There are huge and growing problems in the Great Lakes.
Water use is growing at a rate double that of the population, and we now know that by 2030, global demand will outstrip supply by 40 per cent. Lack of access to clean water is the greatest killer of children by far.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.
So we who live around the Great Lakes of North America have a very special responsibility to preserve and care for them in the light of the global reality now so clear.
While there have been some breakthroughs -- on PCBs, acid rain, and Lake Erie for example -- as well as many border treaties to protect air and water quality and fisheries, they are not enough to offset other damage, both existing and new.
Ongoing issues include climate change, over-extraction, non-point pollution, continued high levels of sewage discharge into the Lakes, the loss of wetlands and forests, and invasive species.
New issues include gas and oil exploration, including fracking and the export of bitumen from Canada's tar sands to 17 refineries on the U.S. side of the Great Lakes; new mining operations, including a vast copper and nickel ore deposit that runs from the tip of Lake Superior to Lake Ontario; and possible nuclear waste shipments on the Lakes.
So the question must be: why is the crisis growing?
With so many wonderful people, elected officials and environmental groups working hard to save and protect the Great Lakes, what is the problem?
There are competing visions of what the Lakes are for and who they serve. One vision -- the wrong one -- is winning.
Some see the Great Lakes as a watershed that gives us all life and livelihood and is a living ecosystem to be nurtured, protected and preserved for future generations. But too many others, including some governments, see the waters of the Great Lakes as a huge resource for our convenience, pleasure and profit.
