As our cool and wet July comes to an end and the annual display of flora creativity, Garden Walk, approaches, Great Lakes United encourages you to tour five gardens highlighted on the Walk that prioritize sustainable gardening practices. While some people may think that you need a huge landscaping budget to use sustainable practices, these gardens show what you can do with a little knowledge, work and creativity.749 Ashland: Rain Garden (above) – This garden doesn’t mind a rainy forecast. A front yard rain garden diverts runoff from going into the sewer. Runoff from our paved areas leads to sewage…
Author: Great Lakes United
Fifty years ago, in June of 1959, the Buffalo Courier Express heralded the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway as a feat of engineering, completed in only four years, and ready to bring Buffalo to the world stage as an international port. In the rapidly modernizing post-war world, Seaway’s proponents felt that building a seaway to give deep draft international vessels access to the heartland was exactly what Buffalo, the Great Lakes, and America needed. In the past five decades reality has painted a different picture. The Seaway did not attract the wave of international vessels as anticipated and Buffalo’s…
With the abundance of rain we have received the past few weeks, the antiquated waste water system design has often resulted in the combination of sewage and storm water overwhelming the system’s capacity and pouring into our communities’ surface waters. This worries many people because solid sewage waste, such as feces, tampons, and condoms, end up floating our rivers and lake. Fortunately there is some good news regarding Buffalo’s aging sewer infrastructure.While the visible signs of overflows are nauseating enough, there is more floating than our eyes can see. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (or PPCPs), which get flushed down…
Well, the date is set. Moving boxes acquired. Bids and estimates from all kinds of movers are coming in – full service, self-move, truck rental… Pods. After 15 plus years gone, we are leaving Los Angeles and returning to Buffalo. Now, you might just be wondering… why? Why would anyone want to leave the Golden State, the City of Angels, Hollywoodland and move back to… Buffalo? There are many reasons, most of which are known to those who choose to still live there and those who have also chosen to return. The culture. The art. The music. The affordability. The…
We live in one of the most unique regions in the world- on the shores of Lake Erie a stones throw away from our good neighbors in Canada. 2009 has been named “The Year of Our Shared Waters” to mark 100 years of the United States and Canada working collaboratively to protect the freshwaters that cross the international boundary. These unique shared waters can be found from the West Coast to the Great Lakes, and the Niagara River region is hosting the party! We will be reporting soon on the long list of activities being scheduled to celebrate “Boundary Waters…
French satire from the 1600’s feels like falling asleep in high school english class. But classic French satire with a rock and roll band? That sounds better. We can thank Andy Liegl for this bold modernity on December 26th when his production of Such Foolish Affected Ladies opens at the Alt Theatre. The original play calls for violinists but this role has been liberally opened up to local band The Nepenthe. “I wanted an indie rock sound, something that my generation can click with but will still evoke foot tapping from an older, more classical crowd.” You can look forward…
With the first real snow of the season hitting Western New York, it may seem ironic to discuss global warming, but it’s a real phenomenon. Global warming won’t stop snow from falling in Buffalo, but it is, and will continue, to change the climate and Lake to which we are accustomed. Often when you hear about impacts of global warming, the focus lies on the oceans’ coast and areas predicted to disappear below sea level as polar ice caps melt and the oceans warm. We’ve already witnessed the massive losses in a city like New Orleans when water levels rise…
Most everyone has had the ‘restore an old home dream’ at some point. One frequent Buffalo Rising reader writes, “I’m thinking of purchasing an older home that is going to need a gut rehab, but don’t have the skills to do much of the work myself. Can you put out a call for help? I need to find a capable contractor that has taken this on. And what I can expect to pay per sq.ft. to restore an old home at a ‘moderate’ level of finish?” Any recommendations or experiences?
After years of dedicated efforts across the entire Great Lakes region, much discussion and debate in state legislatures, and the voting of the Senate and House, the Great Lakes Compact is official. On Friday, President George W. Bush signed the Compact, making it a federal law to ban diversions from the Great Lakes. The signing of the Compact is a crucial moment in the history of our region. It says that water conservation is a top ecological, economic and cultural priority in our community and region, and the political actions taken have set new precedents in cooperative water management in…
Less than a month after Michigan became the final state to approve the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River Basin Waters Resources Compact, the Compact has quickly been moving in Congress. Even with the approval of all eight Great Lakes states, the Compact must be passed in Congress and signed by the President. This week marked important progress that bodes well for protection of Great Lakes water from diversions. Yesterday, the Compact (bill H.R. 6577) was marked up in the House Judiciary Committee and passed unanimously out of that committee to the floor of the House of Representatives. And on Monday President…