Greening of the Great Lakes

09/24/2020

From International Trade to Climate Change: Industry Leaders Discuss Challenges and Opportunities Facing Michigan Agriculture as Fall Harvest Begins http://go.msu.edu/nkp

As we enter into the harvest season for some of Michigan's major crops, Kirk Heinze discusses the overall status of our state's agriculture with the

07/08/2020

Bills aim to increase Michigan's recycling rate

“Sending waste to landfills is more expensive than it seems," a recycling advocate told Michigan lawmakers recently, "It costs money to store and manage

05/18/2020

There are A LOT of returnables out there!

Of the ten U.S. states with bottle and can deposits, Michigan is the only one to completely shut down the ability to return them due to COVID-19.

05/12/2020

Forgotten Harvest and Kirk Mayes rescue for Detroit’s hungry and battle by rescuing surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away and donate it to families in need. LISTEN on : http://go.msu.edu/YcP

Kirk Mayes is the CEO of Forgotten Harvest in Detroit. He's a 1999 graduate of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. Forgotten Harvest is a

05/12/2020

The at Gypsy Vodka in Petoskey have converted their distiller to make hand sanitizer for first responders for free. HEAR how and why on WKAR: http://go.msu.edu/jcP

Michael Kazanowski is a 2012 MSU graduate and co-founder of High Five Spirits and Gypsy Vodka . Not only can he give you a recipe for a killer quarantini,

05/08/2020

Global greenhouse gas emissions are expected to fall by 8 percent this year—the largest decrease on record. But the U.N. says that emissions will need to fall by that amount each year for the next decade to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst effects of climate change. NPR

05/08/2020

Exxon Mobil lost $610 million in the first quarter, its only loss since 1988. With plunging global demand and collapsing prices, earnings from its oil and gas production fell 91 percent from a year ago. / Reuters

04/22/2020

Earth Day turns 50 amid cleaner skies, wildlife surge from COVID-19 lockdowns

Today is the 50th Earth Day, and the U.S has made substantial progress since the first global celebration of ecology in 1970: Cleaner air and water, bans on asbestos and DDT. But there's also a greater understanding of the existential dangers of human-caused climate change. On this Earth Day, lockdowns worldwide to slow the spread of COVID-19 have also caused sharp drops in air pollution, clearer skies, and sightings of wild animals in cities and parks around the world. "It is giving us this quite extraordinary insight into just how much of a mess we humans are making of our beautiful planet," as well as "an opportunity to magically see how much better it can be," Duke University conservation scientist Stuart Pimm tells The Associated Press.

04/22/2020

MSU CELEBRATES SUSTAINABILITY SUCCESSES DURING EARTH DAY 2020

On April 22, 2020, MSU joins the world in celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. MSU is also celebrating its track record of progress in combating climate change and helping lead the way to a global sustainable future.

04/21/2020

The 50th is Wednesday April 22, 2020.

04/17/2020

Americans shelled out $1.45 billion on toilet paper in the four-week period ending March 29—a 112 percent surge over the same period a year earlier. The boom in sales, say industry officials, had two causes: panic hoarding and the fact that people are moving their bowels almost entirely at home, instead of at work, restaurants, and public bathrooms. / USA Today

04/16/2020

Campus, community, curriculum, and culture guide at MSU. “Sustainability and being socially aware isn't something that we do as an add-on, it's just who we are.” LISTEN on on WKAR - Public Media from Michigan State University - http://go.msu.edu//dwP

03/28/2020

Airborne pollution over China and Europe has plunged as industry and traffic slow amid the coronavirus pandemic, satellite imagery shows. In northern Italy, levels of nitrogen dioxide, which is produced by car engines, power plants, and other industries, have fallen by 40 percent since the country locked down on March 9. In Venice, the once opaque canals have become clear enough to see fish swimming. / The Guardian

03/14/2020

SUVs and pickup trucks have become so large that buyers are having trouble fitting them into home garages and public parking spaces. In New York, parking lots are increasingly charging oversize fees for vehicles like the Chevrolet Suburban and Fiat Chrysler’s Ram; some that already charged them are adopting “super-oversize fees.” / USA Today

03/07/2020

Antarctica tourism is booming. More than 56,000 tourists visited the remote region during the 2018-19 season, and above 78,000 are expected for the current season - twice as many as a decade ago. Most come by cruise ship, leaving from ports in Argentina and Chile. / The New York Times

02/28/2020

Over 90 percent of plastic waste in the U.S. is not recycled, and winds up in an incinerator or a landfill. Eight of the 10 most commonly polluted plastic items are currently unrecyclable, according to sponsors of a bill introduced in Congress that would make companies responsible for the waste they generate. / Los Angeles Times

02/24/2020

Congrats! You dump 100 plastic bottles in nature each year.

