Lake Supporters Take a Hike

Supporters of
Lake Superior plan to take a long walk this summer. Around the whole lake…all 14
hundred miles around. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium
‘s Mike Simonson has more:

Transcript

Supporters of lake superior plan to take a long walk this summer. Around the
whole lake. All 14-hundred miles around. Mike Simonson reports for the Great
Lakes Radio Consortium:


Sandy Lyons is one of dozens of people who will be circling Lake Superior on
foot.


“Yup. We’re already getting our shoes ready.”


Lyons is with the Protect the Earth organization. She says they’re urging
people to support a seventh-generation amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The
amendment would force government and industry to consider the implications of
their actions seven generations from now. Lyons says that’s particularly
fitting for Lake Superior.


“It takes about 200 years in fact for that water to come into that lake,
go through the lake and then go back out the lake, that’s almost 7 generations
so that’s one symbolic way to understand the importance of water to human
beings.”


The trek will begin in late June, starting in northern Wisconsin, then proceed
to Superior, up to Thunderbay, Ontario to Sault Saint Marie, and back to
Wisconsin.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mike Simonson in Superior, Wisconsin.

Crabgrass Used to Clean Up Toxins

Crabgrass may be the bane of many homeowners but researchers think it might actually be useful for cleaning up some environmental messes. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson explains:

Transcript

Crabgrass may be the bane of many homeowners, but researchers think it might actually be useful for

cleaning up some
environmental messes.

the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson explains:


After years of pumping crude oil, the land around wellheads is usually coated
with a think, black crust.

In the past, oil companies have paid to have had to dig up those areas and
treat the contaminated soil as hazardous waste.

But scientists at the university of arkansas say there may be a cheaper,
easier way to clean up the oil:

by planting crabgrass around the wellheads.


Greg Thoma is an associate professor of chemical engineering.


“The contaminants are not taken up by the plant, per se, but the
plant provides a soil that is conducive to the growth of oil-degrading
microbes.”


Thoma says the crabgrass cleanup has shown promise in the lab, and it’ll soon
be put to the test in the field.

But he says the method won’t be a quick fix.


Thoma estimates it would take between five and ten years for crabgrass to
cleanse the soil around a wellhead.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Wendy Nelson.

Commentary – Losing a Friend to Cancer

The National Cancer Institute estimates that breast cancer will strike one in eight women over the course of a full lifetime. And while the medical establishment struggles to find a cure, Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston says that we should be looking to the environment to prevent the disease in the first place:

Transcript

The National Cancer Institute estimates that breast cancer will
strike one in eight women over the course of a full lifetime. And
while the medical establishment struggles to find a cure, Great Lakes
Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston says that we should be
looking to the environment to prevent the disease in the first place:


Meryle Berge just died. Most people have never heard her name, let
alone understand what her death means. But I know. She organized the
first international conference on Breast Cancer and the Environment
and encouraged us to look at the link between our own health and the
world around us. She was one of those extraordinary people who turn
personal tragedy into a greater good.


When Meryle was diagnosed with breast cancer more than eight years
ago, she embarked on this incredible one-woman crusade to find out
what had caused her disease. She not only wanted to beat her own
cancer, but she wanted to prevent other women from getting it as
well.


So Meryle started looking. She wanted to know if there was anything
in her everyday life that caused her cancer or could prevent her from
getting well. And she found that there was a link. She discovered
that average person today has at least 500 chemicals in their bodies
— none of which were found before 1920. She also found that many of
them are known carcinogens.


We don’t understand the cumulative effect of all these chemicals, but
we do know that cancer rates are increasing dramatically. North
America has the highest rates of breast cancer in the world. And
within North America, The Great Lakes Basin has the highest breast
cancer rate.


But despite this growing body of evidence, the medical community
isn’t making the connection. They continue look at heredity links and
lifestyle choices like smoking and diet. They’re missing the
connection to environmental pollution. Meanwhile, endocrine
disrupting chemicals accumulate in breast tissue until one day when
one in eight of us will find a lump.


