March 19, 2024

Get in the Flow with two events to Green Up November

Nov. 9, 2008
For all of you interested in the environment and the future of the Great Lakes, the weekend of November 14 is for you! There are two back-to-back events that are fun and affordable.
The first event on Friday, November 14, will set up a legal fund that will allow area environmental groups to take immediate action to stop water, air, land, or wildlife from being destroyed.
The second event on Sunday, November 16, will launch a broad-based, nonpartisan public education drive to protect the Great Lakes from the commercial sale of water.
Here are the details.
The first event kicks off at 7 p.m., November 14, at the Traverse City Opera House.
That’s when the Northern Michigan Environmental Council officially announces its new “Environmental Legacy Fund.”
The Legacy Fund will give NMEAC the immediate resources its needs to stop polluters and developers who are breaking the law. The fund will also help launch wide-reaching initiatives such as the Grand Vision, a process the group co-founded in 2005.
“It’s been something we’ve wanted to do for the last few years,” said Greg Reisig, NMEAC chair. “If we put together a legal fund, we could be proactive when we see something like a bulldozer in the Grand Traverse Bay in front of the Cherry Tree Inn or Bill Clous filling in wetlands. Bill Clous [a developer ] was destroying wetlands and creeks for years and everybody knew it.
“We kept pressing the regulatory agencies to do something, and they kept telling him to stop. But he didn’t stop until the prosecutor and state attorney general got involved. By that time, everything was pretty much destroyed—70 acres of wetlands and three rivers had to be restored. If we had had the financial resources, we could have gotten a restraining order and stopped the bulldozing,” Reisig said.
The Legacy Fund will also provide local groups with loans or seed money, such as Friends of the Jordan River, which is battling the injection well in Alba.
Although a serious cause, NMEAC has planned a fun-filled evening with extraordinary music. The concert features the ambassadors of the fresh water seas, Song of the Lakes, folksinger Robin Lee Berry, along with Sandy (Blind Dog Hank) and Glenn Wolff, as well as the powerful Phenomenal Head.
Tickets are $20 a piece, $10 for students and seniors. Those unable to attend are invited to donate anyway contacting NMEAC at 231-946-6931 or by visiting its website, www.NMEAC.org.
If you’re interested in volunteering at the event, please call M’Lynn Harwell at 943-4000.

WATER FOR SALE?
The second event on November 16 will premier FLOW, a provocative new film, and launch a new public education campaign by the same name — FLOW: For the Love of the Great Lakes.
The event is sponsored by the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation and other leading nonprofit organizations. The program will launch a drive to protect the waters of the Great Lakes from private export and sale.
The event begins with the Northern Michigan premier of Irena Salina’s New York Times critically-acclaimed film, Flow: For Love of Water, at Traverse City’s State Theatre at 3 p.m.
The film is a documentary about citizen efforts around the world, including Michigan, to stop large corporations from privatizing or controlling water. This moving film first gained recognition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Immediately after the film, a panel discussion and reception will be held at 5 p.m. at the city’s historic Opera House with former Governor Bill Milliken, film maker Irena Salina, environmental attorney Jim Olson, author Dave Dempsey (Great Lakes for Sale) and Terry Swier, President of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation (MCWC).
The major court victory that limited the amount of water that Nestlé could divert from a Michigan watershed was won by MCWC. The panel will discuss strategies for citizens to correct a loophole in the Great Lakes Compact, recently passed by Congress and the Michigan Legislature, authorizing the export of water for private sale out of the Great Lakes.
“There is a giant loophole in the Great Lakes Compact diversion ban that just passed Congress,” Jim Olson, water law attorney said. “The ban doesn’t apply to water produced and put in a container. That means water placed in a container will be fair game for the engines of large corporations and their teams of lawyers under NAFTA and international trade law.”
The state must be required to consider the public interest before allowing its water to be sold, former Governor Bill Milliken said in a joint press release last Spring with former Governor Jim Blanchard in response to the Compact.
Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak said he has questions about the Great Lakes Compact. He wants the export and bottled water loophole to be carefully studied and corrected. He has been joined by others, including Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota and Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
Activists are also pushing for groundwater to be designated as a public trust resource in order to avoid the same kind of catastrophe the state suffered in the 1800s when Michigan forests were decimated, Olson said.
“With the water crisis heating up in North America and the planet, water could be turned into a wholesale product. With a public trust designation, the state could allow the sale in some instances, but only if the state passes a law requiring those who sell water to come and get a license. The public needs to be compensated by these companies rather than ripped off for free. We are putting an umbrella of protection against the exploitation for water. And why wouldn’t we? Otherwise, Michigan will be vulnerable to the rest of the world,” Olson said.
The film and reception are open to the public. Participants will enjoy music by cellist Crispin Campbell and keyboardist Jimmy Olson and readings by poet Michael Delp. Food will be provided by local restaurants and caterers.
Tickets for the event (which includes a ticket for the film) can be ordered with a donation of $15 per adult ($25 per couple) from the Traverse City Opera House. Go to www.cityoperahouse.org or call 231-941-8082. Remaining tickets to the film FLOW will go on sale after November 7 at the State Theatre.

Those organizations, businesses, and individuals who would like to join the growing list of sponsors for the event may call Terry Swier, president of Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation at
(231) 972-9956.

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