The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

Having spent over six years on the shores of Lake Michigan (in Chicago), I found the story of the Lakes to be quite interesting. It's a little overburdened with data that might have been better left to endnotes, but otherwise it tells a good story. When I arrived in Chicago in 1971, the alewife die-off of 1967 was still in people's memory, and we would see evidence of the fish on the beach, but I never knew why.

(Originally published on inthemargins.ca)

We can drive to the shores of Lake Erie in half an hour. Drive for just a few more minutes in the opposite direction, we find ourselves on the banks of Lake Huron.

I was never really aware of the Great Lakes when we lived steps away from Lake Ontario, in Toronto, but I have never been more conscious of the role of the Lakes in our province's ecosystem than I am now that we live in southwestern Ontario. The Lakes may be a bit of a drive away now, but their presence is felt palpably every day, in every discussion about the river that runs through our town, or in every conversation about the rich agricultural lands that surround the city.

Prior to living here, I didn't think of the Great Lakes as anything but beautiful expanses of water. In an interview with MPR on his book, The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, Dan Egan talks about how that beauty is deceptive:

There's a lot going on underneath the water is all five Great Lakes that people don't really grasp. And it's understandable, because from the surface they look beautiful. But that clear water isn't the sign of a healthy lake. Clear isn't clean: it's a sign of lakes getting the life sucked out of them.

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

(Originally published on inthemargins.ca)