Environmental groups are praising a group of companies, including Microsoft, Toyota, and Hewlett-Packard. The companies are phasing out the use of a plastic called PVC. But environmentalists say there’s a long way to go to protect the environment from PVC. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
Environmental groups are praising a group of companies, including
Microsoft, Toyota, and Hewlett-Packard. The companies are phasing out
the use of a plastic called PVC, but environmentalists say there’s a long
way to go to protect the environment from PVC. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
PVC, or Polyvinyl Chloride, is a plastic found in a host of construction,
automobile and home use products. When something made of PVC is
burned, it releases toxic chemicals. The most dangerous is dioxin, which
is believed to cause cancer.
Steven Lester of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice says
municipal incinerators aren’t the only ones burning PVC. People in rural
areas do too. He says trash service is much more expensive for those
people.
“Many people find it cheaper to just burn their trash in the backyard and
get rid of it that way.”
Some studies say after industry, open burning is the second highest
source of dioxin in the environment. Only 18 states have banned open
burning, but others are considering it.
A new survey finds that many people say they’ll cut down on holiday shopping this year because of high-energy costs. But even the researchers who conducted the survey are skeptical that will actually happen. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
A new survey finds that many people say they’ll cut down on holiday
shopping this year because of high-energy costs, but even the researchers
who conducted the survey are skeptical that will actually happen. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Consumers have told the Credit Union National Association for the past
six years that they planned to spend about the same or less during the
holiday season than they did the year before, but the association’s Chief
Economist Bill Hampel says spending has actually gone up each year.
“We typically go into holiday spending season saying I’m not going to do
what I did last year I’m going to restrain myself and then by end of
December we have this post holiday spending hangover saying whoops
we, our bills have run up we’ve spent more than we planned to.”
Hampel says this year, many people say high gas prices and heating bills
will curb their holiday spending. Still, Hampel says the economy would
benefit more if people spend what they can afford on gifts and cut down
on energy use. He says what we spend on presents goes into the
domestic economy, while energy spending typically goes to foreign
suppliers.
A new report by a forest protection group says the increase
in logging in National Forests shows no signs of slowing. The uptick in logging is also happening in the Great Lakes region. The National Forest Protection Alliance says the U.S. Forest Service needs to re-evaluate its mission. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton has this
report:
Transcript
A new report by a forest protection group says the increase in logging
in National Forests shows no signs of slowing. The uptick in logging
is also happening in the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes region. The
National Forest Protection Alliance says the U.S. Forest Service needs
to re-evaluate its mission. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy
Samilton has this report:
Logging companies are going after more acres in National Forests
because trees have regenerated after the large-scale clear-cutting of a
hundred years ago. But Jake Kreilick of the National Forest Protection
Alliance says the logging is a net loss for taxpayers, because the U.S.
Forest Service is heavily subsidizing it by building roads to get the
trees out. And Kreilick says it’s unnecessary – because lumber
companies have more domestic and global sources for wood than ever
before.
“The federal government does not need to be in the logging business any
more.”
But logging companies say with half the nation’s softwood in National
Forests, they do need the wood. They say the Forest Service is doing a
good job in managing the multiple users who rely on National Forests
for recreation, hunting and logging.
A new study has found high levels of mercury in fresh swordfish at major grocery chains. Environmentalists say the results should be a wake-up call for the Food and Drug Administration. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
A new study has found high levels of mercury in fresh swordfish at
major grocery chains. Environmentalists say the results should be a wake-up
call for the Food and Drug Administration. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
The Mercury Policy Project tested fresh and frozen swordfish from stores in
twenty-two states. The average amount of mercury in the swordfish was one-point-one parts
per million.
That’s higher than the amount the FDA considers safe for
pregnant and nursing women. Michael Bender is with the Mercury Policy
Project, which organized the study. He says the FDA isn’t doing enough to
protect people.
“Why aren’t they removing the swordfish from the marketplace? Over fifty percent of samples are over one part per million, the FDA’s action level, where they can take action… why doesn’t the FDA take action?”
Bender says the FDA should also require warnings posted where the fish is
sold. An FDA official who asked not to be named says the agency is
educating the public about the risks of eating swordfish. She says states
can take additional action such as posting notices if they wish.
A debate is developing over who has the authority to place
stricter rules on ocean freighters that bring cargo into the Great Lakes.
