Why do some planets get so many moons? the juvenile Earth sighed to his mother. And why is mine so far away? With craters and a dark side? Well, said his mother, who saw her son lamenting pithy worries. He did not deserve to spiral. He is an orbiter who orbits. His perception skewed […]
POEM: ‘Rot<>Prayer’
Tags: Archives, Libraries, History, Labor, Decomposition, Liberation, Hope Enough! The social reviewed, the docket revealed. Unlock the morning; go back inside the mid-stretch yawn. Our clay unconsumed, what could it be? Refuse to say what is and isn’t gold tone. Tune and laminate, never change but gobble up maleficence, prophecy— dire needs make too many […]
POEM: ‘Planted’
My home is the soil I carry with me, the dirt I made myself from the food I didn’t finish cut ends that didn’t go into the soup fruit that molded too soon. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. My plants and I dine from the same menu then in exchange I […]
Planet Detroit + Room Project Present: Detroit Climate Poems
While writing poetry about climate change may not seem like it will make a difference, we also see it as an act of resistance. That’s why, in partnership with Room Project, we are publishing six poems from Planet Detroit readers that grapple with life amid climate change. Enjoy, and join us Sunday, June 7 at Room Project to […]
Introducing Climate/Justice: A new Planet Detroit opinion column by Michelle Martinez
To meet the challenges of the global climate crisis, we need bold ideas and to speak truth to power. That’s the idea behind Climate/Justice, a new Planet Detroit column by Detroit-based environmental justice activist Michelle Martinez. Martinez writes not only as an activist but as a mother and fourth-generation Detroiter. She brings a clear-eyed perspective […]
A northern Michigan tornado, a deadly spring Chicago heatwave & fixing MI's grid
CO2 2022/2021 : 421.74 ppm / 420.65 ppm Dear Michigan Climate News readers, Climate advocacy groups are aiming to get the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Michigan utilities for creating obstacles to solar power. A rare tornado hit northern Michigan — could it become more common? And a heatwave in Chicago killed three women in […]
From the Headlines- May 23 – 27
What comes next? This week, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced plans to tear down the Detroit incinerator, which has been closed since 2019. The facility burned 5,000 tons of trash a day for years, much of it coming from outside of Detroit, and received 750 citations for air pollution between 2013 and 2018. KT Andresky, a resident living near the […]
Planet Detroit welcomes Jenna Fei, our 2022 Detroit River Story Lab intern
Planet Detroit is thrilled to welcome Jenna Fei as our 2022 Detroit River Story Lab intern. Fei an undergraduate majoring in Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Michigan. Over the summer, she will be creating a series about the Detroit River’s journey through the past, present, and future. Fei’s internship is supported by […]
Detroit River cleanup: Federal funding ready but bureaucracy, lack of state financial investment remain barriers to progress
Experts call on Michigan to provide financial support: ‘The state has a responsibility to make sure it is cleaned up.’ Federal funding from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill that will jump-start the long-awaited remediation of toxic sediment in the Detroit River is set to flow. Now the hard work begins to find corporations and other […]
Detroit gets a new climate resilience hub, Michigan GOP jumps to pin blackouts on Whitmer
CO2 2022/2021 420.42 ppm / 417.95 ppm Dear Michigan Climate News readers, In the news this week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer works to re-open the Palisades nuclear plant as the GOP blames her for potential rolling blackouts this summer. Allergy season is getting longer, and the Great Lakes are evaporating (for now). It's a wild world […]