Lakes Chat Alliance for the Great Lakes

This week marks national volunteer appreciation week, and on this Lakes Chat episode, we’re chatting about volunteering to help the Great Lakes.
Guests included:
Olivia Reda – the Alliance for the Great Lakes Volunteer Engagement Manager
Eileen Ryan is a long-time Alliance Ambassador and an Adopt-a-Beach volunteer
Novem Cheng, a volunteer with the Alliance Ambassador and Adopt-a-Beach programs

We chatted with Andrea Densham, Senior Strategic Advisor to the Alliance for the Great
Lakes, about plastic pollution and how we can stop it at the source.

Temperatures this winter have been warmer than usual, leaving the Great Lakes nearly devoid of ice cover.
In this episode, we chat with Physical Scientist James Kessler of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and dig into big-picture trends, and what this all means for the lakes.  

We’re discussing some new research on the cost of reducing runoff pollution from agricultural lands and preventing harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie with Tom Zimnicki, the Alliance’s Agriculture and Restoration Director.
 

In a previously recorded webinar, Alliance policy staff discussed their top 5 federal Great Lakes policy priorities They focus on stopping invasive species, fixing our failing water infrastructure, stopping plastic pollution, preventing harmful algal blooms, and ensuring funding for Great Lakes restoration. During the webinar, our panel answered several questions submitted by listeners around the region.

In late January, our policy team here at the Alliance for the Great Lakes released their top 5 Great Lakes policy priorities for the new Congress and the Biden administration. Our policy team focused on stopping invasive species, fixing our failing water infrastructure, stopping plastic pollution, preventing harmful algal blooms, and ensuring funding for Great Lakes restoration. It’s a big list.

Over the coming weeks, our policy experts will meet with lawmakers to urge them to take action on these critical issues.

On this episode, we spoke with Don Jodrey, the Alliance’s Federal Government Relations Director, who talked us through this list of priorities and gave us a big-picture view of what’s happening on Great Lakes issues in Washington, DC.