In class last week we talked about how Superior is in the best condition out of the lakes, but that is directly related to how many people live on its coast. in a few articles i have read they say that the most harm comes from the population living in the surrounding areas. However we did discuss the topic of invasive species and I do believe that to be a threat as well to the lake. Some also state that global warming is a factor in this as well. They state that the warmer summers mean a warmer lake; which directly relates to cold water fish and lake levels. Superior is under many threats that need to be prevented. Please comment if you have any more information.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/10/29/lakesuperior
I definitely agree that Lake Superior is still under attack. Like you said, even though the lake is in the best condition it still needs to be protected. Luckily we should be able to PREVENT these threats instead of trying to clean up after they have already happened. Hopefully continued involvement will show the government that this is a concern of state citizens.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Lake Superior faces threats from human development and pollution. Because it is so large, it has a long residence time (nearly 200 years, compared to about three for Lake Erie). Therefore, it is harder to know the effects that human development has had on Lake Superior. Fortunately, however, since we have seen what can happen to Lake Erie, people now know that it is important to prevent lakes from being polluted, rather than trying to fix the situation afterward.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is, how do we address us as humanity and as a society?
ReplyDeleteThat's going to be the hard one to answer...
Lake Erie may have been a lesson for us, but that whole ordeal still isn't over with.
It's a dangerous balance between protecting and profiting from it. Keeping pollution out of Lake Superior is important, of course, but it is entirely possible to over-protect it and damage the economy of the Upper Peninsula. Opening of the Eagle Mine has been a huge controversy up here for years.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=401864#.UQaj8GdvySo
Subsequent generations are notorious for repeating past mistakes for the sake of economic success. So do they want to save just the lake or put in safe-guards/regulations on the U.P.'s most profitable industry and save the economy too?
I agree with your point. It seems like common sense, but i think people try to deny the simple fact because they dont want to be held responsible.
ReplyDeleteThe scary part about peoples' interaction with the environment is that we don't really know what we're doing. We try to clean up something by introducing a species that may have adverse side-effects beyond our understanding.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing goes with invasive plant species. Many government agencies have carry the philosophy that to kill an invasive plant species by any means necessary is better than allowing the species to continue.
The environmental organization that I worked for would get hired out by the NFS, NPS, Game and Fish, and BLM to kill off many different kinds of species. With tamarisk (an invasive plant that sucks up tons of water and deposits salt as a waste), the train of thought is to use herbicides to destroy it. But the problem with that is, tamarisk often grows near water. To kill tamarisk is to put all those chemicals in the water. So, the way that we treat Lake Superior invasive species should be well thought out and the ramifications understood.