Wednesday's Great Lakes Lover

Judy Margerum from Oak Park, MI LOVES the Great Lakes! Do you?

Do you love the Great Lakes?  
We know the Great Lakes are a unique, beautiful, and vital resource. They provide habitat to thousands of species, nutrients to all kinds of ecosystems, drinking water for millions of people, excitement for explorers, and serenity to countless dreamers. There are a lot of us out there who love them. We live all over the region, come from different backgrounds, and have all kinds of different reasons for our love. The Great Lakes Program launched the "I Heart Great Lakes" project to visually illustrate this love for the Great Lakes.

Show your love!

Here's what you need to do:

1. Take a picture of yourself holding this sign and smile big!
2. Email your photo to sierraclubgreatlakes@gmail.com, include your full name, city, and state in the email message.
3. Congratulations, you've just shown your love for the lakes!

Have you already submitted your picture?

Make sure you take the Great Lakes pledge!!!

The Energy that Powers our Lives; Energy Events Regionwide

A small part of SW Ontario's impressive wind array

A variety of energy-related events are on the horizon, and that variety shows the interconnectedness of our energy sources and their problems, and the effect our burning of coal has on nearby regions.  

Beginning with the source:   Mountain Justice Summer Camp begins soon in West Virginia.  From Mountain Justice's email invitation:  

Mountain Justice Summer Camp is a week-­long program of education, workshops, entertainment, sustainable living techniques and direct action training to prepare people of all ages and from walks of life to join the movement to end mountaintop removal mining (MTR) and to help promote environmental justice for Appalachia and beyond. 

We will teach you about mountaintop removal, underground coal mining, Appalachian cultural awareness, water testing and science, the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), and non-violent direct action training. You will get to see a mountaintop removal mine first hand, and meet some of the amazing local people in West Virginia who are fighting to end it. In the evenings we will feature documentary films, Appalachian and mountain music, plus a square dance and a no-talent show.

Here in Michigan, a tour of a wind-turbine manufacturing plant happens next week.  From their email:

Michigan Interfaith Power & Light and the Great Lakes Renewable

Energy Assoc. invite you to tour Astraeus Wind Energy and view one

of the leading innovations in wind manufacturing. 

Astraeus is a Michigan company that is reducing the cost of wind

components by collaborating with MAG Industrial Automation Systems,

Dow Chemical, Dowding Industries, Oakridge National Lab, and URV

USA.  The initial focus is on machining of hubs and reducing the

machining time from 30 to 6 hours, but other components will be

improved using the latest advances in materials and automated

manufacturing.

May 22 in Eaton Rapids.  More information here.  

Fear over the effect wind power has on birds comes up repeatedly.  We've posted on this a few times, hoping to allay fears with the wind endorsements from the National Audubon Society and the Royal Bird Society.   From Audubon's statement:  

Audubon strongly supports properly-sited wind power as a clean alternative energy source that reduces the threat of global warming. Wind power facilities should be planned, sited and operated to minimize negative impacts on bird and wildlife populations.

Add to those statements the American Bird Conservancy's "New Interactive Web Map to Help Reduce Bird Mortality From Wind Development".    See the map and more information here. Their page is a gold mine for anyone interested in birds and wind power.  

We can only wish so much concern existed regarding bird mortality in relation to other sources.  You can see Sibley Guide's graph here.  Wind power is still the smallest drop in the dismaying bucket of bird deaths nationwide.  

The Heartwood Forest Council in the Allegheny mountains of Pennsylvania is hosting a Memorial Day Weekend conference.  Some highlights:  

This year's Forest Council will explore the impacts of Marcellus drilling/hydro-fracking, the Seneca bid to take management of the Kinzua Dam Hydro power rights, coal, solar and wind issues. All of these issues suggest that we think deeper about energy production and consumption in our society and our daily life, as we prepare to reclaim the structures that have led to such tremendous inequity around the globe. 

What's going on near you?  What clean energy events is your state hosting?  

Post and photo by volunteer Rebecca Hammond

Ride a Bike!

May is National Bike Month, and this coming week is Bike to Work Week! Bikes are fantastic because they're a fun way to get exercise, you can use them to get out in nature, and they're an emission-free form of transportation so you can put a dent in climate change.
The most obvious way to get involved is to bike to work. Of course, this is more feasible for some than others. Myself, I'm not going to bike to work because it's a ten minute WALK, and some people's commutes are so long that biking is just unrealistic, but for everyone else in between, get on that bike! It might be easier than you think. Yes, it takes more time than driving, but then you can get your exercise in for the day at the same time. And naturally work isn't the only destination to which you can substitute biking for driving. You could try biking everywhere you go this week - see if you can get by without even getting out your car keys.

I wholeheartedly recommend recreational biking as well. Even if you do bike to work, your commute is likely not the prettiest route that exists. Trails.com can help you find local mountain biking trails. I had a bit of trouble getting it to search for what I wanted, but here's a good list for those of us in Southeast Michigan. Another great resource is the Rails to Trails Conservancy. Their site makes it easy to search for trails by name, city, or state, and they have a ton on there. A personal favorite of mine is the Hart-Montague bike trail - it's near my grandparents' cottage on Lake Michigan and I've gone biking on that trail every summer since I can remember.

Bike month is also a good opportunity to spread awareness of environmental issues. Get your friends involved, tell them why biking is so awesome, and maybe we can get more people out on bikes this month. We'd also like to hear about your biking experiences - any exciting adventures you've had while biking? Favorite places to ride? Leave us a comment!

