By Nate Drag:
This week, several of the most important meetings focused on discussing the current and future efforts to clean-up the world’s largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes, are occurring in Detroit, Michigan. Dubbed as ‘Great Lakes Week”, this is the first time in history all of these meetings are being held in the same location as each other. The International Joint Commission, the binationally appointed body charged with assessing progress, providing advice and engaging the public under the US-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, will be holding its biennial meeting; the Great Lakes Commission, a group of Great Lakes state and provincial representatives working on Great Lakes issues, will be holding its annual meeting; the US Environmental Protection Agency will be hosting its annual conference on the 43 toxic hot spots known as Areas of Concern; and the Healing Our Waters Coalition, a group of over 100 nongovernmental agencies, will be holding its annual meeting. While not all of us may be able to take the road trip down the shore of Lake Erie to visit our friends in Detroit, we are able to view these meeting through a streaming web cast at www.greatlakesnow.org.
Thanks to Detroit Public Television, key parts of these meetings will be available through their website ‘Great Lakes Now’. Coverage will feature 25 hours of conference sessions, featuring speakers and panel discussions, a daily half-hour recap of activity each day on October 12, 13 and 14, and other live and on-demand programming featuring conference participants and topics.
Conference highlights which will be featured online include keynote speakers Vice President Al Gore and Philippe-Yves Cousteau, presentations by Lisa Jackson – EPA Administrator, Cameron Davis – Great Lakes Special Advisor to the EPA, Mike Goffin – Environment Canada, and many others. Interactive sessions will also be featured including a Great Lakes Town Hall meeting with top officials answering on-site and virtual (via Twitter hastag #AskGLW) audience questions regarding Great Lakes restoration and challenges.
As we have watched the dredging project take place on the Buffalo River this fall and as activity continues to develop on our waterfront, it is important to remember we are part of a larger region that is facing similar challenges and are seeking innovative solutions to those obstacles.
Visit www.greatlakesnow.org to watch the coverage of these important meetings that affect the water that flows by our city every day!
**As for some local good news, dredging of the Buffalo River continues (see below) – here’s a current piece on the status of the river written by Liz Pacheco for Great Lakes Echo. Echo editor’s note: The Buffalo River remediation project and the Great Lakes Legacy Act Program are among the issues discussed Oct. 11-14 during Great Lakes Week in Detroit.