The thought of it scares me to death. But what scares me even more is
that we could be doing something to prevent this. We continue to pour
billions of dollars every year into cancer research and treatment,
while virtually nothing goes toward preventing the disease in the
first place. If we are to remember Meryle, and thousands of other
women like her, then we must shift our focus to environmental health
and primary prevention. Meryle would have wanted it that way.


Suzanne Elston is a syndicated columnist living in Courtice, Ontario. She comes to us by way of the

Great Lakes Radio Consortium.

Meth Labs Put Environment at Risk (Part 2)

Drug enforcement officials are putting out a warning: there’s a powerful and dangerous substance spreading across the country. It’s methamphetamine. And experts say the drug presents more than law enforcement and public health challenges – they say it even puts the Environment at risk. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports:

Transcript

Drug enforcement officials are putting out a warning: there’s a powerful and
dangerous substance spreading across the country.

It’s methamphetamine. And experts say the drug presents more than law
enforcement and public health challenges – they say it even puts the
environment at risk.

The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports:


(sound of car)


This isn’t the first time Detective Lieutenant Scott Nichols has made the
rounds through this mobile home park near Portage, Michigan.

As he drives along, he points out trailers where he’s busted methamphetamine
users…

and a site where he arrested a dealer who was making the drug.


“He had actually had a methamphetamine lab behind a hidden compartment
– or a hidden wall, actually. He had brought out his wall of his bedroom by
about six feet and then put stud boards down and put up more paneling. And
back in there he had a methamphetamine lab that was operational.”


Nichols is with a special drug enforcement unit of the Michigan state police.

In his eleven years as a cop, Nichols has seen plenty of trafficking in
marijuana, cocaine.

But he says he’s never seen a drug as insidious as methamphetamine…


Methamphetamine goes by many names, including meth … Crank… Crystal…and
speed.
It’s a powerful stimulant that can be snorted, smoked, injected or eaten.
and it’s more addictive than heroin or cocaine.

Users say it eliminates the need for sleep or food. And it gives them an
overall sense of well-being.


I got this burst of energy type feeling. And I remember it felt
wonderful.”


Paula – which is not her real name – didn’t count on becoming addicted.

She tried meth for the first time, she was a young mother…


“You know, I could accomplish anything, everything was organized. The
kids were bathed, they were fed, the house was spotless, you know, and I
could still hold that job, too. So I felt like superwoman, and this was,
this was the miracle drug.”


But Paula soon needed the drug all the time. She eventually gave up her
children and her house to spend all her time getting high.

It’s a tragic story, but it’s not unusual.


According to the U.S.Drug enforcement administration, methamphetamine use
is spreading rapidly across the country, from the west coast, eastward.

And as the drug becomes increasingly popular, more and more math labs are
popping up to meet the demand.

They’re being discovered in hotel rooms…storage facilities…barns…and even
cars.


The drug is simple to make. It can be done right at home, using ingredients
like cold medicine, drain cleaner and lighter fluid.

But the process of boiling down the mixture can be extremely dangerous, often
leading to fires or explosions.


And, there are other dangers…


“It’s claimed that for every pound of methamphetamine that’s produced,
six pound of hazardous waste are generated. So depending on the size of
the operation, there’s a potential to generate significant amounts of hazardous

waste.”


Bert Webb is with BLDI environmental and safety management in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
Companies like his are often called in after a meth lab bust to collect and
dispose of the hazardous waste.


But even before the bust, Detective Lieutenant Scott Nichols says cops have
to take special precautions.


“This is not the normal police investigation.”


Nichols is flipping through a stack of photos from a recent meth lab bust…


“You can kind of see what’s happening here. This is actually a haz-mat
site.”


The officers are all wearing special protective suits, double layer gloves
and respirators.

It almost looks like they’re headed to the moon…


“What it comes down to is, we’re investigating!! And area that could be
chemically contaminated. And therefore OSHA says you will be wearing
this type of protective clothing.”


But the risk doesn’t stop at the site of the lab. The people who make the

methamphetamine – cookers, as they’re called –
typically pour the chemicals down drains, bury them in fields, or dump them
in streams. The result can be contaminated ground and surface water…and fish
kills.


