This Week in Environmental News...

EPA Announces Greenhouse Gas Limits for New Power Plants
You've probably heard about this by now, as it's been in the news a lot this week. This is absolutely huge. Sure, making regulations on emissions and all that is the Environmental Protection Agency's job, but these regulations are revolutionary. Did you realize that up until now carbon emissions from power plants have never been regulated at all? Now, the proposed rule is that power plants may emit no more than 1000 pounds of CO2 for each megawatt of electricity produced. In all honesty, I have no idea how big a megawatt is, but the fact is that that amount of carbon is way lower than what coal plants produce. So much lower, in fact, that the high costs it would require to bring coal plants up to these standards would essentially make coal plants obsolete. No more dirty, polluting, literally sickening coal plants? Sounds great to me! The regulations don't affect already existing coal plants, but it means power companies will have to look to alternative sources for any new expansion, and it seems inevitable that eventually coal will be phased out altogether. This is a huge step toward transitioning our nation to a clean, renewable energy economy.

An image of the past?

Asian Carp Smugglers
We've been talking about Asian Carp for what seems like ages now, and everybody knows what a danger they pose to the Great Lakes by migrating up through the Mississippi River, but apparently now they're also coming by land. Yes, they're fish, and they can't walk, but it turns out people are smuggling them into the region, in huge truckloads of live carp. According to this article, 14,000 pounds of them were confiscated at the Canadian border (en route to Toronto, where these hideous fish are considered a delicacy in Asian cuisine. I don't even want to think about how many fish there must be in 14,000 pounds, or how many other shipments are likely getting through state and country lines undetected. Canadian officials have seized multiple such shipments, but U.S. officials don't seem to be doing much about it and there is very little communication between the two. Maybe this means we need to be making even more noise about Asian Carp, to make sure this is a highly visible issue.

Somehow this doesn't make me go "mmm, dinner!" Then again, I'm a vegetarian.

Obamacare and the Environment
Another big topic in the news lately is the potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and as much as I support what both supporters and opponents now refer to as "Obamacare", I always considered health care to be a totally independent issue from environmental concerns. But as this article points out, there are actually several ways that the repeal could have significant negative impacts on the environment. Some of her points are debatable -- for example, she claims that more health coverage won't lead to more people consuming pharmaceuticals because "over 70 percent of people who abuse prescription medications" obtain them from friends and family rather than doctors. People who use prescriptions legally and legitimately contribute just as much to the environmental impact by taking their pills. Regardless, I suggest you read the article because truly the whole world is more interconnected than we realize, and the author has some interesting ideas that helped me to start thinking about the impact health care reform (or its repeal) could have on the environment.

Post by Sierra Club Intern Liz Bizer

Lake Temps, Climate Change, Admirals, John Lennon, and Response

Great Lakes levels have been in the news lately. In some parts of the region, especially Georgian Bay in Lake Huron, big as Great Lake itself, low levels continue to plague marina and shore owners, reducing number of boats a marina can hold, and affecting lifestyles on the shore. Here's a link to John Flesher's AP article, as seen in this morning's Detroit Free Press. Some recommend variations on dams and dikes. Mary Muter of Sierra Club Ontario is quoted as saying, "A responsible plan must and can be found to restore the water levels." A binational panel, after a five-year study, recommends leaving things alone.

Looking up lake level numbers, I found this U.S. Army Corps of Engineers page with enough links to satisfy any Great-Lakes-loving data hound. The above NOAA chart is especially telling. Giving average water temperatures for the past five years, it shows another disturbing trend: the lakes are continuing to warm. Click on this link and you can interact with that chart, looking up individual lake temps and going back some years. As you can see, and as climatologists have predicted, the trend is not neat and tidy; 2010 was warmer on average than 2011.

