“The study is the first to look at plastic pollutants in the Great Lakes. It is part of a larger global endeavor to understand the origin and prevalence of plastic pollution in water and was conducted with the Los Angeles-based 5 Gyres Institute.“We had two samples in Lake Erie that we just kept going back and rechecking the data, because the count, the number of plastic particles in the sample, was three times greater than any sample collected anywhere in the entire world,” SUNY chemistry professor and project lead Sherri Mason said.”
Category:
In the news: Pollution leading to “plastic lakes”?
October 31st, 2012 by Irene MilesRecent News
- IISG’s Eliana Brown wins 2025 Illinois Extension Excellence Award
- We’re hiring eight interns for summer 2026
- In 2026, IISG intends to fund 10 research projects focused on coastal concerns
- IISG looks back on 30 years of AIS outreach
- New step-by-step guide and veterinary brochures expand UnwantedMeds.org resources
IISG Instagram
This fall, our staff made a splash at the @ilsciteaching Conference, @sheddaquarium Educators’ Conference, and the Place-Based Education Conference.
Would you like to know where you can catch up with our education team in 2026? Sign up for our Education Newsletter at the link in bio or
https://iiseagrant.org/education/subscribe-to-education-newsletter/
Photos by Michigan Sea Grant and Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
🌊 Save the Date! 🌊
Shipboard Science Immersion 2026
Join the Center for Great Lakes Literacy aboard the R/V Lake Guardian on Lake Superior, July 7–14, 2026!
✅ Open to formal & nonformal educators (grades 5–12) across the Great Lakes region.
📅 Applications open January 2026
Learn more: https://cgll.org/signature-program/r-v-lake-guardian-shipboard-science-immersion/ or the link in bio.
#TeachingTuesday
Join the Invasive Crayfish Collaborative for an exciting webinar featuring Dr. Chris Taylor from the Illinois Natural History Survey who will provide an overview of midwestern crayfish habitat requirements, feeding, reproductive biology, and life-history.
Crayfishes in the Midwest occupy almost every type of aquatic and semi-aquatic habitat in the region. They function as critically important components of those ecosystems and in many cases represent a majority of invertebrate biomass. As “keystone” species, understanding their biology and roles in ecosystems is critically important.
Register for the webinar at InvasiveCrayfish.org/events1 Or the link in bio.
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