Scott Nichols says it’s nearly impossible to trace where all the toxic waste
ends up.


“They’re not going to say, ‘Yeah, I was putting it all down the sewer,
and it’s all now in the septic field.’ Or they’re not going to say, ‘Yeah, I
was taking it all out to someone’s field and dumping it.’ And that’s some
of the hardest information to get out of these people – is what did they do
with the byproduct?”


Nobody knows the extent of the dumping.

The problem is so new, most states have not yet dedicated resources to combat
it.


But some states – like Kansas – have taken action. They’ve created meth lab
clean-up programs within their environmental agencies.

Kansas has been hit particularly hard. Scott Nichols says last year, more
than five-hundred labs were shut down in the state.

So far, methamphetamine hasn’t reached epidemic proportions around the great
Lakes…

But experts say it’s just a matter of time, before the region catches up.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Wendy Nelson in Portage, Michigan.

The Perils of Meth Addiction (Part 1)

Methamphetamine use has reached epidemic proportions in the western U-S the drug is highly addictive and exacts a heavy toll on users’ lives. Now, many Midwestern states are being flooded with the drug. In the first of a two-part series, the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports that methamphetamine is headed our way:

Transcript

Methamphetamine use has reached epidemic proportions in the western U.S.
The drug is highly addictive and exacts a heavy toll on users’ lives.
Now, many midwestern states are being flooded with the drug.
In the first of a two-part series, the great lakes radio consortium’s Wendy
Nelson reports that methamphetamine is headed our way:


Most mothers will tell you, raising a family is a balancing act.
When you add in a job outside the home, things become even tougher.
But it’s hard to understand just how tough, until you try
doing it yourself.


“I had to get up in the morning at 5:30, get everybody ready – and
bottles and diapers and all kinds of things and get the kids to a sitter and
get to work. And then I would work all day and come back and get them. And
by the time I would get them and come back home, it was time to put them to
bed.”


Paula – which is not her real name – was raising four young children alone
after a divorce.


She first tried methamphetamine, also known as “meth,” at the suggestion of
her former husband. He said it would help her keep up with the kids and the
housework.
Paula calls methamphetamine a wonder drug. It gave her a burst of energy
that lasted for ten or twelve hours at a time.


Suddenly, she says it was easy to work twelve-hour shifts at the factory,
take care of the kids, and cook and clean.

but it didn’t take long before it all caught up with her…


“I remember times when the morning came and the paycheck was gone. And
there was no food in the cupboards to feed the children, and the bills hadn’t
been paid. Of course that was over a period of time
but once the party life started to catch up with me, you know I was
getting paid on Friday and on Saturday morning, broke. And you’re talking
six-, seven-, eight-hundred dollar paychecks.”


Drug experts say methamphetamine gives the user the message that everything is
ok – that they don’t need food, they don’t need water, they don’t need sleep.


Lieutenant detective Scott Nichols says he’s seen first-hand the human wreckage that

can create. Nichols is with a special drug enforcement unit of the Michigan state police.


“You can imagine, if you stop drinking water for seven days, what’s
gonna happen to your body. If you stop eating for forty-five days, how much
weight you’re gonna lose. It’s amazing when we get these people. They
have large, open sores on their body, on their face. They’re emaciated.
It’s quite a startling picture when you see these people.”


Methanphetamine’s been around for decades. But its popularity has been
booming in recent years. And it’s sweeping its way across the country from
the west coast.


Doctor Jeff Kesler says there are a few things contributing to the growth of
The drug:
Methamphetamine is highly addictive, and cheap and easy to make.


“Access to the drug is very easy. We have the methamphetamine
recipes on the Internet. And really to make methamphetamine, you could buy
all the local ingredients at, like, a Wal-Mart.”


Kesler is a psychologist in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He specializes in substance
abuse treatment for prison inmates.

He says the symptoms of methamphetamine abuse mirror those of a severe
psychiatric disorder.


“Methamphetamine users who are coming down off a high clinically can’t
be diagnosed differently than a paranoid schizophrenic. So the clinical
symptoms that you see, that we see, with methamphetamine user, versus a
paranoid schizophrenic, are virtually the same.”


