Last week, a study from the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University released a preliminary study showing that COVID-19 mortality worsens with exposure to air pollution. That study looked at particulate matter (PM 2.5— particulate matter of a diameter less than 2.5 microns) and COVID-19 mortality. The study found that: someone who lives for decades in a […]
Posted inAccountability
Flooding on Belle Isle has resumed. What does that mean for 2020 and beyond?
Photo: East end of Belle Isle, April 5, 2020. Photo by Amy Sacka In retrospect, April of 2019 may not have been the best time to reconnect Belle Isle’s Lake Okonoka and its adjoining canals with the Blue Heron Lagoon and the Detroit River. The project, originally designed to create natural habitat on the island’s […]
Posted inCommunity
Lost but not forgotten: The legendary Michigan grayling
By Brianne Turczynski Republished with permission from Michigan Out-of-Doors Magazine Courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library of Central Michigan University It would be difficult to find a person these days who had firsthand experience with the Michigan grayling. Old fishing tales passed down through generations eulogize a fish sought after for its magnificent beauty, delicious meat, […]
Posted inAccountability
Detroit Water Shutoffs and a Crisis of Public Health
Since the start, water activists have been fighting a narrative that assigns blame primarily to those impacted by the shutoffs. On a gray, chilly February morning, Reverend Roslyn Bouier opens the doors to the Brightmoor Connection Food Pantry in northwest Detroit. The pantry entrance is tucked into the back of a church building, just across […]
Posted inAccountability
Detroit to turn the water back on during coronavirus threat
Prompted by concern over coronavirus, City of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced Monday that the city will end water shutoffs and restore service to customers. The decision comes just two weeks after the Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s attorney announced the state would not declare an emergency over the water shutoffs, citing “insufficient evidence” that the shutoffs […]
Posted inAccountability, Deep Dives, Lead poisoning
Is Michigan breaking its own lead rule?
Last week, Michigan’s Department of Great Lakes Environment and Energy (EGLE) was celebrating one of the heroes of the Flint Water Crisis, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who appeared on Capitol Hill before the House Energy and Commerce. Hanna-Attisha was endorsing Michigan’s revised Lead and Copper Rule, which has been called the most protective in the nation. At the same time, Governor […]
Posted inCommunity
Activists brave the cold for ‘Tri-County Environmental Justice Solidarity Rally’
Residents from Macomb, Wayne, and Oakland counties came together on a chilly evening Thursday, January 23 for a “Tri-County Environmental Justice Solidarity Rally” at the intersection of the three counties. About 60 people met on Dad Butler playground in Detroit to voice their concerns about environmental justice issues. Lauren Schandevel of We The People of […]
Posted inAccountability
Deteriorating conditions and soil tests raise concerns about dock collapse on Detroit River
The situation at the collapsed dock at the Detroit Bulk Storage facility in late November has continued to worsen, and experts are concerned that the risk of pollutants moving from soil or sediments into the river—and potentially into water intakes downstream—has increased. When Detroiters first learned of the collapse of a dock at the Detroit Bulk Storage facility on […]
Posted inCommunity
Planet Detroit’s top 5 Michigan environmental stories for 2019
Planet Detroit had such a great response to our top 10 local environmental stories of 2019, we thought we ought to do the same for stories across Michigan . So, without further ado… 1. The Michigan DNR, lawmakers made up stories about killer wolves (so they could have them shot) Perhaps the most shocking statewide reporting […]
Posted inCommunity
Planet Detroit’s top 10 local environmental stories for 2019
1. Water shutoffs in Detroit continue With activists sometimes alleging a “media blackout” on the subject, water was still being turned off for some of Detroit’s most vulnerable residents. This topic did receive some attention, although often it was strangely upbeat. Towards the beginning of the year, The Detroit News wrote that there was a “dramatic decline” […]