Content

From the Director:  Fresh Water

Biodiversity Leadership Award  for Jane Elder

Water, Water Everywhere

Building a Water Constituency

Get the Poll Results

Hope for Biodiversity in Johannesburg?

Responsible Purchasing Guide for Faith Communities

Get Your Lawn Off Drugs

Farewell to Marian Farrior
 

From the Director: Fresh Water   Some people are drawn to the sea; I am drawn to Lake Superior.  Fresh water is the stuff of life for all things terrestrial, and some of the freshest of the fresh is in Lake Superior.  On a hot summer’s day a few weeks ago, my family pulled off the road at Au Train Bay (a fine crescent bay framed by splendid dunes) and dashed across the sizzling sand to the waters edge.  We were simply drawn into the water –  first a wade, and then a plunge into the exquisite cool of 2,900 cubic miles of gorgeous H20.  Lake Superior is the champagne of fresh water swimming – no sting of chlorine, no eau de algae clinging to your skin, no lingering fishiness, just a feeling of being absolutely refreshed.  (OK, on most days it will turn you blue with cold, but on a perfect summer’s day, there’s no comparison.) A few days down the road in the Apostle Islands, we enjoyed several more “swim perfect” days in equally pleasant conditions.  The delight of these days reminded me of how rare these experiences are in our lives, and how precious and threatened truly clean, sparkling water is. As much as I love Lake Superior, I know that its clear waters carry airborne traces of toxaphene and PCBs that work their way up the food web, a thought that lingered in the back of my mind while my fork was poised over a whitefish fillet.  Back home, the clock radio woke me with a report about the widespread beach closings across the country – e. coli is out in force again this year.  Locally, our very hot summer has amplified our traditional algae bloom and our lakes are ripe and fragrant.  We’re now at that time of year when you have to shower after you swim (unless you can persuade yourself that globs of protein-rich algae are really some sort of free spa treatment).  Is this considered “swim-able” under the Clean Water Act? Meanwhile, drought is widespread in the U.S.  From the fire-stricken west, to the Southeast, to the Mid-Atlantic and throughout the Midwest.  Finally, we got some rain here after a long stretch of nothing.  It might save the corn crop.  Other areas aren’t so lucky.  Increasingly, water seems in short supply, and that which we do have seems to be chlorinated, filtered, or packaged in plastic bottles.  How is it that so many people take its abundance and availability for granted? Water quality and water supply are issues that will grow in magnitude in coming years.  Access to drinking water is an increasing environmental and social issue in much of the world, and here in the U.S., fresh water is an issue taking on new dimensions.  Biodiversity is often the last consideration when it comes to parceling out water among competing interests.  The fish, the benthic organisms, riparian plant communities, etc., often get the leftovers, if anything is left over at all.  If we’re serious about protecting biodiversity, we have to help people understand that fresh water ecosystems are more than mere reservoirs for human use. The Biodiversity Project is leading two important research projects on fresh water this year that will help shed light on this challenge.  First, we’ve developed a project to assess public opinion about water quality and water management in the Great Lakes states.  The region is grappling with a long-term strategy to manage use of Great Lakes water.  From old schemes to export tankers of fresh water to Asia, to groundwater mining by the Perrier Group of North America, where there’s fresh water, there’s a clear need to establish how water is used, and who gets to use it.   We’ve also started work on a complementary project to get at the questions of how it is that people take water so for granted.  In partnership with Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade, we’re developing a research project to help re-invigorate a water constituency in Wisconsin.  Here, between two Great Lakes, the upper Mississippi, and among thousands of inland lakes and streams, water is all around us, and key to the state’s economy, from manufacturing, to agriculture to tourism.  But, why are we drinking Evian and sulking over stinking beaches?  Wisconsin provides us with a great test case to dig into public complacency about water, and to ferret out ways to re-connect people to this most-precious resource. Both projects afford us the rare opportunity to dig deeply into an issue that is a concern for most Americans (even if they’re not yet taking action), and an issue obviously linked to biodiversity, and increasingly of national and global significance.  Fresh water is an issue that is both personal and global, and immediate - a perfect opportunity for communicating with the public.     Jane Elder

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Water, Water, Everywhere 

	The Biodiversity Project is in the midst of two projects to assess attitudes about water in the Midwest. From our previous research, we know that water is the most salient issue related to the environment and biodiversity for most people. The findings from our current projects will help us – and our partners throughout the country – identify more effective ways of making the connections between a healthy supply of fresh, clean water and our own quality of life.
Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore, Lake Michigan ©2000 David-Lorne Photographic Photographer: Michael D.-L. Jordan
For more information on our “water work,” contact Cindy Coffin, ccoffin@biodiverse.org.

The Great Lakes: A Finite Resource?

