EVENT TIMES

Great Lakes Revival: How Restoring Polluted Waters Leads to Rebirth of Great Lakes Communities

October 3rd,2019 | 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Speaker: John Hartig

There is no doubt that the Industrial Revolution created many Great Lakes
cities but left a legacy of unchecked water pollution, loss and degradation
of habitats, and contamination. The environmental awakening in the 1960s
catalyzed the establishment of the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Canada-
U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972, and the Endangered
Species Act of 1973. By 1985, cleanup of the most polluted areas of the Great
Lakes, called Areas of Concern, had stalled and governments committed
to developing and implementing remedial action plans to restore impaired
beneficial uses using an ecosystem approach. Today, these collaborative,
ecosystem-based, cleanup efforts are paying major dividends. Join Dr. John
Hartig to learn more about how cleanup has led to reconnecting people to
waterways, begetting community and economic revitalization.
– John Hartig, Ph.D., Science-Policy Advisor for the International Association
for Great Lakes Research

*** MEMBERSHIP APPRECIATION RECEPTION FROM 6:00-7:00 PM

John Hartig

John Hartig is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, serves on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, and chairs the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan’s Great Lakes Way Advisory Committee. For 14 years, he served as Refuge Manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. John has received numerous awards for his work, including being recognized as a 2022 Crain's Detroit Business Notable Leader in Sustainability, the 2015 Conservationist of the Year Award from the John Muir Association, and a 2010 Green Leader by the Detroit Free Press. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications on the environment, including eight books. John’s book titled Waterfront Porch won a 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Award in the “nature/environment” category.