is it because the issue is not perceived as urgent? Or is it because there is a lack of financial support for the environmental community to address the issue? Where?s the public outcry?
The Dynamic Great Lakes is a Green Book
February 11, 2010
No, I’m not color blind. The book cover is blue but the contents are green. I wrote the book from a deep conviction that people should know about the amazing Great Lakes and then find ways to keep these lakes in good shape. It is suitable for adults as well as kids. I had a general audience in mind when I wrote it so it is not too technical. I was amazed when I got so many good reviews–so many that the publisher called it “critically acclaimed.”
Right now the non-fiction book sells for $15.95 at Barnes & Noble online.
The Bruce Peninsula in Canada
February 8, 2010
On the Canadian side of Lake Huron, Georgian Bay was
mistakenly called a sixth Great Lake by early explorers since it is
nearly separated from the rest of Lake Huron by Manitoulan Island
and the Bruce Peninsula. Manitoulin Island, (l,068 square miles) is
the largest freshwater island in the world and Georgian Bay is the
largest bay on the Great Lakes.
A Lake Superior Poem
January 4, 2010
I learned how to find agates on the shore of Lake Superior. Here is an excerpt from The Wilderness Within:
Surf slants in
licks and slicks and clicks the stones
sometimes casts up bones
and out and in again:
black, brown, bronze Lake Superior stones,
pudding, Petoskey, quartz,, greenstone, copper.
Folded carnelian, amethyst, jasper, opal.
when held to the setting sun.
The Things You Do Can Save the World
December 29, 2009
- Care for the Planet
Simple things like turning off lights, appliances that suck energy, and carrying a shopping bag can make a difference. The plastic used and thrown away has gotten out of hand.
Review of The Dynamic Great Lakes
December 27, 2009
A Critically Acclaimed Book
Many of us know very little about the five Great Lakes other than perhaps being able to name them. As Barbara Spring states in her introduction to her outstanding primer The Dynamic Great Lakes they are “a flowing river of seas left behind by Ice Age glaciers and are nearly twenty percent of the world’s supply of fresh surface water; the world’s greatest freshwater system.” The ecosystem of this great body of water is very complex and unfortunately due to pollution and the fallout of modern industry and agriculture they have gone through a gradual transformation.
One of the unique characteristics of this compact book is that it is written in a language devoid of esoteric explanations. The eight chapters of the book reflect the author’s teaching and journalistic aptitudes in knowing how to unravel the mystery of the Great Lakes and the many painful dangers it has faced and continues to face.
Each of the five Lakes is introduced with a brief synopsis of important elements distinguishing one from the other such as: elevation, length, breadth, average depth, maximum depth, volume, water area, retention time, population and outlet. From this point of departure the author deals with the various changes that have taken place as well as the various major issues affecting the Lakes. There are also brief descriptions of the various animal life found in each of the Lakes and how they have been affected by pollution and the appearance of harmful species, such as the Lamprey Eel.
However, we are also reminded throughout the reading of the book that “people power” can have an effect and if we band together and make our voices heard we could exert influence in reversing some of the harmful trends that have caused ecological disaster. For example we are apprised of the situation that occurred in relation to Lake Erie. In 1969 a tributary river of Lake Erie, the Cayahoga, caught on fire due to being heavily coated with oil and debris. As a result, the Federal Water Quality Administration launched a one and half billion dollar municipal sewage treatment program for the Erie Basin which included the five surrounding states: Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.
The conclusion of the book most appropriately reminds us that: “we are all challenged to use our knowledge, creativity and common sense to keep the Great Lakes great. Can you think of ways to think globally and act locally?” We are also warned ” life on earth is only possible as long as our limited life support system works.”
Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures.com
