Interview of Barbara Spring by Dave Dempsey

Interview of Barbara Spring by Dave Dempsey

What prompted you to write The Dynamic Great Lakes?
I was inspired by a speech I heard while at a writer’s conference in Aspen, Colorado. N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The House Made of Dawn, gave a speech on the importance of landscape. When I came home, it occurred to me that my landscape is a waterscape–the Great Lakes system. With this thought, I began to work on The Dynamic Great Lakes. The importance of the Great Lakes is not always appreciated. I wanted people to appreciate them.

Who is the intended audience for the book and who might enjoy reading it?
I wrote The Dynamic Great Lakes with a general audience in mind. I spent a lot of time searching for and up-to-date book about the Great Lakes and I could not find one. I believe my book is important because it shows the Great Lakes and their connecting waters in relation to each other; it shows the lakes in relation to their unique dunes and wetlands and to their biota. The Great Lakes are about 20% of all the fresh surface water on this planet. I wanted to make people aware of how precious this freshwater is and how vulnerable. I want people to feel concerned about how these lakes and their web of life is faring.

Do you think Michiganians generally are knowledgeable about the Great Lakes?
Someone who has lived by Lake Michigan all of his life read my book and said, “I have been taking these lakes for granted.” I believe that people in Michigan and the other Great Lakes states and provinces need to know more about the Great Lakes so they will be in a better position to make good decisions about them. The Great Lakes will become more and more important as our population grows and the people are asked to vote for candidates who will either understand the issues and care for the lakes with future generations in mind, or those who would exploit them for short term gains.

What are your earliest memories of the Lakes?
My earliest memory of the Great Lakes–I must have been about 7–was a trip with my family around Lake Superior’s rocky shore. I still remember how awed I felt when I first viewed the largest of the Great Lakes and felt its icy water. My father woke us all up one morning proudly displaying a string of brook trout he had caught from a tributary stream to Lake Superior. We had them for breakfast. Just delicious.

If you were czar(ina) of the Great Lakes, what is the single most important thing you would do for them?
I would develop energy sources that do not threaten the environment. I would phase out the 37 aging nuclear power plants in the Great Lakes watershed and find a way to store atomic wastes in a place where it has no chance of getting into water. That would be my decree. I would hire the best minds to work on this daunting problem and I would tell them to do it will all haste. 

Webcast between U.S. and Canada

Watch the signing on this webscast between the U.S. and Canada for the health of the Great Lakes.

http://www.binational.net/webcast/

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Congratulations to the U.S. and Canada on agreeing to a plan to protect and restore the Great Lakes across national boundaries – now bi-national funding and prevention need to keep pace in coming years. Watch live online as Canada’s Minister of the Environment Peter Kent (Environment Canada) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson sign the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 2012. The new Agreement’s coverage of climate change impacts, habitats and native species, and invasive species are welcome additions that follow prior recommendations of the Alliance and other non-governmental organizations to help confront new threats facing the Great Lakes. We look forward to both governments working together to restore the Great Lakes in fulfillment of the promises set in this renewed agreement.

Great Lakes Areas of Concern: Map by Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes Areas of Concern



About the Areas of Concern

The Areas of Concern are watersheds along the Great Lakes suffering from degraded environmental conditions stemming from historic and ongoing pollution. They were designated under the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement based on the presence of beneficial use impairments, such as restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, beach closures, drinking water restrictions, loss of fish and wildlife habitat, etc.

A total of 43 AOCs have been identified in the U.S. and Canada: 26 located entirely within the U.S.; 12 located wholly within Canada; and five that are shared by both countries. Since the inception of the AOC program, two Canadian AOCs and one U.S. AOC have been delisted. Federal, state, provincial and local partners are working to delist the other AOCs.

Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) have been developed and and are being implemented for all designated AOCs in the Great Lakes basin. RAPs were developed for each AOC to address impairments to any one of 14 beneficial uses (e.g., restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption, dredging activities, or drinking water consumption) associated with them. RAPs use an ecosystem-based, multi-media approach for assessing and remediating impaired uses. The RAP process is a model of grassroots environmental democracy, stressing empowerment of the affected public within AOCs. Successful RAPs are community driven, with active federal, state and local involvement.

Area of Concern Contacts

This Area of Concern Contact List includes RAP advisory council chairs, state contacts, federal contacts, local coordinators and other contacts for each U.S. Area of Concern.

U.S. AOC Program Annual Meeting

The U.S. AOC Program Meeting is held annually to review recent developments affecting the program; discuss approaches for implementing delisting targets; build capacity to implement on-the-ground restoration actions; identify opportunities to address AOC restoration priorities; improve linkages between the AOCs, Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs) and other programs; and consider actions that will strengthen the regional U.S. AOC program.

Statewide Public Advisory Council for Michigan’s AOCs

Of the 42 current Great Lakes AOCs, 14 are located in Michigan. They include rivers, lakes and bays located across the state. Michigan's AOC program is administered by Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (formerly the Department of Environmental Quality) in collaboration with other state and federal agencies and local stakeholders.

The Statewide Public Advisory Council (SPAC) was formed in 1991 to facilitate public participation in decisions affecting Michigan's AOC program, heighten public awareness of and participation in the RAPs being developed in the AOCs, and generate public support for implementation of restoration and protection measures in the AOCs.

Virtual Library of Remedial Action Plan Resources

The Virtual Library of Remedial Action Plan Resources is a web page maintained by the Great Lakes Commission that provides a variety of information on the Great Lakes Areas of Concern program and associated Remedial Action Plans. Information contained on the page is updated frequently and expanded as needed to reflect new information as the RAP program evolves.

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Resources

In 2010, the U.S. EPA was provided $475 million for the first year of a new, interagency Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) targeting significant problems in the region, including invasive aquatic species, non-point source pollution, and contaminated sediment. The GLRI uses outcome-oriented performance goals and measures to target these problems and track progress in addressing them. U.S. EPA, in concert with its federal partners and other stakeholders, is leading the development and implementation of the GLRI and will administer the funding. The Great Lakes Commission maintains a list of web links for the GLRI that may be useful to Great Lakes stakeholders who are interested in the GLRI or involved in developing funding proposals. The links on this page will be updated continuously.

Publications

A variety of recent and past publications and documents related to Great Lakes Areas of Concern are available on the Publications page.

Workshop and Meeting Proceedings

The Great Lakes Commissiom maintains summaries and proceedings of a variety of workshops and meetings related to Great Lakes Areas of Concern. Brief descriptions and links to those summaries are available on the Workshop & Meeting Proceedings page.

The Great Yin Mother

Sophia's Lost and Found:
Poems of Above and Below

  

The Great Yin Mother

Yin rocks her cradle, an inland sea

supports us on her thighs

rolls us over her high waves.

Her unbridled strength plays.

Sweetwater mother’s waves

slap us…we tumble in her broad lap.

Risible whitecaps burst their mirth—

Yin’s laughter splashes the shore away.

I want to believe this lake

our mother will hold us forever—

that there is no such thing

as a ring of nuclear power plants

poised on the brink of melt

down to the core.

Surely yang unbalanced us.

Better by far were dragons breathing fire

than invisible death seeping through

air earth fire water.

Excerpted from Sophia's Lost and Found by Barbara Spring

Available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and many other fine bookstores

Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant on Lake Erie

Just outside of Toledo, Ohio on Lake Erie stands the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant.  Right now the question of whether it should get a new license is being considered.  Below is a newspaper article and below that is a link to more information about this plant. There have been serious incidents at this plant.


Akron Beacon Journal 2/4/2011


Eco-groups fight license renewal


Environmentalists oppose 20 more years of operation for Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station near Toledo


Published on Friday, Feb 04, 2011


Beacon Journal staff report


Four environmental groups are fighting the renewal of the federal operating license for FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station on Lake Erie in northwest Ohio.


The groups — Beyond Nuclear, the Green Party of Ohio, Don't Waste Michigan and Citizens Environmental Alliance of Southwestern Ontario — are seeking to intervene in the case.


Their efforts have been opposed by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co.


A hearing is scheduled March 1 before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis-Besse_Nuclear_Power_Station

Peregrine Falcons, Bald Eagles and Ospreys Oh My!

The peregrine falcon, the American bald eagle and the fish eating osprey are indicators of a healthy environment.  I am thrilled every time I see one of these birds along the shoreline of the Great Lakes.
Before DDT was banned, these birds had become nearly extinct in this area.  After DDT was banned, the Great Lakes very slowly purged of this economic poison that had magnified in water through food chains.  These birds at the top of the food chain started to return.

Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, made people aware of what was happening to our environment.  Citizens (and I was one) went to their local governments and state governments to protest the widespread use of DDT.  Finally, the U. S. banned its use and Canada followed.

Read more about the Great Lakes and its fish, birds and ecology in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes. Presently the best place to get the new updated book for $9.95 + s&h is from the publisher:

http://www.publishamerica.net/product95488.html

Updated: The Dynamic Great Lakes

The Dynamic Great Lakes received rave reviews when it first was released.  Now it has been updated with the latest information about the Great Lakes and their ecosystems and may be purchased online at a lower price:

http://bjspring.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/updated-the-dynamic-great-lakes/

This is the fourth edition of The Dynamic Great Lakes.

Alternative Energy: excerpt from The Dynamic Great Lakes

I agree with the concept of alternative energy such as solar and wind power.  I do not agree with going forward with more nuclear power plants.  Here is an excerpt from my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.

There are 37 nuclear power plants in the Great Lakes basin.


Plutonium, the most toxic substance known, is a by-product of

nuclear power plants. It is extremely hazardous because of its high

radioactivity: for half of its quantity to decay, it takes 24,360 years.

Our aging Nuclear Power Plants on the Great Lakes presently have

nowhere to store plutonium except on their property.

On the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant property on the shore of

Lake Michigan near South Haven, eight 100 ton casks stand on a

concrete slab only 150 feet from the waters of Lake Michigan.

The 16½ foot high casks are eleven feet in diameter and weigh

100 tons. They consist of a steel basket encased in 29 inches of

concrete and stand on a concrete slab. Palisades may eventually have

25 casks. Plutonium is so toxic that it could mean an end to life as

we know it in the Great Lakes region. Low-level radionuclides like

tritium escape into the ecosystem from these plants and like other

toxins, radioactivity magnifies through food chains. The nuclear

power plants are aging and must be phased out. Their radioactive

wastes pose an urgent problem that will have to be solved soon. No

one has solved the problem of how to store plutonium safely.

Uranium mining on the Canadian shore of the Lake Huron Basin

also poses hazardous waste problems.

The other nuclear power plants on the shores of the Great Lakes

also lack a sensible solution. Nuclear waste should be stored in a

permanent place where there is little or no chance of reaching water.

Former Attorney General of Michigan, Frank Kelly, stated the

storage of nuclear waste “the greatest threat to the Great Lakes in the

history of mankind.”

The Great Lakes’ value can’t be measured in dollars and cents

only, for who can measure the loss of health or put a price on the

beauty of a place?