Great Lakes Revival: How Restoring Polluted Waters Leads to Rebirth of Great Lakes Communities
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, Ph.D., is currently the Science-Policy Advisor
for the International Association for Great Lakes Research.
For the previous fourteen years, he served as Refuge Manager
for the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. Hartig
has received a number of awards for his work, including
the 2017 Community Peacemaker Award from Wayne State
University’s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, the 2016
Edward G. Voss Conservation Science Award from Michigan
Nature Association, the 2015 Conservationist of the Year
Award from the John Muir Association, and the 2013 Conservation Advocate of the
Year Award from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. He has authored or
co-authored over one-hundred publications on the environment, including four books:
Bringing Conservation to Cities; Burning Rivers; Honoring Our Detroit River, Caring
for Our Home; and Under RAPs: Toward Grassroots Ecological Democracy in the Great
Lakes Basin. His most recent book, Bringing Conservation to Cities, won a Gold Medal
from the Nonfiction Authors Association in the “Sustainable Living” category and a
bronze medal from the Living Now Book Awards in the “Green Living” category
