The Environment Report

Imagine walking down a picturesque beach along Lake Michigan, and stumbling upon the carcasses of dead birds. That’s a very real and unpleasant problem along Lakes Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie. (It’s not as big of an issue in Lake Superior because of the lake’s colder water temperatures.)Loons and other deep-diving birds are suffering from a disease called avian botulism. It’s form of food poisoning that kills wild birds in the Great Lakes ecosystem.The U.S. Geological Survey explains that “avian botulism is a paralytic disease caused by ingestion of a toxin produced by the bacteria, Clostridium botulinum.”Microbiologist David Blehert is with the USGS’s National Wildlife Health Center and he’s trying to figure out the scope of the problem, why it’s happening, and how to fix it.  Here’s our conversation.

ENTER TEASER

ENTER TEASER

This wind farm is in Gratiot County, north of Lansing. If you’ve ever driven along State Highway 127, you’ve seen it. More of wind farms are going up around the state, so I wanted to know what it’s like for the people who live here. This wind turbine sits on the Humm family farm in Gratiot County. I met up with Kent him outside his shop - it sits about a quarter mile from the wind turbine. 

Some policymakers say scientists hold onto their data too long. They say by the time the information is released, it can miss the window for addressing pressing environmental problems. Now the federal government is urging scientists to share their data sooner. But as Julie Halpert reports, that has triggered a heated debate over who has the right to information that could lead to important discoveries.

Wolves are doing fine in many parts of the Upper Midwest, so much so that people are hunting them now, but a protected population of wolves on Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior has plummeted. There are just eight adults on the island. The island is home to the longest predator prey study in the world. The Superintendent of Isle Royale National Park will decide what to do next. And we'll take a look at how playgrounds for kids with disabilities can help them make new friends. 

More communities in Michigan are embracing bike lanes. Grand Rapids plans to add 40 more miles of bike lanes in the next few years. Detroit has an aggressive approach to implementing them and they're popping up in places like Adrian and South Haven, not to mention the biking hot spots of Traverse City and Marquette.

Automakers are getting together in Traverse City this week to talk about how to make their industry more sustainable.  That means making cars more fuel efficient… and cutting carbon dioxide emissions from factories. But it doesn't come cheap.

Environmental groups say our chemical safety law in the U.S. is broken.  The chemical industry agrees the law needs to be updated.  But of course there’s plenty of debate about HOW to do that. 

People who study nature often choose the career because they love being outdoors.  But there’s a trend toward data centers for ecology.  It could mean that fewer people will have to go into the field to study plants and animals.  We’ll hear about the pros and cons of these projects.

It’s been three years since an Enbridge pipeline ruptured near Marshall… and the cleanup of the Kalamazoo River is not over yet. Lindsey Smith brings us an update.

We’ll hear about another protest of the new Enbridge oil pipeline… And we’ll talk to an analyst about why we’ve been using more renewable energy than we used to.

We’ll hear why there are dead fish washing up on Lake Michigan beaches. We’ll also talk to a University of Michigan scientist who studies glaciers to learn more about climate change.  We’ll hear what she’s learning from studying melting ice.

Paper mills were once common in Michigan... and we’re still cleaning up pollution they left behind.  We'll hear about cleaning up a Superfund site along the Kalamazoo River, and a national report on river health.

Sea lampreys are one of the most destructive invasive species in the Great Lakes.  Scientists want to know more about what makes them tick. And they’ve just discovered male lampreys heat up when they’re around a female.  We’ll hear why scientists care about the unusual mating habits of the sea lamprey