It’s Saturday afternoon, the early summer sun is warming your face while kids ride their bikes in lazy circles along the waterfront pathway and the unmistakable Detroit skyline punctuates the horizon. Just off the shore, a group of kayakers drift by. What sounds like the backdrop of a big-budget film is the vision driving the...
By Mark Stryker, Author of “Jazz from Detroit” It’s early 2023, but I’m still thinking about the cultural highlights of 2022 in Detroit, particularly the New Standards/Jazz Without Patriarchy initiative that unfolded over three weeks in October. There were so many vibrant aspects to this ambitious project, spearheaded by the Carr Center and curated by...
Climate change affects us all. The reliable patterns of the past are shifting, sometimes rapidly. Residents and businesses in the Great Lakes region will face new and increasing challenges from invasive species, lower crop yields, and harmful algal blooms. Metro Detroit will experience more flooding and unprecedented heat waves that test our infrastructure. The United...
October 18 marks the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. It is a significant U.S. law regulating pollutants and supporting water quality standards to ensure the nation’s waterways are healthy. Before this law, communities witnessed the rapid degradation of our rivers and lakes. An example in southeast Michigan is the Rouge River catching fire....
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of the #GreatLakes500 ranking of influencers on Twitter. Published every Tuesday, the listing has come to be regarded as a go-to source for making connections, building relationships, and spreading awareness about the Great Lakes. So, what have we learned from its success in year one, and...
By Raquel Garcia, Executive Director, Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision I moved to Southwest Detroit in 2005. A good friend drew me to the neighborhood. Every year, she would throw parties and I could hear happy music from other houses along with ice cream trucks and the excited voices of children buying ice cream treats. When...
Pictured above from left to right: John Erb, chair of the Erb Family Foundation, Jonathan T. Overpeck, Ph.D., dean of the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, and Thomas Gladwin, Professor Emeritus of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business during a 25th-anniversary event for the Erb Institute. By...
This article was originally published by Cutter on April 26, 2022. By Neil Hawkins, President, Erb Family Foundation And Laura Asiala, Chief Sustainability Officer, Wholeworks All systems are perfectly designed to produce their results — even when their results are far from perfect. W. Edwards Deming observed that decades ago. Don’t like the results? Change the...