The ultimate goal is to keep these ships from discharging invasive species
when they dump ballast water into the lakes. But as the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports, experts say the debate is overlooking a
key issue:
Transcript
A debate is developing over who has the authority to place stricter rules on ocean freighters that can bring cargo into the Great Lakes. The ultimate goal is to keep ships from discharging invasive species when they dump ballast water into the Lakes. But as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports, experts say the debate is overlooking a key issue:
Some states want the EPA to be in charge of regulating ballast water discharges. Others want the Coast Guard to handle it. Whoever regulates the discharges, it won’t be enough, according to Allegra Cangelosi. She’s a policy analyst at the Northeast MidWest Institute.
“They can’t pump it all out with routine ballast pumps. So they often carry residual ballast into the Lakes which is teeming with organisms nonetheless.”
Cangelosi says freighters need to start treating their ballast water with technologies such as filtration and deoxygenation. She says the longer the government waits to require the treatment of ballast water, the more invasive species will make their way into the Great Lakes.
The first draft of the Great Lakes water diversion compact, which allowed for some water diversion, wasn't popular. (Photo courtesy of the
DEQ)
A proposed agreement to protect the Great Lakes from water diversion has cleared one more hurdle. The second public comment period for the Great Lakes Basin Water Resources Compact ended last week. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
A proposed agreement to protect the Great Lakes from water diversion has cleared one more hurdle. The second public comment period for the Great Lakes Basin Water Resources Compact ended last week. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Ten thousand comments were recieved about the first draft of the compact, which permitted water diversion, within limits.
That wasn’t a popular idea. David Naftzger is head of the Council of Great Lakes Governors. He says the second draft is more restrictive about water diversion than the first. It recieved about three thousand comments.
“The changes that were made were intended to make the agreement more reasonable and workable and it’s likely that the improvements that were made are one factor that contributed to the number of comments we recieved this go around.”
The compact still has many hurdles to go. Governors and Legislatures of the eight Great Lakes states must sign on to the final version. It must also be approved by Congress.
Instead of a traditional classroom, the students of Goodwillie Environmental School are learning outside. (Photo by Michel Collot)
Most 5th and 6th graders right now are enjoying outdoor activities during their summer vacation. But at one public school, the outdoors is part of the curriculum, year round. The school aims to turn kids who love the outdoors into lifelong stewards of the earth. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
Most fifth and sixth graders right now are enjoying outdoor activities
during their summer vacation, but at one public school, the outdoors is
part of the curriculum, year-round. The school aims to turn kids who love
the outdoors into lifelong stewards of the earth. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton
reports.
(Sound of sawing wood)
Sawing logs is hard work, especially for fifth graders like Amelia, Leoni,
and Taylor. The results can be seen in this rustic, but sturdy log cabin
overlooking the Goodwillie Environmental School. The cabin was built almost
entirely by the fifth grade class in half hour shifts, because the work is
so demanding.
“We worked on the chinking, the floor inside here – I did that
chinking! And then we worked on the floor inside here – and
when we get enough bricks, that’s what the fireplace is going to look like.”
The students get most of their instruction in science, math, history, and
other subjects as they hike through the woods or work on an outdoor project
like the cabin. Of course, they spend some of their time in the classrooms
in the southwest Michigan school. But today, volunteer George Stegmeyer is
building a kiln, where he will fire raw bricks for the cabin’s fireplace. The
bricks were made by the students with mud they dug from the grounds.
Stegmeyer explains how the hot air will move through the kiln and then blast
through the chimney.
“Just like firing pottery, it reconfigures the molecules so that they are no longer water-soluble.”
The students call Stegmeyer “grandpa,” an example of the extended family
atmosphere of the school. Only about fifty children are selected each year:
the ones who show a passion for the outdoors. Parent Peter Chan says it’s
not for every kid, but he wishes all school districts had an option like
this.
“I spent from sunup to sundown, most of the time, I can remember playing outdoors, if not exploring
the fields, the farmer orchard, or the woods by my house. Unfortunately
today, children don’t have that experience.”
Chan went to a similar school when he was young. He’s now a meteorologist.
He’s enthusiastic about his son having the same opportunity. Some of the
parents might worry that their child could fall behind in traditional
coursework here. But fifth-grade teacher Rick Gillett says there’s nothing
to fear. Students consistently score one hundred on the state’s annual standardized
test, all without “teaching to the test.”
“For instance, in the science test, when you get into the physics, in inclined planes and pulleys,
when you’ve actually used them in building the log cabin, it makes sense. You really understand how
the physics work.”
Gillett says he doesn’t expect every student in the outdoor school to become
a biologist or forest ranger, but he does expect the school to make a
lasting difference. He says some of his former students have come back
to see him when they’ve reached college age. He says that’s when it really
seems to sink in how much they learned here.
“I really do… I think that once it’s in your heart you’re never going to get it out of
there.”
