Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on December 8th, 2009
The discovery of malformed frogs in the Minnesota River watershed in the 1990s touched off field and lab research on endocrine disrupters that is continuing to yield findings.
Minnesota, the state that made national headlines with the discovery of malformed frogs in the 1990s, has found endocrine disrupting chemicals and traces of pharmaceuticals even in some of its most remote and otherwise cleanest waters. Armed with substantial state funding, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has released a new report and is now continuing field work to determine the aquatic range of endocrine disrupting chemicals that can mimic hormones and cause changes to the reproductive system or development of organisms.
The new study found the hormones androstenedione in 64 percent of sampled lakes and 50 percent of sampled rivers, estrone in 55 percent of the lakes and 75 percent of the rivers, and 17β-estradiol in 55 percent of the lakes and 38 percent of the rivers. “These may be of human origin, naturally occurring, or both,” MPCA observed. Bisphenol-A was found in 45 percent of the sampled lakes and 38 percent of sampled rivers.
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Written by GO Media Sponsor
Published on November 17th, 2009
If you’re looking for an easy gift idea that supports your ideals and is delicious while doing it, we recommend sending gift boxes from Grounds for Change to the coffee lovers on your list this year! Every single bean that they roast is Fair Trade Certified, Organic Certified, CarbonFree Certified and Shade Grown, which means the possibility of a real livelihood for coffee growers, a breath of fresh air for the planet, zero net carbon emissions from “crop to cup” and healthy forests for migratory songbirds. Read the rest of this entry »
Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on October 11th, 2009
Legal skirmishes in Ohio and Michigan are reviving debates over whether those who own Great Lakes shoreline properties exclusively control their waterfront land or whether the public can access and travel along the coast. The same legal doctrine at issue in these battles is a central focus in current debates about n a time of potential c ommercialization of Great Lakes water.
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Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on October 5th, 2009
Lyngbya wollei, south shore Maumee Bay in Ohio, September 23, 2009.
Lake Erie, declared dead by the news media in the 1960s because of widespread, repulsive algae blooms, is once again marred, this time by both old and new causes. Some scientists and lake advocates worry that the unsightly algae is a warning of a lake once again in decline.
Tom Bridgeman, a lake scientist with the University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center, said, “I’ve never seen the water as green as it was this year — and it’s not showing any signs of dying off yet. This is a growing problem.” Increased phosphorus runoff from farms and city streets, coupled with the feeding and excretion habits of non-native mussels introduced through ballast water, is believed to be associated with the resurgent blooms.
The western end of the lake has suffered from a surge in microsystis algae this summer. Bridgeman hypothesizes that in addition to phosphorus, underwater sediment shifts are culpable.
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Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on September 28th, 2009
Blue-green algae blooms on Minnesota lakes are linked to a dog death and illnesses, and apparently caused by runoff pollution.
The death of a dog after it frolicked in a Minnesota lake plagued with blue-green algae was a sad coda for a late summer in the state. Although no necropsy was done, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said “the circumstances and manner of death were consistent with exposure to algal toxins.” He added that the MPCA had received reports of several other sick dogs likely exposed to the algae.
Compounding the sadness, the dog that died after exposure in Fox Lake, a black Lab named Sady, was a wedding gift to the dog’s owners from a friend and soldier killed in Iraq.
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Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on September 18th, 2009
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee samples river water for endocrine disrupting pollutants.
Study results publicized this week suggest Twin Cities water resources and the Mississippi River downstream from the Cities are suffering from pollution by road salt and endocrine disrupting chemicals.
The results are from U.S. Geological Survey analysis of watersheds around the U.S. The road salt results indicate chloride levels that may imperil aquatic life in creeks and rivers in the Twin Cities. A study by the University of Minnesota released last winter found that about 70% of the salt applied to roads in the area remained in the Mississippi River and tributaries. Nearly 350,000 tons of road salt are applied for de-icing in the Twin Cities metropolitan area annually.
The U.S.G.S. also reported that 73% of male smallmouth bass sampled in the Mississippi River near Lake City, Minnesota have characteristics of both genders, which researchers believe may be the result of exposure to endocrine-disrupting compounds in wastewater.
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Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on September 8th, 2009
In a century of rising fresh water scarcity, a community of activists in the Great Lakes region is working to prevent private ownership of that water resource, although most mainstream conservation and environmental activists are focused elsewhere. If the activists’ concerns are valid, their battle has national as well as international implications.
The fear stems from the interaction of the North American Free Trade Agreement, other trade pacts, and the Great Lakes Compact ratified by the eight Great Lakes states and Congress last year. The definition of “product” in the Compact includes water once extracted from its natural state and location. A controversial Nestle Waters North America, Inc. bottled water operation in Michigan that is pumping hundreds of millions of gallons per year of state water heightens the concern.
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Written by Dave Dempsey
Published on August 17th, 2009
The North American Great Lakes contain 6 quadrillion gallons of freshwater, about one-fifth of the world’s available freshwater supply.
For more than 25 years, residents of the Great Lakes region have feared large-scale public works projects to take freshwater from the Lakes to thirsty, faster-growing areas of North America. That’s why the eight Great Lakes states and Congress last year approved a compact barring most water diversions of the Lakes, which contain 80% of the continent’s fresh water. But ideas about turning the Lakes into a cash cow, floating around for years, are not dead yet. At the same time, relatively little attention has been paid to the idea of “sharing” the water of the Lakes to alleviate a global humanitarian emergency in an era of freshwater scarcity.
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Written by Daniel Hohler
Published on August 13th, 2009
This picture is a picture of the beautiful Monterey, California coastline. This is where I grew up. It is famous for it’s beautiful sea life. Sea otters, jelly fish, sea lions, kelp forests all populate the Monterey coast. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. Yet, with all that mass of water, we humans are changing the chemical properties. The acid levels in the pacific ocean, as well as every ocean around the world, are rising. If things keep going this beautiful coastline, my home, will become a wasteland of acid. Habitable to only the most extremophiles.
Rewind our story. Fossil fuels are not just a problem for our atmosphere. When we burn fossil fuels carbon dioxide falls down into the sea. The carbon dioxide is quickly converted into carbonic acid. Carbonic acid has been known to be corrosive to corals and shellfish, and now scientists are discovering that rising acid levels in the ocean are effecting other animals as well.
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Written by Daniel Hohler
Published on August 3rd, 2009
When I was doing research on Catalina Island, there was a wanted poster hanging in the dive locker. Although, this wanted poster was not for any bank robber or bandit. This was a wanted poster for kelp. Undaria pinnatifida, an invasive species from Asia that has hitched a ride on boat’s hulls and ballast water. Also known as wakame, you may know that name as an ingredient in many Asian dishes or miso soup.
Wakame has become a large problem from New Zealand to Monterey Bay. It is an aggressive and costly intruder that takes over a habitat at the expensive of the native species. Since its discovery in San Francisco Bay, 140 lbs of the kelp have been removed from the San Francisco Marina alone. Wakame’s destructive nature has earned it a spot on the 100 of the Worlds Worst Invasive Species list.
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