The Great Lakes provide a great many things for millions of people, and there could be a new item added to that impressive list – Wind Power. 

Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan is preparing to place a floating research buoy in Lake Michigan to help gather the data needed to determine whether an offshore wind farm in the lake could be feasible and effective. 

From NPR:  

“Arn Boezaart heads the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center. Last year the center operated the buoy only 4 miles offshore. This year it’ll collect first of its kind data that’ll likely determine whether an offshore wind farm is viable in the middle of Lake Michigan. 

Boezaart says there was a lot more interest in offshore wind data when the project began two-and-a-half years ago.” 

Head over to the NPR Blog for the complete article.

The Great Lakes, and Lake Michigan specifically, are valuable in a wide range ways. In addition to the unique habitats they provide to numerous species, and the drinking water that millions of people draw from them, the Great Lakes have been valuable and vital paths for transportation and travel. A great deal of cultural and historical information and artifacts lie just beneath the surface of the Lakes, and Indiana is working to save some of that heritage.

From the Northwest Indiana Times: 

“Indiana’s movement to preserve its underwater history began in the 1980s when salvagers attempted to raise the wreck of the J.D. Marshall, which sank in 1911 off the shore of the Dunes State Park. Federal and state laws followed in the 1980s, protecting the shipwrecks from salvage operations by imposing fines and imprisonment for looting and vandalism.” 

 You can read the complete article here. 

The term “food web” is used to describe the intricate relationships between the many different plants, animals, and organisms that can exist in small or large areas. Understanding food webs in specific environmental locations, such as in one or more of the Great Lakes, can help researchers and communities better respond to changes in those delicate systems. Invasive species are just one example of a potential influence that can drastically alter a food web and have substantial impacts on native environments.

IISG Associate Director for Education Robin Goettel, Education Specialist Terri Hallesy, AIS Specialist Sarah Zack, and AIS Assistant Danielle Hilbrich attended the National Science Teacher Association’s 2012 Conference March 29-31, and got a tremendous response to the educational resources, tips, and information they offered to the many teachers in attendance.

 Visitors learned about how the “Nab the Aquatic Invader” website can be used as an excellent learning tool for grades 4-10, and how the GLRI “Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers” education and outreach initiative informs people what they can do to prevent the spread of aquatic “hitchhikers.” They also distributed brochures on Great Lakes Literacy principles, and CD-ROM copies of the COSEE/Sea Grant “Fresh and Salt” curriculum on important Great Lakes and marine issues.

 The “Don’t Let It Loose” poster contains helpful information for teachers about properly disposing of unwanted classroom organisms. Smaller “tip-card” versions of the poster were available too, as well as an adoption pledge containing care tips for students and their families to use when adopting a classroom organism. Some of the highlights at the IISG table were the specimens available for teachers to look at, including a zebra mussel-encrusted shoe, which was a great catalyst to engage teachers in conservation about invasive species.

Communication is a crucial part of any project, and especially one as significant as cleaning up an ecosystem that has been deemed an Area of Concern. One of those AOCs is the Sheboygan River, and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Environmental Social Scientist Caitie McCoy has been very involved in the remediation project, working with and reaching out to the communities that live near and rely on the river in a variety of ways.

Our friends at New Jersey Sea Grant have some great tips about safe, clean, environmentally friendly things that every boater can do to help the environment while preparing their watercraft for the season. And while there are some differences in conditions between the east coast and our Midwestern lakes and rivers, there are a number of steps that are universally good for protecting the outdoors.

Mercury content in water is a health hazard for people, animals, and delicate ecosystems, and preventing its release into the water supply is a major concern. A four-year study has found that there are effective and affordable methods currently available to reduce mercury levels in waste water released at a BP refinery near Lake Michigan.


From the Northwest Indiana Times: 

“Scientists from Purdue University Calumet and Argonne National Laboratories who examined the issue for more than four years released their findings in a community briefing at the Hammond campus Tuesday morning. 

In 2007, BP funded a $5 million grant to the Purdue University Water Institute and Argonne National Laboratories to research technologies that would help the company meet the 1.3 parts per trillion Clean Water Act standard for mercury.”

Read the complete article here. 

“Outside of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins, news of this carp-control strategy barely registered with the U.S. public. But on March 6, it hit China and…microbloggers took to the minor news topic with gusto, using it to explore issues ranging from corrupt civil servants to U.S. sovereign debt…

Within a week, netizens posted more than 85,000 tweets, comments on tweets and re-tweets on the carp rampage. By Chinese microblogging standards, that’s actually quite modest. More popular topics can easily generate millions of posts. But such a large amount of commentary regarding an essentially American story is significant.”