So here we are, with more evidence of climate change. I'm currently reading Storms of My Grandchildren by NASA climatologist James Hansen, and it's certainly a stack of ammo if you're debating this topic with deniers, who seem to think climate change is just a whim or decision some scientist made, and others agreed, and now they're all getting rich off the idea. Once you begin to understand the myriad ways scientific opinion gets formed, and can describe them a bit, you have a leg to stand on. The debate moves on from "I said, you said." Right now that's what deniers think, it's one opinion against another equally-valid opinion.

But here's another part of this debate: are we, as environmentalists, visibly living as though this is the dire situation our words describe? Wouldn't deniers expect to see us, metaphorically speaking, running from this burning house we keep mentioning? Shouldn't our carbon footprints be, by now, noticeably lower than someone who does not accept climate change? That would be not only a reasonable indication of our belief for us to exhibit, but would have the added benefit of contributing to a positive outcome.

Perhaps you, like me, get many facebook hits from climate organizations. Like my post today, they give daily dire information and statistics. Yet none of us asks or expects you, and ourselves, to flat-out respond, to walk our talk. We are still more informative than challenging, not the proper response if your house is on fire. We're not just preaching to the choir, we're saying to sing along instead of taking action real action.

In today's Detroit Free Press, one of my favorite columnists, Brian Dickerson, describes the warnings given by U.S. Admiral Lee Gunn. The Pontiac native calls climate change "the existential threat to America and its influence in the world." Gunn is the president of the Center for Naval Analyses and they've issued a report called "National Security and the Threat of Climate Change." I expect that if you want to validate your opinion that climate change is real, the opinions and research of a bunch of 3- and 4-stars might boost your case.

A few weeks ago, we posted a link to a carbon-footprint calculator. This was seemingly a good idea a few years back, but one that, again, showed nothing obvious in the national response to this threat. For example, air travel continues to rise, and George Monbiot has mentioned that it will erase our other efforts.

So here we are with the subject of climate change, there above is a chart of Great Lakes average temperatures, and links to some warnings by some obvious non-crackpots, and I'm reminded of that rather somber John Lennon song, "And so this is Christmas." I think, "And what have we done?" Will will rise to this occasion?

Post by SCGL volunteer Rebecca Hammond

Wednesday's Great Lakes Lover

Colleen Brown from Rochester, 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!!!

Take Action Tuesday

A Tuesday challenge-type action: Step outside the box and try an unusual water-saver. If you put a bucket under the faucet when you're warming up your shower water, it'll be pretty much the amount you need for one toilet flush. Leave the bucket in place during the shower; turns out it won't be at all in the way, and you'll catch more water. This saves water and lowers your bill over time, but keeping water out of the system is also important. Preventing combined sewer overflows, if you live in one of the Great Lakes cities with a combined system, will help the algae problems in Lakes Erie and Ontario, and in an increasing amount of inland lakes. Keeping water out of the system in the upcoming stormy season is crucial to the health of our waterways.

A second challenge: tell people you do this. We need to further normalize green behavior, till it's more normal to lead our daily lives conscious of the water surrounding us than it is to ignore this amazing bounty.

I found this behavior change to be very easy. Do any of you find that these changes get easier as you accumulate them, or is it more that some changes are just easier than others? If the bucket is right there, we don't forget to use it, unlike the 3 years or so we struggled to remember to take cloth bags to the store! This one is so simple, I'm embarrassed it took this long.

Same with the bucket in the utility sink, catching wash water, as we showed a few weeks ago. I've done this for a few years in the summer and use the water outside. But it can be put back in the washer for the next wash. The easiest way if you have a front-loading machine? An old plastic pitcher. It can't take more than 30 seconds or so. It's a five-gallon bucket, so we are saving 20 or 30 gallons a week, more if I remember to check during a wash cycle and use rinse water on a tree or other emerging plant outside. Or inside.

Until very recently, handling the water we use was normal human behavior, and as Melissa Damaschke has pointed out, it shows you want water IS. She was referring to camping, to walking to the pump and carrying the water back. When you do this, you don't leave the spout on the container open when you brush your teeth! Handling a certain amount of water BY hand reminds us of what it is, how important it is, and hopefully where it comes from and where it goes (the Great Lakes).