Including you, green thumb recycler.

02/14/2020

Astronomers say that SpaceX’s efforts to build an orbital satellite platform called Starlink has put 240 highly reflective satellites in the night sky, interfering with their telescopes’ ability to see into space. The satellites, sent aloft in recent months by the Elon Musk–founded company to deliver high-speed internet all over the world, are so bright they can be seen with the naked eye, creating new “light pollution” everywhere. SpaceX plans to launch 30,000 more. / The Atlantic

02/14/2020

The temperature in Antarctica reached its highest in recorded history on Feb. 6: a springlike 65 degrees. Scientists recently announced that January was the warmest month globally in recorded history. / The Washington Post

02/14/2020

As part of its commitment to going greener, Michigan State University’s Board of Trustees today authorized the installation of a 20-megawatt solar array.

The array will be located on nearly 100 acres just south of MSU’s main campus between Bennett and Jolly roads. It will produce the energy equivalent of powering 4,400 homes and triple the campus’s use of renewable energy. Once complete, MSU’s solar arrays – which include previously installed solar carports – will span nearly 145 acres.

“The sustainability of our environment goes hand in hand with the well-being of our students, faculty and staff at Michigan State,” said MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. “This project not only furthers MSU’s commitment to renewable energy, it also provides a cleaner future for our campus, the world and the next generation of Spartans.”

The project is expected to cost about $2.3 million and will be funded with MSU utility reserve funds. It is estimated that the array will begin producing power by the end of 2022 and save the university at least $27 million in the next 25 years, with potential savings much higher.

“MSU’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond creating cleaner energy,” said Dianne Byrum, chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees. “It influences our education, our research and our will to inspire global solutions to climate change. This array is just one example of the many contributions MSU makes to sustainability here at home and around the world.”

02/06/2020

MSU packaging graduates account for more than half of all packaging professionals in the nation.

When it comes to finding solutions for a better tomorrow, Spartans have been thinking beyond the box — and designing better boxes — for more than half a century. The first higher education institution in the world to offer a bachelor of science degree in packaging, MSU is home to the top...

01/10/2020

The 2020s have started with a brutal display of how climate change is making the world a more hostile place to live. Fueled by soaring temperatures and years of drought, bushfires across Australia have consumed at least 15 million acres since September—an area about the size of West Virginia. The blazes have killed at least 15 people and forced thousands more to flee their homes. Some 1 billion animals, many of them members of species found nowhere else on Earth, are thought to have been incinerated. Colossal plumes of smoke are choking Sydney and have turned the sky above New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland—some 1,300 miles away—an apocalyptic orange. This disaster comes after a year in which the warning signs of climate change flashed everywhere: In Brazil, 7 million acres of Amazon rain forest went up in flames; in Japan, 18,000 people were hospitalized during an epic heat wave; across Europe, temperature records were broken and then broken again.

The scientific consensus on what we need to do to reduce the risks of long-term catastrophic climate change is clear: slash greenhouse gas emissions as fast as possible. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon. No major Western economy is yet meeting the modest emission reduction targets set by the 2016 Paris Agreement, a deal the Trump administration pulled out of last year. And emissions levels in developing countries will only rise in the coming years. China’s middle class has grown from 29 million people in 1999 to some 400 million today, and India is expected to add 500 million to its middle class over the next decade. Those people want the same carbon-intensive luxuries that Americans have enjoyed for years: air-conditioning, a family car, a meat-heavy diet. We can hardly demand they curb their appetites when we refuse to do the same. But so long as no one makes any meaningful sacrifices, our planet will continue to burn.

Theunis Bates

Managing editor The Week

01/03/2020

Opinion - Australia Is Committing Climate Su***de.
As record fires rage, the country’s leaders seem intent on sending it to its doom.

As record fires rage, the country’s leaders seem intent on sending it to its doom.

12/03/2019

Warehouses in Canada are piled with almost 400 tons of unsold ma*****na after cannabis producers overestimated demand. Legal sales in Canada for recreation and medicine will total $1.9 billion this year, still lagging the $2.3 billion in illicit sales. / Financial Times

12/03/2019

Investments in solar, wind, and similar projects in emerging markets fell to $133 billion in 2018, from $169 billion the prior year. From January 2018 to June 2019, China expanded its coal-generated energy capacity by 43 gigawatts. / MIT Technology Review

12/03/2019

We’re losing our climate battle. We have no one but ourselves to blame.

It’s up to us to hold our leaders to account.

11/19/2019

Michigan State University named a top 20 school for Go Green!

MSU is one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review.