For Friday, Oct. 20, 2023

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1 – The folks are EarthDay.org are looking to scare people into taking action this Halloween season with some terrifying facts about climate change. 

For instance: Within the next two decades, global temperatures are likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. That’s the so-called “tipping point” of climate change when extreme flooding, drought, wildfires and food shortages could dramatically increase. 

Also, the summer of 2023 was the hottest on record, globally. And next summer is forecasted to break more records. 

More information on ways you can take action is online at EarthDay.org, including joining a Social Squad and supporting a Global Plastics Treaty. 

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2 – When you host an event, don’t waste food or hand out bottled water. Make your event a green event.

That’s the pitch from the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers, which has a new regional initiative called Great Lakes Green Events.

It was launched last week in Cleveland, where the Great Lakes Conference was held by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. 

The program encourages sustainability at conferences and events and supports local tree planting projects. 

Host organizations are encouraged to adopt practices to reduce food waste and eliminate single-use plastic bottles. 

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3 – When you clean up pollution in the Great Lakes, property values increase. 

A new University of Michigan study looked at more than $1.2 billion worth of federal grants spent to clean up toxic pollutants in so-called Areas of Concern. 

Researchers found that spending money to remediate pollution from historic manufacturing had a positive effect on housing prices within a 12-mile radius of specific regions. 

Regions with Areas of Concern, or toxic hot spots, include the Saginaw River and Bay, designated in 1987. 

The study doesn’t mention the river or bay. But it says that designating regions as Areas of Concern initially hurts property values. However, using grants to clean up the areas, which has happened here, then has a positive effect that outweighs the cleanup costs.

– Mr. Great Lakes is heard on Friday mornings in Bay City, Michigan, on Delta College Public Radio 90.1 FM (listen live). Follow @jeffkart on Twitter #MrGreatLakes

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