Lake Erie Advocates
Get Informed
In this 30 minute video, Dr. Deanna Osmond, Ph.D. in Agronomy from Cornell University, and author of dozens of studies on soil nutrients, speaks at an Ohio State University conference, Sept. 8, 2021. In her very understated way she explains why many of the "Best Management Practices" the Ohio EPA is using to draft TMDLs (total maximum daily loads) for Lake Erie are either ineffective or actually increase the Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus fueling the toxic algal blooms every summer.
Chris Winslow, director of the OSU's Sea Grant program, moderates the Q&A in which he says "When giving talks like this we keep calling these 'best management practices,' but there really isn't a 'best' right? These are 'management practices' and it truly depends on which field and which management practice; that's kind of misleading folks."
Shop Organic
Download this list to see sustainable food options in the area!
Informative Films
The Erie Situation: Panel Discussion
#BoycottBigMeat Video Series
13 Reasons to #BoycottBigMeat
Consumers are key to building a better food and farming system. You can help by supporting farmers and ranchers who produce meat using practices that protect your health, the rights of food & farm workers, animal welfare, the environment, and climate stability. You’ll find these producers online, at your local farmers markets, through CSAs, and in your local organic retail stores. To buy direct from local producers of organic, regenerative pasture-raised and grass-fed meat and other products, use this map. TAKE ACTION: Demand a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms, and support the just transition to an organic regenerative food and farming system!
The Erie Situation explores the confluence of science, public sentiment, politics and the powerful farming lobby as Ohio wrestles with how to confront the drivers of toxic algae in Lake Erie. What’s at stake? Who’s at risk? The Erie Situation and our panel confront this growing crisis tonight.
For more information regarding the film, please visit: https://plasticoceans.org
Tune in to PBS WGTE on September 12th at 9:00pm to watch The Erie Situation.
Resources and Publications
NYTimes video: Ecosystem at Stake in Proposed Cuts to Chesapeake Bay Cleanup
HOWEVER, keep in mind that preventing similar cuts to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is not going to clean up Lake Erie's toxic algae. This news release explains why.
Big dairy blamed for busting up rural roads, draining township road budget
The problem, according to Housholder, is that the MSB Dairy, a concentrated animal feeding operation with 2,100 cows, is beating up the surrounding roads with frequent use. Any other type of industry causing such heavy traffic could be held responsible for the road wear and tear, he said. But because of agricultural exemptions, the dairy has no such obligations.
Environmental Groups to U.S. EPA: "Declare Lake Erie Impaired"
The problems associated with harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie require strong – and urgent – action from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We therefore find EPA’s deferral of a decision to declare the waters of the western basin (watershed) of Lake Erie ‘Impaired’ from nutrients “whether waters beyond the shoreline of the Western Basin of Lake Erie should be on Ohio’s Section 303(d) list” to be improper.
Study by UT Details Harm Done by Algae
According to the study’s initial findings, mice that ingested microcystin — a toxin found in blue-green algae prevalent in Lake Erie algal blooms — had their existing liver damage exacerbated by accelerating fat accumulation on the liver along with inflammation.