It's a funny thing about these seemingly primitive activities: they're meditative. We seem to have sped up our lives and thrive on the idea of convenience, only to discover that, oops, we're sped up and need balancing activities like meditation and yoga to slow us down. Perhaps life used to be one big meditation. And maybe when we choose convenience, we unknowingly avoid a moment of timeless action. Odd to factor in that most of us have something "inconvenient" we do simply for the repetition and slowness; knitting, for example. You sure don't save any money doing it now; it costs more to knit socks and sweaters than to buy them. If we like knitting or woodworking or gardening because of the slowness, the time involved, isn't it possible that we're missing a similar experience with other daily tasks when we opt for convenience and speed them up?

Photo and post by SCGL volunteer Becky Hammond

Study Finds Higher Mercury Levels in Wildlife

Northern Lake Huron. Mercury levels are high here.

The Biodiversity Research Institute issued a report on levels of mercury found in wildlife, and I recommend looking at that link, especially the major findings. I've been seeing many media hits on the levels of mercury being found in birds in our region. Loons, being fish-eaters, are exposed to a great deal of mercury, however, as I read in the Holland Sentinel, their sensitivity is low. Other species face less exposure but have higher sensitivity.

The coal plant closings we celebrate are truly good news. And our fight for clean energy must continue. For more on that, check out Beyond Coal.

As I browse the Biodiversity Research Institute's website, what strikes me as a Michiganian is the information on mercury in fish. Look at these maps, especially "Mercury in Game Fish Consumed by Humans," halfway down the page. Northeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan, southwest Michigan, southEAST Michigan, a large region on the northeast edge of Lake Huron, and a huge swath ranging from Ontario down into New York and covering what looks like all of the Adirondacks show the highest levels of mercury that can be indicated.

Below that rather horrifying map are two bar graphs showing mercury levels in specific fish. Below the graphs, a map showing sources of mercury emissions. Anyone who fishes in our region should be aware of this information.

Recommended is this page from the Great Lakes Commission. It contains links to a press release by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, more political information, and scientists who back legislative efforts, as well as a link to the GLC's mercury resolution. I'll add this from Sen. Collins' press release:

"Mercury is one of the most persistent and dangerous pollutants that threatens our health and environment today. This powerful toxin affects the senses, the brain, spinal cord, kidneys and liver. It poses significant risks to children and pregnant women, causing an elevated risk of birth defects and problems with motor skills. It is estimated that approximately 410,000 children born in the U.S. each year are exposed to levels of mercury in the womb that are high enough to impair neurological development. While mercury exposure has gone down as mercury emissions in the United States have declined, levels remain unacceptably high."

Recent strong EPA rules limiting mercury are under attack already. Didn't someone say that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom? Let's stay vigilant. The EPA's webpage on mercury and various protections can be seen here.

Photo and post by Sierra Club Great Lakes Program volunteer Becky Hammond

Get Outside!

You've probably noticed that the weather has been really, REALLY warm lately. You might even say hot, especially considering it's March. Spring is way ahead of itself this year, and although I do find it pretty unsettling in the face of climate change, I can't help reveling in its gloriousness. (Spell check is telling me 'gloriousness' is not a word. I beg to differ.) If you've been hiding inside from the disappointing winter for the past few months like I have, now is the time to get out. Though it's cooled off a little from the couple July-like days we had, it's still supposed to be unseasonably warm for a while. The forsythia are already blooming. I've seen a lot of little purple wildflowers around. (I know embarrassingly little about flowers, but I like them.) And you can see those tiny, feathery, lightest green baby leaves coming out on some of the trees.

New leaves on the lilac bush in front of my house. Not even that tiny.

