Great Lakes Summit Tackles Economy, Environment

The Great Lakes region is home to over 30 million people and holds one-fifth of the world's freshwater resources. (Courtesy of SeaWiFS Project NASA/GSFC and Geoeye)

DETROIT—The 2011 Great Lakes Summit was held in Detroit on Oct. 11–14, as part of Great Lakes Week. The summit brought a collaboration of various organizations and government agencies in an effort to educate one another, and expose the threats facing the Great Lakes region. The event was marked as the first of its kind.

The summit was hosted by the International Joint Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Areas of Concern Program, The Healing Our Waters - Great Lakes Coalition, the Great Lakes Commission, and Environment Canada.

“One of the things that sets the Great Lakes region apart from most is the water that runs through us,” said Cameron Davis, senior adviser to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Another, less obvious thing that sets us aside is our ability to partner up to get things done; to find common interests and build on them to reach common goals.

“Great Lakes Week is more than the largest gathering of leaders and leading organizations,” Cameron continued. “It’s a statement. We’re telling the world that we are dedicated to working together to take action for the next generation.”

Available through Detroit Public Television and the Great Lakes Now website, the Great Lakes Summit addressed a growing consensus of apathy toward the Great Lakes by the public at large, and the necessity of engaging the public, businesses, and government agencies on the importance of a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem.

John Nevin, public affairs adviser for the Great Lakes Regional Office of the International Joint Commission, stated the importance of healthy waterways and the revitalization of local economies.

“One of the studies said if you spend $20 billion restoring lakes, the return would be about $50 billion,“ Nevin said. ”So you have increased tourism, you have increased fishing opportunities, [and] you have more development because if you clean up the riverfront in Detroit, it creates opportunities, companies want to move in, [and] they want to take advantage of having a clean beautiful site that’s on the waterfront; it’s a catalyst for other development.

“It’s also quality of life, it’s a place where people [want to live],” he added. “A lot of people talk about the Knowledge Economy, if I am someone who is part of the Knowledge Economy, where would I want to live? Would I want to live in some sort of gritty, industrial center, or do I want to move to a lakeshore where I can take my children and go swimming again and be able to enjoy the clean air, the clean water? There is lots of evidence of investment in restoring the Great Lakes.”

Key points in several conferences stated that overlooking threats to the Great Lakes, including runoff and algae blooms, invasive species, climate change, and pharmaceuticals and chemicals entering the Great Lakes, would deal a significant threat to the U.S. and Canadian economy.

Bill Rustem, director of strategy, executive office of Gov. Rick Snyder of Detroit, commented on firsthand experience of revitalizing the urban waterways in Detroit, and the renewal of the local economies in those areas.

Figures stated that $62 billion in wages are earned annually from jobs related to the Great Lakes, from recreational and industrial use. Restoring waterways has been a major component in attracting businesses and the highly educated populace to those areas.

Moral imperative

Addressing many of the stressors to the Great Lakes system and the environment as a whole, consent between the conferences was a moral obligation to deal with the issues at large.

Maureen Taylor, state chair of Michigan and part of the Welfare Rights organization, spoke emphatically against the privatization of waterways. “Water is a common good,” she stated, listing the attempts of bottled water companies to buy water resources in the Great Lakes region.

Lana Pollack, Allan Gilmour, and the International Joint Commission presented Al Gore, former vice president, adding significance to the summit.

The former vice president and presidential candidate gave a plenary speech Oct. 13, hitting on topics of climate change and ethics regarding the future of our natural resources.

Gore highlighted the need to address global climate change and shortsighted business ethics. “This is a test of whether we can use our capacity for long-term thinking, and then embody it in the rule of law with competent self-government, and the promise of this joint commission is based on those principles,” the former VP said.

Video from the 2011 Great Lakes Summit can be viewed at www.greatlakesnow.org.

With additional reporting by Valerie Avore