We recently asked several of our colleagues to respond to the following questions about water supply in the Great Lakes and why we should be concerned about how we manage this unique resource. Here’s what we heard from:
Reg Gilbert at Great Lakes United,
Cam Davis of the Lake Michigan Federation,
and Emily Green from the Sierra Club Midwest Office.

BP:  How does water supply affect biodiversity?

Reg: One of the primary characteristics of an ecosystem is the way water moves through it. Alterations to the water system -- quantity, timing, frequency, duration, and rate of change -- are alterations to habitat. Such alterations take place most commonly at the interfaces of land and water such as wetlands and shores. These interfaces are also often sites of richest biodiversity. Improved water management equals habitat and biodiversity protection. 

Cam: Because water is one of the building blocks of life, a clean, bountiful supply of water is critical to the pyramid of life. Take away a clean, abundant water supply and the pyramid of life begins to crumble. 

Emily: Entire communities of plants and animals depend on a natural cycle and flow of water. If we live within our means, we can be a part of that community, using water without disrupting its flow and destroying the other life that also depends upon its presence. But if we don't take the time to understand those relationships, we can easily disrupt and destroy natural communities by essentially taking and using more than our fair share of this natural resource. Once disrupted, some of those communities may disappear forever, and we will lose the services that they provide as well as the ability to share them with our children.

BP:  Why should individuals care about how water is managed in their region?

Reg: This region, from the ten thousand lakes of Minnesota to the thousand islands of the St. Lawrence River, is defined by water. The region's economic future -- as a fishery, food producer, advantageous site for locating industrial facilities, source of inexpensive hydroelectric power, and perhaps most significantly, tourist destination -- is substantially based on its abundant waters. Many of these present and future economic functions depend on the ability of this abundant water to support a flourishing network of plants and animals. Good water management can protect gross water quantity by preventing diversions and exports, and it can protect water's many ecosystem support functions by ensuring that water withdrawals are conducted responsibly.

Cam: People need to care about how water is used because their life depends on it. It may sound like hyperbole, but what if our supply of air were to gradually disappear over the next hundred years? It sounds utterly irrational, but with water, it's possible we could deplete our supply beyond recovery unless we act now.

Emily: Most importantly, people should care because we do not have an endless supply of fresh water anywhere in the world. We must be careful stewards of the water that we do have to ensure that future generations and natural communities are able to use and enjoy it as we do. The Great Lakes, in particular, are a treasure -- there is nothing else like them. They deserve to be explored and enjoyed, but also protected, as they are magnificent and yet fragile and irreplaceable despite their great size.

BP:  Why are water management issues so important right now in the Great Lakes?

Reg: Basin citizens and officials alike have noticed a dangerous potential confluence of events: 1) climate change that may significantly reduce basin water quantity in coming decades, 2) development patterns that are dramatically disrupting natural water flows all around the region, 3) long-term water shortages in the southern and western United States, Mexico, and large parts of the rest of the world, 4) a steady reduction of the region's political power in the U.S. Congress, and 5) growing interest by multinational companies in water services paralleled by dramatic growth in their power under international trade agreements. It all adds up to the need to change a water management system that for the most part was simply inherited from centuries-old British common law.

Cam: Water is the basis of life. We can't artificially create water. If we run out of water--clean water--we have no substitute to fall back on. We need to live within our water supply means. Our demand is far outpacing our supply right now.

Emily: We are just at the cusp of the issue in this region, and we have a choice: we can either establish sustainable water use and management practices to ensure that future generations can enjoy and use this resource, or we can continue with the status quo, which will end up squandering the resource. We must start asking and answering the tough questions now, if we want to do the right thing for future generations. 

BP:  What is the difference between how water is currently managed in the West and what you are trying to achieve in the Great Lakes basin?

Reg: Ecosystems have little if any claim to water under the West's "prior appropriation" system, which allocates all available water to landowners according to their historic use and allows water rights to be sold and separated from land rights. The opposing "reasonable use" doctrine of the eastern United States and Canada presupposes some right of the ecosystem to water, and the U.S. "public trust" doctrine provides a legal basis for forcing state governments to protect that right. We are trying to achieve a number of specific water management policy changes in the Great Lakes basin, but they could all be summarized as ensuring that the definition of reasonable water use more explicitly protects the needs of the ecosystem, and that government fully carries out its public trust responsibilities when permitting water withdrawals.

Cam: The West has been "water challenged" almost since its settlement. We have a tougher barrier to overcome here in the Great Lakes region -- we have to disabuse our own self-imposed myth that we have a boundless supply of water. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Great Lakes are exhaustible. The sooner we as residents of the Great Lakes region begin to not just understand this, but live it as truth, the sooner we'll guarantee the quality of life for our children and children's children.