So find some nature and enjoy it! I read an article about an "earth chapel" today. I'm not quite clear on whether it's supposed to be a religious chapel constructed sustainably, or actually a chapel for worshiping the earth. It sounds like perhaps a bit of both. I respect that they built a chapel out of entirely sustainable materials and using sustainable energy, if the point of it is to be a chapel, but the idea of going into a building to "reconnect with nature" seems a bit ludicrous to me. Nature is where I reconnect with nature, and I hope you do too. Of course, some of us have more nature readily available nearby for us to enjoy than others, but we all have something, even if it's just a tiny neighborhood park. If you're looking for some ideas of where to go, check out the Sierra Club outings page. NWF's Nature Find page is also a good resource for finding local parks and other natural areas. And LocalHikes.com helps you find the perfect hiking trail. (Though they appear to list NONE in Michigan. Lame. Hopefully readers from other states will find that one useful.)

I think it's important to make nature a priority. It's easy to get carried away with the bustle of our daily lives. We don't have time to just go hang out in the woods, right? I think we do, and I think we need to. We need to stay connected to what nature we have left on a regular basis so we keep fighting to protect it. Also, spending time in natural settings can make you a lot better at the bustle of the rest of your life. I learned all about this in my "behavior and environment" class a couple years ago: there are two types of attention we pay to things, directed and involuntary. Directed attention is what you use anytime you need to pay attention to something that isn't inherently fascinating, and it's what people are almost always referring to when they say anything about "paying attention." Involuntary attention happens when you can't help paying attention to things -- something shiny catches your eye, or a loud noise makes you jump. You don't try to pay attention to those things; your brain just grabs onto it. And the thing is, if you try to use your directed attention for too long, it runs out and your brain gets fatigued. You only have a limited reserve of directed attention. And the way you restore it is by giving yourself a break and letting your brain do its involuntary attention thing. As it turns out, nature is a huge category of stuff that your brain likes to pay involuntary attention to. So if you hang out with some lakes or trees or bushes or wildlife, you'll heal your directed attention fatigue. If you've ever felt like spending time in nature de-stresses and rejuvenates you, there's real science behind that. It even helps people avoid mental fatigue if they can see a tree from their window. So if you feel like your brain is fried, go stare at a tree for a while.

I did not plan on writing about any of that attention stuff, but I figure that's useful to know, right? Anyway, how have you been enjoying nature in the Great Lakes region during this heat wave? We want to hear from you. Leave us a comment and tell us a story. :)

Post by Sierra Club Intern Liz Bizer

Senator Dick Durbin Confronts S.S. Badger's Coal Ash Problem

Early spring along Lake Michigan near Racine, WI. Another great photo courtesy of Martha Jackson Oppeneer. Thanks, Martha!

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois is still a champion for Lake Michigan and has told the owners of the S.S. Badger that he will oppose efforts to continue operating with coal, with its subsequent dumping of 4 tons of coal ash into Lake Michigan each and every day of operation. The following quote, found on madison.com, echoes sentiments we've expressed here on the SCGL blog: "It is the height of irony that your carferry operation is threatening the future of the very lake you depend on for your livelihood." This was stated in a letter to Badger owners, along with this, found on mLive and orginally from the Muskegon News: “The four years since receiving your current EPA permit have been more than enough time for you to develop a credible plan for eliminating coal ash discharge. All you could produce for me was far-fetched LNG [liquified natural gas] theory which has no chance to actually become a reality. Because of your continued, long-term refusal to clean up your dangerous operations, I will actively oppose your new permit application."

You can find the EPA's Feb. 6 letter to Badger owners requiring a new permit application here. An interesting excerpt from that letter: "Although we are requiring you to apply for an individual permit for your post-December 19, 2012, coal ash discharges, we are not doing so for the reasons advanced in your petition. In particular, we are not in agreement with the positions taken in that petition regarding the availability or feasibility of options to address the coal ash discharges in the future. It is our view that the petition did not contain adequate support (i.e. technical and/or economic information) for its conclusions. We expect a much more robust record to be developed during the permit application process."

What do you think? How do things stand regarding Lake Michigan and the Badger? Should a new permit be granted? Have you checked out where your officials stand on this?