Kesler says most methamphetamine users, like Paula, only get into treatment
After they get into trouble with the law.


“When they picked me up that night, I remember being surrounded by,
like, fifteen different police cars and guns drawn and asking me to get out.”


Paula got caught up in a life of non-stop partying. She lost her job, her
house, and her children all because of her meth habit.

She was also moving from one abusive relationship to the next.

Then one night after snorting meth, she retaliated against her abusive
boyfriend.


“I became the abuser, instead of the abused. I became more like him.
And in my mind, I thought, you know, one of us is gonna die, and it’s just
Not gonna be me! And so I went after him.”


Paula stole a car, drove to her boyfriend’s house, tore down the door and
Attacked him.


“I had two felony counts and six misdemeanors all in one night. And
they put a five thousand dollar bond on my head. And I could remember
sitting there thinking, “Boy, I really did it this time – I have really
Messed up this time.’”


Paula ended up in a court-ordered drug program. Now, after nearly two years of

intensive treatment and monitoring, she’s about to graduate.

But Paula says she’s seeing more and more new people coming into the program…

because of methamphetamine. And that scares her, because she knows how seductive the drug can be.


“I hate what it did to me, and I hate what I did to me. But for a very
long time, that drug was my very best friend. And we all know how difficult
it is to give up a best friend. So saying goodbye was really, really
difficult.”


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Wendy Nelson.

Nitrogen Use Threatens Habitat

An
ecologist is warning that using nitrogen as a fertilizer will cause far more damage to the
environment in future years. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:

Transcript

An ecologist is warning that using nitrogen as a fertilizer will cause far
more damage to the environment in future years. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Farmers use nitrogen to fertilize the soil. They couldn’t produce nearly as
much food without it. But nitrogen runoff in rivers and in the gulf of
Mexico has caused dead zones. David Tilman is an ecologist with the
University of Minnesota.


He’s found as more nitrogen enters the environment…
there’s also damage on land. He says some noxious weeds thrive in a high
nitrogen environment while many native plants die off. Tilman says as demand
for food goes up, nitrogen use will only increase…


“We all eat food. We need farmers to be efficient producers of food
as they are now and yet what we are saying as a society we have to help
farmers find ways to grow food that has less nitrogen that’s added to the
system and less leaking out of the system.”


Tilman says high-tech precision fertilizer application and new strains of
crops could help reduce the amount of nitrogen needed to grow food.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

New Evidence for Global Warming

A new study published recently in the journal "Nature" suggests global warming is greater than previously thought. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

A new study published in the most recent issue of the journal ‘nature’
suggests global warming is greater than previously thought. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports….

This new study analyzed temperature data from holes bored deep into the
earth. As atmospheric temperatures warm, the rock in the earth stores the
heat. Henry Pollack is a professor at the University of Michigan. He and his
colleagues analyzed temperature data from more than 600 boreholes around the
globe. They found the temperature has increased about one-point-eight degrees
Fahrenheit in the last five centuries.


“Half of that has taken place in the 20th century. And 80-percent
of it is in the 19th and 20th centuries.”


Other studies of global climate change have looked at indirect effects…
things such as the growth of coral reefs, tree rings, or ice cores. Pollack
says studying boreholes is more direct, and the findings different.


“We show that there’s been an even greater warming over the past
five centuries than some of the other methods have suggested.”


Pollack says they’ll now try to get further temperature measurements from
more sensitive areas of the globe, and try to refine how they analyze the
data.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

The Risks of Genetically Modified Fish

You may have heard a lot about genetically-engineered crops. But scientists are also experimenting with the genetic makeup of animals for instance, they think genetically-altered fish could go a long way toward increasing the world’s food supply. The fish mature twice as fast, and grow bigger, overall, than non-modified fish. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports, there could be a catch:

Transcript

You may have heard a lot about genetically engineered crops. But scientists
are also experimenting with the genetic makeup of animals.

For instance, they think genetically altered fish could go a long way toward
increasing the world’s food supply.

The fish mature twice as fast, and grow bigger, overall, than non-modified
fish.

