For the first 13 years of shane bernardo’s life, his Filipino immigrant parents ran a grocery store on the west side of Detroit that attracted Southeast Asian, West African, and Afro-Caribbean Detroiters. The family grew a garden each year, with plants like bitter melon, yardlong beans, and Chinese eggplant. The garden and store were ways […]
Posted inCommunity
Call for pitches: Black, indigenous or person of color (BiPOC) journalists
We are thrilled to announce that the Detroit Equity Action Lab Race and Justice Media Collaboration at Wayne State University is partnering with Planet Detroit to support freelance journalists from marginalized communities. We seek pitches from Black, indigenous, or people of color (BiPOC) journalists for reporting centered around environmental health issues facing Detroit’s communities of […]
Posted inSolutions
In Detroit, the long-term fight for biodiversity is bearing fruit (and flowers, and birds, and butterflies…)
When invasive species and development overtake prairies, forests, and marshlands in the Detroit area, biodiversity is threatened. But conservation groups are fighting, project by project, to restore some of the region’s natural biodiversity. It’s an effort that requires constant vigilance and takes decades. “Without these projects, we are losing that habitat where these creatures exist,” […]
Posted inAccountability
EGLE approves GM-Hamtramck Assembly air permit application
After several virtual hearings and public information sessions beginning in May, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Air Quality Division (AQD) approved General Motors’ air permit application for the replacement of its current automotive assembly line with a new one on the border of Detroit and Hamtramck. The permit was approved with […]
Posted inAccountability
Revere Dock restoration plan includes new seawall
A restoration plan proposed by Revere Dock LLC, the company responsible for the dock collapse on the Detroit River in November 2019, was the subject of an online hearing held Tuesday by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The project is expected to take six months and consists of three parts: […]
Posted inAccountability
How air pollution and asthma affect kids in Detroit
Thirteen-year-old Jeremiah Cannon was home alone two years ago in 2018 when he suffered an asthma attack. “I was watching TV and all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe,” Cannon, who lives in the Old Redford neighborhood, recalls. This was just one of many times Cannon has had to seek emergency services due to the […]
Posted inCommunity
Profiles in nature: Birding in place with Feral Detroit
Empty roads, canals and bridges are among Melissa McLeod’s favorite spots to look for birds. From the slow-moving canals of Belle Isle to a pop-up bird bath formed by a pothole, she travels in search of the habitats that offer her windows into Detroit’s urban/natural world and its inhabitants. These are the spots where she […]
Posted inVoices
Why biodiversity matters in urban areas like Detroit
A church garden in Detroit might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of biodiversity, but each individual plant, bird and insect that inhabits the space is doing its part. “I think one of the perceptions has been that wildlife and biodiversity can only exist in these national parks, preserved […]
Posted inGuides
Is this the summer of ticks in Metro Detroit? What you need to know
Breezy beach days wasting away in the sun, warm campfires with ooey gooey roasted marshmallows, road trips to the farthest reaches of Michigan—and ticks, of course. Spring and summer 2020 is predicted to be a really busy tick season for the Midwest, according to Pests.com. They say: “Warmer temperatures in the Midwest will prolong the […]
Posted inAccountability
Michigan seeks disaster declaration after dam failures
By ANNA LIZ NICHOLS Associated Press/Report for America LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday she is requesting a federal disaster declaration for the Midland area, where a failure of two dams destroyed 150 houses and caused more than $200 million in damage. Under a disaster declaration, Whitmer said she hopes to […]