Energy has been on the mind of Metro Detroiters recently. COVID-19 has made energy costs even more unaffordable for many, and DTE Energy plans to close down its coal plants by 2022. Beyond that, the future of renewable energy development in Michigan appears less certain after the state lost 30,150 clean energy jobs in the […]
Posted inAccountability
DTE Gas announces plan to go ‘net zero’ by 2050; activists skeptical
DTE Energy’s natural gas business will achieve ‘net-zero’ carbon emissions by 2050 through reducing emissions across its operations, the company announced today. “We’ve decided to take a bolder step,” Vice President of Gas Sales and Supply Dan Brudzynski told Planet Detroit. Brudzynski said the plan is “holistic” and addresses all three parts of the gas […]
Posted inCommunity
Profiles in the fight for environmental justice: shane bernardo
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 […]