environment

The former mayor of Saline and two-term State Representative Gretchen Driskell formally announced Wednesday she is running for Congress again in 2018.  She's running for the 7th Congressional District seat against incumbent Tim Wahlberg.  89.1 WEMU'S Lisa Barry spoke to Driskell about her campaign announcement.

In this week's "Issues of the Environment," we talk with Jennifer Young, Project Manager at Michigan Interfaith Power and Light.  The group is working to get houses of worship in Ann Arbor to 'go solar.' 

The Peninsular Paper Dam in Ypsilanti once provided hydro-electric power to the area.  Those days are long gone, and some believe it’s time remove the structure from the Huron River. This week, we explore the potential benefits of dam removal with the executive director of the Huron River Watershed Council, Laura Rubin.

According to recent Michigan Department of Natural Resources inventory data, more than 173 million hemlock trees grow in Michigan.  An invasive insect is now threatening the tree species.  In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks with Forest Health Monitoring Program Manager, Roger Mech about the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid and what you can do to help protect our trees and forests. 

The city of Ann Arbor continues its push to remain an environmental leader.  There are ongoing efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and better remediate a 1,4 dioxane plume.  Many of the environmental initiatives and local opportunities will be highlighted in the upcoming 17th Annual Mayor’s Green Fair.  David Fair covers these topics with Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor in this week’s edition of "Issues of the Environment." 

Controversial legislation on state regulatory rules is making its way through the legislature. 

Proposals in both Lansing and Washington would make available publicly held lands for private enterprise. environmentalists are fighting regulatory rollbacks and cuts to funding health and sustainability programs. Those are among the topics David Fair addresses with Michigan League of Conservation Voters executive director, Lisa Wozniak, in this month's edition of WEMU's  "1st Friday Focus on the Environment," 

Anytime a governmental unit authorizes lethal measures as a way to control animal population, there are those in the human population that get upset.  Such is the case of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources management plan for Mute Swans in Michigan.  On last week’s “Issues of the Environment,” David Fair discussed the state action plan with Holly Vaughn of the Michigan DNR.  This week, he talks with John Griffin, Director of Urban Wildlife at The Humane Society of the United States, for an alternative viewpoint.  

Swans on a lake are typically a beautiful sight, but one breed of swan has been disrupting Michigan's ecosystem.  In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks to Holly Vaughn, Wildlife Communications Coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, about the management of invasive mute swans.

Recent events in our community, like the Ann Arbor area’s 1,4-dioxane plume, have increased residents’ awareness of – and concern about – the chemicals companies use.  While many state and federal regulations may exist that govern chemical storage and manufacturing, these regulations generally do not involve an onsite inspection component.  As a result, the programs are enforced on a complaint basis or incident, after the fact.  In this week’s "Issues of the Environment," WEMU’s David Fair talks with Kristen Schweighoefer,  Environmental Health Director for Washtenaw County Public Health, about 25 years of effort to manage these issues in Washtenaw County.

In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair speaks to Melissa Cooper-Sargent, Green Living Resources Director for the Ecology Center, about the environmental and health risks of using antibacterial soap.

There are roughly 48,000 on-site septic systems in Washtenaw County, according to the Washtenaw County Environmental Health Division.  State statistics show that at any given time 10% of those systems are leaking and in need of repair.  In this week’s "Issues of the Environment," WEMU’s David Fair talks with Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s David Cotton about the growing number of these systems and how to protect our land and waterways.

The state is close to running out of money to clean thousands of abandoned, polluted properties all across Michigan.

Concerns about federal leadership and proposed rollbacks in environmental protections have led to increased levels of activism.  In this week’s edition of "Issues of the Environment," WEMU’s David Fair talks with Ginny Rogers, leader of the Ann Arbor chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, about the challenges ahead. 

A local environmental organization has planned a climate change awareness and action event in Ann Arbor this weekend.   

President Trump has put forth his nominees to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy. Lawmakers, pundits and advocates alike are trying to assess what direction  environmental policy will take. 

The Ann Arbor Solar Club is a cooperative effort aimed at adding 500 new solar installations throughout Washtenaw County this year and in each ensuing year.  In this week's “Issues of the Environment,” WEMU's David Fair talks with Nate Geisler, an Energy Programs Analyst with the city of Ann Arbor, about the initiative. 

In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks to Sam Arons. Arons is Lead, Energy and Infrastructure  for Datacenter Energy at Google. they discuss the tech giant's plans to operate completely on renewable energy sources by the end of 2017.

In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair speaks to Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor about environmental accomplishments in 2016 and the goals and objectives for 2017.

Innovations in enviromental science happen all the time.  However, it has mostly been a male-dominated field.  In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair speaks to Liesl Clark, who is president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, co-founder of 5-Lakes Energy, LLC, and a board member of Advancing Women in Energy, about the need for a diversity of voices in the clean energy sector, especially with a new president about to take office.

Bats have a positive impact on Michigan's ecosystem, but a terrible affliction known as "white-nose syndrome" is threatening their population.  In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair talks with  Dr. Allen Kurta, professor of biology at Eastern Michigan University, about the ecological impacts posed by a decimation in certain bat species. 

It's that time of year where leaves fall to the ground. What is the best way to dispose of such yard waste?  In this week's "Issues of the Environment," WEMU's David Fair speaks to Master Compost Class instructor Nancy Stone about the ecologically best ways to clean up your lawn debris.