But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports, there could
be a catch:


Scientists make these super fish by inserting a growth hormone.

But one researcher says, bigger isn’t necessarily better.

Bill Muir is an animal scientist at Purdue University.

He found the offspring of the genetically altered fish had lower survival
rates. And he says that could spell trouble if the fish get loose in the
wild.


“It’s much like we’re seeing with the gypsy moth or any other things –
is introduced species have all sorts of ramifications that in
hindsight, they were terrible.”


Using data from laboratory tests and computer models, Muir found that a
single genetically-altered fish could breed its way into a wild population.
and lead to its extinction within thirty-seven generations.


Muir’s research was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The goal
was to assess the environmental risks of genetically altered fish.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Wendy Nelson.

Genetically Modified Yards

Imagine, if you will, never having to mow your lawn again. A new development in biotechnology may make it happen. Scientists have discovered a new "dwarf" gene that regulates the growth of plants. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson Reports, dwarf grass may offer some insight toward changing overall attitudes about genetic engineering:

Transcript

Imagine, if you will, never having to mow your lawn again.

a new development in biotechnology may make it happen. Scientists have
discovered a new “dwarf” gene that regulates the growth of plants.

As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson reports,
dwarf grass may offer some insight toward changing overall attitudes about
genetic engineering:


Experts say even people who object to genetically engineered foods may
embrace biotech innovations like dwarf grass.

Gary Comstock is coordinator of the bioethics program at Iowa State
University.

He says when it comes to the genetic engineering of crops, consumers haven’t
seen any payoff in terms of lower prices or better tasting foods…

Comstock says people are more likely to accept biotechnology when there are
obvious advantages.


“So until the industry gets
consumer really can see a direct
continue to see people hesitant.
a product – like dwarf grass – where the
benefit to them, I think we’re going to see the people hesitant.”


As for dwarf grass, it might be awhile before you’ll see it growing on a lawn
near you.


Researchers at the California-based Salk Institute for Biological Studies
discovered the dwarf gene. They say it could be five or more years before a
product like dwarf grass hits the market.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Wendy Nelson.

Commentary – Web Magic

Electronic communication has literally changed the way we do business. But as Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston observes, for environmental groups and other NGOs, the transformation has been nothing short of miraculous:

Transcript

Electronic communication has literally changed the way we do
business. But as Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne
Elston observes, for environmental groups and other NGOs, the
transformation has been nothing short of miraculous;


I’m a newspaper columnist and yet I’ve never spent a day inside a
newspaper office. Each week I sit in front of my computer in my old
farmhouse in the country and write about environmental issues. The
information that I need to write my column comes from materials that
I gather from the web. When I’m finished, I simply e-mail my column
to the newsroom computer. In most cases, I’ve never even met my
editors.


What’s so remarkable about my situation is that it’s not unique.
Thanks to the internet, millions of people are turning away from
traditional employment and are embracing a whole new way of working
and thinking. What I find so exciting is that because of the web,
even the most isolated writer can be connected to a global community
of independent and geographically separate individuals.


What the web has provided us with is the possibility of connecting
every soul on the planet – to empower and inform them, without
political restriction or financial control.


What this means for environmental advocates and others is a level
playing field. Local issues immediately become global when they’re
distributed electronically. Small groups can now compete in the war
of words against large corporations. In addition to getting their
message out, isolated groups now receive vital information and
support from around the planet. They are no longer alone in their
struggle.


What’s so ironic about the Internet is that it was originally
designed – in secret – by the U.S. military as a way of communicating
in the event of a nuclear war. And although that net is now global in
scope, each individual connection to the network, each telephone
line, each modem is independent of all others.


I have the most amazing picture in my office. It’s a composite aerial.
photograph of the earth from space, taken at night. The continental
masses are outlined in points of light. The Great Lakes basin is so
clearly illuminated, that I can actually pinpoint where I live on the
north shore of Lake Ontario. Every time I look at the map I imagine
myself being connected instantaneously to every single point of light
on it. That’s the power of the web.


Suzanne Elston is a syndicated columnist living in Courtice, Ontario. She comes to us by way of the

Great Lakes Radio Consortium.