Posted by volunteer Rebecca Hammond

Happy World Water Day

Today, March 22, is World Water Day. The first day to mark the significance of freshwater was held at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. The first officially designated World Water Day was held the next year. Each year, a different aspect of freshwater issues and human water needs is highlighted. This year's focus is Water and Food Security.

We often find ourselves saying that Earth Day is every day, so is World Water Day also every day? In the Great Lakes region, it is whether we acknowledge it or not. Surrounded by the majority of the world's fresh water, its use and abuse impacts us, above or below the radar.

This week an assault on the lower part of the system happened here in Detroit. A strong odor near downtown was reported, and some type of illegal dumping was found to have happened a mile or so from the odor. Witnesses thought it smelled like paint thinner or lacquer. Our own Melissa Damaschke was biking nearby and arrived at the scene, finding herself interviewed within moments. Watch the clip and read the full story here. Interesting to note that when approached for the interview, the reporter was unaware that Melissa is a local expert. She was surprised at the knowledge this random person on the street possessed. Also interesting: Melissa's shirt. You'll all like it.

What is World Water Day to you? What does this international event mean to our region? None of us right now is very far from a source of fresh water. In Michigan, you can never be more than 6 miles from an inland lake, or 85 miles from a Great Lake. Truly every day here is Water Day.

Posted by volunteer Rebecca Hammond

Wednesday's Great Lakes Lover

Irina Dozortseva from Rochester Hills, 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!!!

Take Action Tuesday

Lake Michigan photo by Kasey Martin. Thanks again, Kasey!

Yesterday's post on Lake Erie's algae crisis is the kind of thing that instills a need for action. Action exists on a number of levels. Today we'd like you to consider hitting several of them.

First of all, protect the lakes by taking the Great Lakes Pledge. If you've done that, go beyond. At the conference in Toledo, we learned that even things like avoiding laundry on rainy days can help Lake Erie. Keeping water out of the system is a necessary component to solving the problem. The writer M. Scott Peck says that all important things are "overdetermined," meaning they have more than one cause. They'll need more than one solution. Harmful algae blooms are overdetermined.

Next, speak up. Write a letter to the editor. Talk to friends. Sometimes doesn't it seem like in the face of major crisis (Lake Erie's and Lake Ontario's algae problems, climate change) we remain shy; we're afraid of hurting feelings or causing offense? Not that we want to blather around wallowing in obnoxiousness, but if your neighbor's house were on fire, would you focus on politeness or worry that they'd think you too opinionated if you tried to warn them? All our houses are "on fire" and all our lakes have risks worth hollering about. We can risk respectfully stating opposing opinions.

Can your groups start public-awareness campaigns? We see signs fighting or supporting any number of causes. Can a lawn-sign campaign help raise awareness of the problem, and/or what we each do to help or hurt?

Visit the problem area(s). See what's wrong there, and what's still right. Support local economies. I believe this helps on more than one level. Seeing a place and vacationing there makes abstract problems read about in the morning paper real and concrete. We naturally want to protect places we're connected to.

And weigh in. What have I left out? What's the full spectrum of action regarding a crisis of burning-river proportions, like western Lake Erie's algae blooms, and the similar algae problems cropping up in Lake Ontario? Are we doing what it takes to resolve this; are we treating the lower Great Lakes with the respect they need? At the conference the interconnectedness of the system was mentioned thusly: "Duluth's snow matters." Lake Ontario is the most polluted of the Lakes because it gets what the other Lakes send onward. 80% of Lake Erie's water comes from the Detroit River, which comes from Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and St. Clair. There's no separateness.

posted by volunteer Rebecca Hammond

A Crisis of Burning-River Proportions

On Friday a carload of Detroiters traveled to the Toledo College of Law on the U of T campus (passing impressive flooding in Toledo but not seeing the tornado damage in Michigan near our route; that day had 4 times the normal number of storms for a March day in our region) for the Harmful Algal Blooms Workshop. Sponsored by the U of Toledo and Ohio Sea Grant with a grant from National Sea Grant Law Center, it will be repeated in Columbus on March 30.