That already seems to be the case with most of the students. Fifth-graders
Spencer and Evan can’t wait until sixth grade, when they’ll have a chance to
tackle a project in the Native American village that’s tucked into the woods
below the log cabin. They show off the two buildings that previous sixth
graders built: an Ojibwa smokehouse and a winterhouse.
“This is the inner bark of basswood it basically ties whole thing together, holds it up. These go
down about five feet into the ground, these go down about ten feet into the ground, so as you can
see it’s very, very sturdy.”
This fall, a brand new group of fifth graders will arrive at Goodwillie
Environmental School. They’ll take up where the last class left off and
build the fireplace for the cabin. Along the way, they will also pick up
the knowledge, experience, and passion for the outdoors that will help them
be lifelong stewards of the earth in years to come.
Much of the Tittabawassee River floodplain has been contaminated by dioxin from a Dow Chemical plant. (Photo courtesy of Michigan DOT)
A recent court ruling found that Dow Chemical Company does not have to pay to monitor the health of people living in a Michigan floodplain contaminated with dioxin. The dioxin is a by-product of the manufacturing process for chemicals made by Dow. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Transcript
A recent court ruling found that Dow Chemical Company does not have
to pay to monitor the health of people living in a Michigan floodplain
contaminated with dioxin. The dioxin is a byproduct of the
manufacturing process for chemicals made by Dow. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Tracy Samilton
reports:
Dioxin is implicated in liver problems and cancer. At least twenty-two miles of
the Tittabawassee River floodplain in central Michigan are contaminated
with dioxin from a Dow Chemical plant.
Homeowners said Dow should pay for
ongoing tests to monitor the amount of dioxin in their blood. Now that
the court has ruled against them, floodplain resident Kathy Henry says the
only thing people can do is try to keep more dioxin from getting into their
systems.
“I wear a dust mask when I mow, we don’t eat any of
neighbors’ produce that they offer us that’s grown in the floodplain, and after we mow the lawn or we’re working out in gardens or yard, we come in and throw our clothes in the
laundry right away and jump in the shower to wash it off of us.”
Dow Chemical has commissioned a one-time study to compare dioxin levels in
people who live in the floodplain with levels found among people in another
region.
There is currently a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes, but it's only temporary. (Photo courtesy of the USGS)
Members of Congress from eight Great Lakes states have introduced legislation to permanently ban oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes. They say the lakes are vulnerable to environmental damage if a temporary ban is allowed to expire. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton
reports:
Transcript
Members of Congress from eight Great Lakes states have introduced
legislation to permanently ban oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes.
They say the Lakes are vulnerable to environmental damage if a temporary ban
is allowed to expire. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton
reports:
The temporary ban on Great Lakes drilling is due to expire in 2007.
Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak says oil leaks from drilling pollute the
Lakes, and people could be injured or even killed by releases of toxic
hydrogen sulfide from gas drilling.
Four Great Lakes states have their own drilling bans. But Stupak says the issue is too important to take the risk that new state legislatures might lift the ban.
“We think it should be federal policy. The federal government has acted once or twice for at least these temporary bans that we have in place right now, so why don’t we just make it part of our
energy policy and permanently ban oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes?”
Stupak says a federal ban might also convince Canada to consider follow
suit. He says there are about eighty oil spills a year in the Lakes from
Canadian oil rigs.
Energy companies maintain the practice is safe both for the environment and people’s health.
Soybean rust spreads quickly and easily, and Midwest farmers are worried that the disease may spread upward from the South. (Photo courtesy of the USDA)
All eyes are on the south right now for signs of a potentially
devastating fungus that attacks soybeans. A serious outbreak there could
bring soybean rust to the Midwest where most of the nation’s soybeans
are grown. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton
reports:
Transcript
All eyes are on the south right now for signs of a potentially
devastating fungus that attacks soybeans. A serious outbreak there could
bring soybean rust to the Midwest – where most of the nation’s soybeans are
grown. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:
Soybean rust spores are carried on wind currents, so it is easily spread.
So far this year, only Georgia has had a small outbreak.
Ray Hammerschmidt is a plant pathologist at Michigan State University. He
says every step is being taken to protect soybean crops, including dotting
the Midwest with what are called sentinel plots.
“And once a week, starting in a few weeks, each of these plots will be scouted very intensively, looking at at least a hundred plants, looking for any signs or symptoms of the disease.”
Advance warnings will allow farmers to apply fungicide to their crops as
soon as possible. Soybean rust can’t overwinter in the cold north.
So if southern states have good luck – or do a good job treating it – it’s less
likely to make it here.
