When Detroit environmental activist Charity Hicks passed away in 2014, the loss of her presence was palpable among the local environmental justice activist community. Hicks was counted on to set the tone of gatherings, often invoking the spirits of African ancestors. At the inaugural meeting of the Great Lakes Commons in 2012, Hicks said, “I felt the tension of […]
Posted inGuides
Getting the most out of your ‘COVID Victory Garden’
As COVID-19 forces people to stay home and perhaps look for productive ways to use their time, interest in gardening has grown alongside other pandemic homesteading staples like baking bread and raising chickens. Publications like the New York Times have highlighted the return of the ‘Victory Garden’ as the Garden Resource Program — which provides seeds and transplants (or starter plants) to residents of Detroit, Hamtramck, […]
Posted inSolutions
How Detroit’s farms and gardens are adapting to the COVID-19 crisis
Photo courtesy Keep Growing Detroit Patrick Crouch has been spending long days in the greenhouse over the past few weeks, seeding and growing out transplants for eventual distribution to gardens across the city. As a program manager at Earthworks Urban Farm, Crouch sees his role taking on a new importance during the COVID-19 crisis. “If you […]
Posted inVoices
Friends of the Rouge ED Marie McCormick on how the nonprofit is coping with the pandemic
When the Friends of the Rouge formed back in 1986, the Rouge River was in desperate straits. But hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding for water infrastructure projects during the 1990s and early 2000s helped improve the waterway into a place where people can now paddle and enjoy nature along the 126-mile river. FOTR has helped bring […]
Posted inAccountability
Possible COVID-19 closures only the latest threat to Detroit’s open space access
Belle Isle, August 9, 2014. Photo by Amy Sacka. Earlier this week it seemed that governor Gretchen Whitmer might shut down Belle Isle in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus among park users. The island — which is run by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources although still officially owned by the city of Detroit […]
Posted inAccountability
DTE, Consumers report on shutoffs, actions to protect vulnerable customers under MPSC order
DTE and Consumers Energy filed reports this week detailing the number of households currently without service and efforts to restore them. The reports are now required biweekly through June under an order issued April 15 issued by the Michigan Public Service Commission. According to reports filed by DTE Energy and Consumers Energy on April 30, both utilities […]
Posted inGuides
5 ways to stop food waste while sheltering in place
This post is provided by local nonprofit food waste advocacy group Make Food Not Waste Before COVID-19, Americans were throwing away about a pound of edible food per day per person. We were tossing food for lots of reasons, like being rushed for time, not planning out meals, and favoring new dishes over leftovers. But now we’re home. […]
Posted inAccountability
Detroit’s air quality has improved since the COVID-19 shutdown. This map shows how.
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, […]