Earth Week

Whether they’re in oceans or the Great Lakes, shipwrecks create unique ecosystems for a variety of aquatic life.

Learn more about what happens when these dams are built and what happens when they come down in this Great Lakes Now watch party.

Razing dams and returning rivers to their more natural courses is happening throughout the world – including on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.

Instead of spending money to repair old dams, more communities are putting resources towards decommissioning dams and letting rivers run free.

“There’s a huge amount of positive stories out there to choose from,” said Verity White, “The Age of Nature” series producer.

“The Age of Nature” producer Pete Lown spoke with Great Lakes Now about the powerful symbolism of marine life returning to the wrecks in advance of the documentary airing.

Visit this map to learn about global habitat restoration efforts and similar work around the Great Lakes.

Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda chats with journalist Lorraine Boissoneault and Drew YoungeDyke from the National Wildlife Federation about mining, Asian carp, water quality and the Great Lakes.

From bass and burbot to freshwater sponge, the kind of ecosystem that forms around Great Lakes shipwrecks are as varied as the thousands of wrecks.

Four dams were built along the Boardman River in Northwest Michigan to generate hydroelectric power for Traverse City.  But by 2004 they were no longer economically viable. A decision was made to remove three of the dams and renovate the last one in downtown Traverse City. 

The administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf asked the state’s high court Monday to weigh in on a legal battle over Pennsylvania’s plan to charge power plants for their emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide.

These new, original, free lesson plans and at-home activities are based on video from the award-winning public television series and are downloadable for use with your middle schoolers.

With 24/7 at-home learning programs, the Michigan Learning Channel also introduces the Great Lakes to young viewers.

Can’t get out on the water this weekend? Tour the Great Lakes even without your own yacht.

Follow and draw the routes and itineraries of Great Lakes cruises to help your youngsters learn more about the region’s history and scenery.

Knowing more about water and swimming can help keep you and your young ones safer this summer.

Everyone can weigh in on their favorite lake in this fun debate that will inspire at-home learning too.

Help your K-3rd graders understand the Great Lakes – all at home.

The Great Lakes present great learning opportunities for early childhood. Use these lesson plans for your younger students.

Here’s a guide to what lessons you can use at home to go with Great Lakes Now episode 1013, on resilience and climate change.

Understanding invasive carp species can not only help protect the Great Lakes but also be key to understanding the current global pandemic.

Detroit Public Television is re-airing several episodes of Great Lakes Now. Here are the lesson plans that coordinate with those shows.

You don’t need to pollute to help your children learn about what happens in environmental accidents, and how to prevent and respond to them.

Here’s a collection of Great Lakes Now work – and other references – to help water become a fun, fascinating at-home lesson.

How about dinner “on” Mackinac, Washington or Drummond islands? All while helping your family learn more about the Great Lakes.

Join GLN Producer Anna Sysling for a conversation with several guests who all played a part in this episode’s story about the complicated financial, public health and infrastructural implications of our drinking water.

Great Lakes Now content and engagement work was honored in two statewide contests.

In this live watch party, Host Sandra Svoboda chats with WDET’s Annamarie Sysling and Friends of the Rouge River Executive Director Marie McCormick about two restoration projects around the Detroit River area.

In this “watch party,” originally broadcast on Facebook on Jan. 8, 2021, Belle Isle Aquarium…

Come aboard a boat that delivers mail to ships on the Great Lakes, learn about…

Jacqueline Serran with the Detroit River Canadian Clean Up, WDET’s Annamarie Sysling and Great Lakes Now’s Sandra Svoboda chat about high water level impacts on habitat and communities along the Detroit River in Canada and the U.S.

Commissioner Rob Sisson from the IJC, Kelly House from Bridge Michigan and Harvey Bootsma from the School of Freshwater Sciences at the UWM answer questions from the audience and explain why climate change will be THE story of the Great Lakes in coming years.

Belle Isle Aquarium Curator Paul Shuert, WDET’s Annamarie Sysling and Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda chat about sturgeon and answer Facebook audience questions.

Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda chats with Pam Barnes from Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Austin Happel from the Shedd Aquarium and Nick Lake from the Adler Planetarium.

Whether they’re in oceans or the Great Lakes, shipwrecks create unique ecosystems for a variety of aquatic life.

Learn more about what happens when these dams are built and what happens when they come down in this Great Lakes Now watch party.

Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda chats with journalist Lorraine Boissoneault and Drew YoungeDyke from the National Wildlife Federation about mining, Asian carp, water quality and the Great Lakes.

Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda chats with Belle Isle Aquarium Curator Dr. Paul Shuert and Drew YoungeDyke from the National Wildlife Federation about Asian carp.

Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda chats with Producer David Ruck from Great Lakes Outreach Media about Lake Erie’s toxic algal blooms.

Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda chats with John Russick from the Chicago History Museum, and GLN Producers Kathy Johnson and Nick Austin. They answer some audience questions about the show.