Emily: In the West water is treated as a commodity, to be bought, sold and used by people, with little or no regard for the impact of that use on natural communities. As a result, people go to war over western water rights so that we can grow crops and water lawns and golf courses in the desert. We are trying to live beyond our means in the West, using water in a way that is simply unsustainable in that part of the country. I think we are trying to avoid that situation here by planning for water use and determining how we can live within the constraints of the environment that we have here. Even in this seemingly water-rich part of the world, water is not an endlessly renewable resource. Very little of the water in the Great Lakes is replenished each year. Thus, we must determine how we can use water without using it up, so that natural communities and future generations will benefit from this amazing resource.

BP:  How will the Biodiversity Project’s research help you get the word out?

Reg: Great Lakes basin citizens value the region's ecosystem and have repeatedly proven that they are willing to act financially and electorally to protect it. But the messages about problems and solutions that will motivate citizens to act in particular cases are only as good as our specific knowledge about how citizens value their waters and what concerns they have about them. The Biodiversity Project's research will make sure that our time-consuming and expensive messaging efforts are effective.

Emily: This project will provide information on what people think about the Great Lakes and the water resources in this region. That information will help us communicate more effectively on a number of issues, including the importance of sustainably managing and protection the water resources that we have. 

Cam: The Biodiversity Project is the unqualified expert in communicating complex ecological matters to the public. Without the Biodiversity Project's help, we'll have a tough time educating people that every gallon counts. 

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Building a “Water Constituency” for Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, we are in the beginning stages of a project to build a constituency for water protection across the state. We will be working with Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade (WED) to assess public attitudes about a range of water issues, and design a campaign that can help build public support for these issues over the long term, rather than on a campaign-by-campaign basis.

In May, WED convened a Water Summit of leaders in the state to discuss key priorities and goals for the coming years. As a result of this meeting, we have identified four key issue areas that we will explore further in our research: water quantity, the impacts of land use on water resources, wetlands, and polluted runoff.

This month, our colleagues at Belden Russonello & Stewart will be conducting eight focus groups with Wisconsin residents to assess their understanding and awareness of these issues and their reactions to key language and arguments in support of water protection. The findings will be presented at a briefing on October 3^rd, here in Madison.

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Biodiversity Poll Results

Get the results from the Biodiversity Project’s recent national survey, "Americans and Biodiversity: New Perspectives in 2002." 

The poll was conducted earlier this year to gauge the public's attitudes toward biodiversity and related issues:

There are two components of the poll report:

1) Poll findings and interpretation:  This report contains detailed analysis of the findings about public attitudes toward biodiversity, public response to a variety of biodiversity protection messages, and views on personal and government actions to save biodiversity.

2) Cluster analysis:  This analysis segments and profiles poll respondents based on attitudinal, lifestyle and demographic factors.

To receive a poll report (in either hard copy for a suggested donation of $25.00 or to download a free electronic copy from our Web site), please contact Miriam Grunes at mgrunes@biodiverse.org or at (608)250-9876.

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Responsible Purchasing Guide for Faith Communities

Faith-Based organizations around the country are learning to buy differently for their houses of worship through the Center for a New American Dream’s new resource, Responsible Purchasing Guide for Faith Communities. The guide outlines eight easy steps congregations can take to protect the Earth and promote social justice. Responsible Purchasing gives step by step information about how to buy environmentally friendly and socially responsible products like coffee, paper, and cleaning products and provides information about how to calculate the positive impact of these actions.

For more information or to receive copies ($5 each) for your faith group, email cassandra@newdream.org or call 877-68-DREAM.

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Get Your Lawn Off Drugs: Just Say “No” to Lawn and Garden Pesticides

We can have beautiful lawns and gardens and protect the health of our family, pets, local wildlife and drinking water by gardening without chemical pesticides. Not only do pesticides kill intended weeds and insects, but they can also kill beneficial insects, damage good plants, accidentally poison pets or children, make us sick, and pollute groundwater, lakes and streams. In the meantime, the target insects, diseases, and weeds develop resistance to chemical pesticides, making the pesticide game a no-win option.

Here are some ways to make "drug-free" gardening and lawn care successful:

Landscape for low maintenance and healthy plants. Plant more hale and hardy plants, such as natives or those that are naturally disease resistant. If you feel like you've just got to have some hybrid tea roses or other lovely but pest-susceptible plants, then you can give them special attention while the rest of your garden fends for itself.

Find natural alternatives to standard insecticides. If you need to take on aphids or other “leaf munchers,” opt for insecticidal soap sprays that suffocate the bugs but don't leave a lethal legacy behind. “Safer” is a widely used brand available at most garden centers, or you can also make your own recipe--just use soap, not detergent.

For your lawns, mow high. To discourage weeds, keep your lawn mower blade at a height of 7 cm (3 inches). Never cut off more than one-third of the grass stem at a time. And don't forget to “grass-cycle:” Leave your grass clippings on the lawn to return nutrients to the soil. This will reduce your need for fertilizer by 30 percent. Clippings are mainly water so they add moisture to your lawn.

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Farewell to Marian Farrior

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