Post by Sierra Club Intern Liz Bizer

Friday Fun Facts

This common snapping turtle, found all over the Great Lakes region, was caught in a rare moment of basking.  Usually snappers lurk just beneath the surface, making me wonder how many we've passed unaware of their presence.  This photo was taken from a distance; the head of this turtle seemed about the size of the medium painted turtles that are so common here in SE Michigan!  Here's a blow-up:

And some fun facts from Aquatic Community:  Both the mating and nesting periods are beginning, although the nesting period is shorter.  A female might make a 2-mile round trip for the perfect nesting spot!  Incubation period depends upon temperature, and temps can affect gender.  From Aquatic Community:  


    "Scientific tests carried out by Ernst, Lovich and Barbour showed that eggs developed at 20° C, or between 29-31° C, will produce only female turtles. If the temperature is higher than 20° C but lower than 29° C, the eggs can develop into males as well as females. A notable exception is however 23-24° C, a temperature point at which only males will be produced."


Equally amazing is lifespan.  Snapping turtles can live 40 years or more, and get huge.  Never attempt to hold one by the tail; you'll damage the spine.  


The small and duckweedy woodland pond above also held painted and Blanding's turtles, one of the latter so huge we mistook it for a snapper until a different viewing angle revealed that long snake-like neck and bright yellow underthroat and chin.  Blanding's and the snapper above make for better viewing than some other species; they don't plop off the log as soon as a hiker rounds a bend and the pond comes into view.  I'm not sure what painted turtles and sliders pick up on to plop into the water so quickly.  Anyone?  Do they see humans approach, hear us, pick up on vibrations aside from sound the way it's been speculated that groundhogs do?  


Happy turtle spotting.  Turtles are wonderful. 


Post and photos by volunteer Rebecca Hammond

USACE To Release Asian Carp Report Earlier Than Expected

Lake Michigan photo by Tiffany Hartung.  Thanks, Tiffany! 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will release a report in late 2013 assessing options for keeping Asian Carp from the Great Lakes, much sooner than expected.  From the press release issued from the White House and USACE:

"The Army Corps of Engineers understands and appreciates the importance of continuing with 

GLMRIS, and preventing aquatic invasive species from reaching the Great Lakes," said Jo-Ellen 

Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. "This optimized schedule will allow for 

public engagement earlier and collaboration with Congress to determine viable alternatives."   

"This 2013 report will provide us with an assessment of the best options for keeping Asian carp 

out of the Great Lakes, as Congress requested in the Water Resources Development Act of 

2007," said John Goss, Asian Carp Director at the White House Council on Environmental 

Quality. “This new step will result in a more focused path forward that could mean faster 

implementation of a permanent solution for protecting our Great Lakes from Asian carp.”   

Read the full press release here.  This is great news for the region. And maybe send a thank you to President Obama?

Wednesday's Great Lakes Lover

Ali Timberg from Fond du Lac, WI LOVES the Great Lakes! Do you?

Do you love the Great Lakes?

We know the Great Lakes are a unique, beautiful, and vital resource. They provide habitat to thousands of species, nutrients to all kinds of ecosystems, drinking water for millions of people, excitement for explorers, and serenity to countless dreamers. There are a lot of us out there who love them. We live all over the region, come from different backgrounds, and have all kinds of different reasons for our love. The Great Lakes Program launched the "I Heart Great Lakes" project to visually illustrate this love for the Great Lakes.

Show your love!

Here's what you need to do:

1. Take a picture of yourself holding this sign and smile big!
2. Email your photo to sierraclubgreatlakes@gmail.com, include your full name, city, and state in the email message.
3. Congratulations, you've just shown your love for the lakes!

Have you already submitted your picture?

Make sure you take the Great Lakes pledge!!!

Take Action Tuesday

Mixing native plants with favorite ornamentals.  Motherwort in the foreground, native ferns here and there, with spiderwort and violets and hostas and lilies.  

We've been posting recently about our Green Gardens Pledge, asking you to include native plants in your landscaping, as well as adding rain barrels and rain gardens.  The plants directly and indirectly improve Great Lakes water quality, needing less water and care (often NO water or care), even being able to hold more rainwater with their longer, deeper roots.  This is the time of year to think about heavy rains and about keeping excess water out of sewer systems.  Rain barrels, downspouts disconnected from the sewer system and possibly pointed into rain gardens, and those tough native plants all help.  (Isn't it odd that the easiest, friendliest, most volunteering plants have been given the "W" moniker, and we're expected to pull them out and replace them with plants that are far more trouble and no more lovely?)    

So take our Pledge, and expand it by talking to neighbors and friends.  Do you have neighbors who wonder about your "weeds"?  Time to reframe that word and point out that weeds are in the eye of the beholder, and that you consider them wildflowers or natives.  Point out that birds like the seeds of black-eyed Susans and coneflower and goldenrod, and that you like watching the birds land on flowerheads as well as birdfeeders.  Milkweed is the only food of monarch caterpillars, so if it's a weed, it's a useful one, a friend with benefits.  Explaining why you're letting "weeds" flourish reframes the issue in a much-needed way.  Even the most enlightened-seeming friends or family may need to better understand your bird-and-butterfly-attracting landscape, the landscape that holds and filters rainwater and does its part to protect our Lakes.  

Post and photo by volunteer Becky Hammond