Barely recognizable as a Great Lakes scene, this is the western Lake Erie basin last summer. No, that is neither split pea soup nor tempera paint, but Lake Erie thick with algae.

Some of what we learned in a three-hour period: The 50:2 rule. Lake Superior has (roughly) 50% of the Great Lakes' total water, 2% of the fish. Lake Erie has 2% of the water total, 50% of the fish. Lake Erie is one of the top 10 fishing spots in the world. Its sport fishing alone is a $1.5 billion part of the local economy. It has 40% of the Great Lakes' charter boats. And it provides drinking water to more than 11 million people, more than Lake Michigan. Aquatic biologist Dr. Jeff Reuter called Lake Erie the most heavily utilized and most challenged of the Great Lakes. Bordered by 4 states and 2 nations, its watershed is different from the other Lakes, surrounded by more agriculture and less forest. It's the warmest because it's the shallowest, and the huge western basin is the shallowest part of the lake, averaging only 24 feet.

In the 70s, after the burning-river incident In Cleveland (it was not the first time the Cuyahoga burned, and the Cuyahoga is not the only industrial river to catch fire more than once) the Clean Water Act was passed. A good historic synopsis from PBS can be found here. Wikipedia's entry points out that President Nixon vetoed the act, and his veto was overridden by the Senate the very next day. The rebirth of Lake Erie after the Act was passed is still considered "the best example of ecosystem recovery in the world," according to Dr. Reuter, who added, "Considered dead in the 70s, Lake Erie is now the walleye capital of the world." This rebirth was brought about by reducing phosphorus from 29,000 lbs. to 11,000. Lower levels result in a diversity of types of algae, and only a few are harmful.

2009 seemed like a very bad year until 2011. Look at the spike in the bar graph, far right.

The flooding we saw en route is not a good sign for the immediate future. Line graphs at the presentation showed a correlation between large rains and blooms 4-8 weeks later. Nutrients like phosphorus that are good on a lawn or field are bad in a lake, and tributaries carry the excess to the Maumee and into the Lake. Most lawns and fields do not need additional phosphorus and many already have too much. Testing is often considered too expensive, as a single test for a single field won't suffice; concentrations of phosphorus can vary from section to section. GPS mapping can actually allow a farmer to apply the exact amount needed in each section of a field.

Lake Erie facts that make the algal blooms serious

Dr. Tom Bridgeman of U of T pointed out that the Lakes contain hundreds of species of algae and most are beneficial. Factors leading to blooms include warmer winters due to climate change. The lake itself is warmer and has less ice. As mentioned, there are now more storms and bigger rainfall events, 40-70% more, and these events carry phosphorus from runoff over great distances.

The city of Toledo is currently spending $3-4 thousand more per day to keep drinking water safe. Toxic algae has killed humans in other countries, and pets here in the U.S.. The rotten smell alone can keep tourists away. And the fishing industry is already seeing the effects: 2011 was the worst year in recent history for walleye, the second worst for yellow perch.

The amount of excess phosphorus per acre of farm field that makes it into Lake Erie via the Maumee. It doesn't take much to make a difference, and a 2/3 reduction is again needed.

Dr. Bridgeman made two telling quotes: "I would say we are now in a crisis stage in Lake Erie" and "People come to the shoreline, see this, and turn around and go home again." The economy will further suffer when tourism suffers.

What can you personally do? Use less water, a lot less, on rainy days. Reducing the amount we use keeps it out of wastewater treatment plants, reducing the combined sewer overflows that contribute to the blooms. Don't do laundry during storms, or wash the car. Check out the Great Lakes Pledge and its list of ways to reduce water consumption and keep toxins out of the Lakes.

More to come. For images of Lake Erie's algal blooms, look here.

