By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Eighty percent of Canadians live in urban areas, and most are disconnected from nature. To help address this, Canada is creating a network of national urban parks not only to conserve nature, but to connect people with it, and advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Now, the University of Windsor has become a partner by creating the first university-based National Urban Park Hub.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

From fishing to enjoying a summer day at the beach, the Great Lakes provide enjoyment, comfort and a sense of home to the region. But these bodies of water were not always secure, as the lakes and connecting rivers used to be considered dangerous due to high pollution spots. 

The Great Lakes region has seen some of the most historic river fires.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

On May 25, the Supreme Court ruled 9 to 0, changing wetland protection in The Clean Water Act. The Sackett family, who took on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were being fined $40,000 a day for building their Idaho property too close to an unnamed tributary. That tributary feeds into a creek, and that creek feeds into Priest Lake.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Drew Anderson and Fatima Syed, The Narwhal

This story originally appeared in The Narwhal and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.

Space lasers. That’s the reason some people gave for the catastrophic burning of Lytton, B.C., in 2021 after a historic heat wave set a new temperature record in Canada, exacerbating a wildfire that essentially destroyed the town.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

This article was republished here with permission from Planet Detroit.

By Brian Allnutt, Planet Detroit

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling to significantly reduce Clean Water Act wetlands protections has caused alarm among environmental advocates who fear it will endanger crucial habitats and human health and safety.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio

The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

There were two differing visions on how to deal with the global water crisis at the recent United Nations World Water Conference, according to former U.N. water adviser Maude Barlow.

One, would “treat water as a commodity like oil and gas and put it on the open market for sale,” Barlow said.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.