Welcome to Great Lakes Now: a regional news and information hub about how we enjoy, study, work on and experience the world’s largest supply of surface freshwater.
Explore our website. Watch our programs. Share your thoughts.
Latest News
New NASA imagery reveals startling behavior among group of ‘banished’ beavers: “[They] were just about everywhere”
NASA satellite imagery has recently shown that beavers banished to rural Idaho have made significant improvements to waterways in the region. These dams are already buffering against floods and reducing the risk of forest fires.
Michigan Legislature tackles ambitious climate legislation. How far will it go?
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released the MI Healthy Climate Plan last year. Now the state legislature is trying to take those goals and turn them into law.
Historians race to find Great Lakes shipwrecks before quagga mussels destroy the sites
An invasive mussel is destroying shipwrecks deep in the depths of the lakes, forcing archeologists and amateur historians into a race against time to find as many sites as they can.
Waves of Change: Meet community organizer Justin Onwenu
Waves of Change is a new online interview series highlighting the diverse faces and perspectives shaping the environmental justice movement throughout the Great Lakes region.
Michigan toddlers to receive universal lead testing under new legislation
Detroit kids test positive for lead at triple the state’s rate, but few get tested. A new universal testing law means more exposed kids may get help.
Nibi Chronicles: The art of Ojibwe linoleum
Preserving the remarkable legacy of Tchi-Ki-Wis Linklater’s cedar bark mats.
Specials from Great Lakes Now
Great Lakes Now – Monthly Series
A network of PBS stations to work together to cover crucial issues affecting the well-being and future of the Great Lakes.
The Forever Chemicals
Learn more about the PFAS family of chemicals and watch the Great Lakes Now program. Premieres March 28, 2019.
Tapping the Great Lakes
Water withdrawals remain a controversial issue in the Great Lakes. Learn about two of them in this Great Lakes Now program.
Beneath the Surface: The Line 5 Pipeline in the Great Lakes
Now an ongoing political issue, the history of Enbridge Line 5 in the Mackinac Straits goes back decades. Watch the Great Lakes Now documentary about the oil-and-gas pipeline.
The Seven Generation River
Visit a Native American community in the Great Lakes region and see how members protect water, using traditional culture along with technology.
The Door Flint Opened: America’s Drinking Water Crisis
When lead leached into the drinking water in this Michigan town, it changed how journalists and authors thought about water issues in their own communities. Hear from them about their work and what impact it had.