Post and photos by volunteer Rebecca Hammond

Have a Green St. Paddy's Day

It's St. Patrick's Day, a day all about being green. Generally this means people wear green clothes and drink green beer. But this year, why not make your day about being green in the eco-friendly sense? It's easy to celebrate in more sustainable ways, and then you can end your day of festivities with the satisfying knowledge that you had fun without harming the earth. There are several ways you can reduce your St. Paddy's impact.Your green clothes can be green in an eco-friendly sense too. Organic cotton is a good way to go, for the same reasons that eating organic food is usually better for the environment. Bamboo can also be a good choice -- although there are issues with the production of the fabric and it is not the perfect solution many claim, it is much more sustainable than cotton, as it grows a foot per day, uses much less water, and regrows when you cut it down. (If you've never worn bamboo, the cloth is actually super soft. And apparently it also has antibacterial properties.) Better yet, buy recycled or secondhand clothes. Since, as with many products, a large proportion of the environmental impact of clothing comes from production, by far the best apparel choice you can make for the planet is to simply wear clothes that used to belong to someone else and thus double their usefulness. As long as people are giving away their still-functional clothes, other people need to be wearing them.

Drink local beer. Transporting goods long distances contributes huge amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere, worsening climate change. We have to think about not just where we travel, but where every product we use or consume has had to travel. Local food can get a bit challenging in the Midwest during the winter months, but with microbreweries being an increasingly popular trend, it's getting easier and easier to buy beer locally. And yes, you can still dye it green if you want to.

Waste less. If you're hosting a party, ask everyone to bring their own cup. There's no reason to throw away so many plastic Solo cups. Likewise, if you're going somewhere else, take a cup with you. If you use any bottles or cans, return or recycle them. And if for some reason you do end up using plastic cups, here's a secret -- in many cities, you can recycle those too.

Tell all your friends about being green too. It's actually rather surprising to me that with all the green of St. Patrick's Day the holiday is not yet associated with environmental efforts. Maybe we can change that. What other ways can you think of to be green today? Leave us a comment with your ideas.

Post by Sierra Club Intern Liz Bizer

Friday Fun Fact

If we added all the water leaking in people's homes right now, it could fill one trillion gallons of milk jugs! That is the annual amount of water used by Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami combined.

Worldwide, many people survive on 3 gallons of water per day. In America, we can use that with one flush of the toilet.

Saving Water

A Filled Toilet Tummy, ready to install

Last night at the Sierra Club Great Lakes office in Detroit, we tied tags to toilet tummies, and that's the most alliteration you'll get from me today! A new Water Audit team is gearing up to visit homes and help owners look for ways to save water and money. The filled Toilet Tummy hangs inside the tank, precluding that amount of water from filling the tank (two quarts, maybe?) Proof that it works came when I removed the Tummy for the photo. Water level inside the tank fell enough to cause it to run a surprising period of time.

Want to do your own audit? Look at the Great Lakes Program's website. Here's a link to "use less water." Somewhat like not filling your tank when there's an ozone alert, not doing loads of laundry on rainy days reduces what's getting into the wastewater system. The home page of the website has a list of upcoming and past Detroit water events. Maybe your group can be inspired by ours?

The Emergency Activist team of Erma, Diane, Kevin, Barbara, fearless leader Melissa, and myself finished tagging toilet tummies in record time, took a pizza break, and started folding Water Audit Guides. Here's the Do The Math section, to figure how much water you use in a day. Figure:

Drinking and cooking: 2 gallons per person per day.

Toilet: Count flushes, multiply by size of your tank. In Detroit, we have lots of very old, very big toilets (needing Tummies).

Bath: 40 gallons per.

Shower: Multiply minutes by number of gallons your showerhead produces.

Brushing teeth with water on: well, NONE of us does this! Off, .25 gallon.

Washing machine: 45 gallons per load.

Dishwasher: 10 gallons per load.

Hand washing: 10-15 gallons.

Watering lawn: 140 gallons per hour. Yes, 140.

Happy saving!

Wednesday's Great Lakes Lover

Diane Dengate from Ferndale, 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!!!