"Environment" is the buzz word at The University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor this semester. Following a trend among universities nationwide, faculty and students from all different departments here joined together to pay a tribute to planet earth with an Environmental Theme Semester. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Julie Edelson Halpert attended one of the events and has this report:
Month: April 1998
New Technology Curtails Airport Runoff
Recent studies have shown that the use of ethylene glycol to ridairplanes of ice and frost is costly to both airlines and theenvironment. While efforts are underway to gather up more and more ofthis toxic liquid so that it can be recycled, another airport isimplementing an entirely new technology to drastically reduce the use ofglycol even in the most extreme conditions. The Great Lakes RadioConsortium’s Todd Witter reports:
El Nino Brings Early Allergy Season
The tropical weather pattern known as El Nino has been blamed for floods in California and tornadoes throughout the South. In the Great Lakes Region, El Nino has brought warmer than usual temperatures. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tom Scheck reports, the mild winter has health care professionals worrying about this year’s allergy season:
New Corn Variety Lowers Agricultural Impact
Manure spills and overflow from large hog farms has become a problem for many local waterways. Those spills often contains high levels of nitrates and pesticides which can endanger fish populations and contaminate water supplies. But now, researchers have found a variety of corn that could make hog manure less harmful. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel Reports:
Commentary – The Quest for Purity
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing national rulesfor organic food production. The new rules are an attempt tostandardize labeling and quality. But as they are now written, theywill still allow irradiation, genetically altered food and syntheticfertilizers…And that has Great Lakes Radio Consortium Commentator JuliaKing worried:
Superfund Remediation
The Great Lakes Region is home to thousands of inactive, abandonedhazardous waste sites. Cleaning them up is often the responsibility ofeach individual state. But the process often takes years and ishampered by a lack of funds, a lack of scientific knowledge, and a lackof political will. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bud Lowell isfollowing the clean-up at one New York site. Today, the siteassessment:
Restoration Practices Generating Controversy
Years ago, forest preserves were established in many American cities toprotect valuable natural areas from urban development. But over theyears, the health of those preserves has declined. Conservationists arenow trying to repair the damage by actively restoring those naturalareas. But now, some of their techniques are being questioned. TheGreat Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel reports:
Radium Girls
It’s not unusual for authors to feel a bond with the people they write about. But that connection is especially strong between a modern-day university professor and a group of working class women in the early 1900’s. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Wendy Nelson has more:
Illinois River to Be Protected
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the State of Illinois are teaming up to save the heavily polluted Illinois River. The project is being hailed as the nation’s "largest effort to save an ailing river." The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel reports:
Female Hormones Found in Waste Water
Millions of American women rely on birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. Millions more depend on replacement hormones to prevent symptoms of menopause like hot flashes and osteoporosis. Both medications contain a synthetic version of the female hormone estrogen. And now, researchers at the University of Mississippi found that some of that estrogen ends up in wastewater. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel has more on the potential effects: