For Friday, Dec. 8, 2017

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1 – What do all the Great Lakes have in common? Plastic pollution.

As 2017 comes to an end, the Alliance for the Great Lakes has released details from its ongoing beach cleanup program.

This year, 89 percent of all the litter picked up from Great Lakes beaches was plastic. And plastic has been the most common type of litter found for years.

Plastic never goes away. Once it’s in the water or on the beach, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. These microplastics, as they’re called, can then absorb toxic chemicals and be mistaken for food by fish and wildlife.

The Alliance’s Adopt-a-Beach program helped remove plastic and other pollution during more than 500 cleanups in 2017, including along Saginaw Bay.

Throughout the lakes, volunteers picked up 36,128 pounds of trash in 2017.

2 – The application period is now open for next year’s Tawas Point Lighthouse Keeper Program.

In 2018, the Tawas Point Lighthouse Keeper Program will offer combined vacation and service opportunities for adults from May 16 to Oct. 16.

Those selected to be volunteer lighthouse keepers receive lodging in a restored keepers’ quarters next to the 1876 Tawas Point Lighthouse in Tawas Point State Park.

In exchange, participants provide about 35 hours of services each week in and around the lighthouse, which attracts visitors from all over the world.

Keeper duties include greeting visitors, giving tours, providing information about the lighthouse, and routine cleaning and maintenance.

Keepers stay in the second story of the keepers’ quarters attached to the lighthouse.

Accommodations include two bedrooms, which sleep up to four adults, and kitchen, bath and laundry facilities. Keepers must commit to a two-week stay at the lighthouse.

The application and additional information about the Tawas Point Lighthouse Keeper Program is available at www.michigan.gov/tawaslighthouse.

The application period is open through Feb. 2, 2018.

– Mr. Great Lakes is heard at 9:30 a.m. Fridays in Bay City, Michigan, on Delta College Q-90.1 FM NPR. Follow @jeffkart on Twitter #MrGreatLakes