This week I am participating in Mother Earth Week celebrations at the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant. (Check out yesterday's post for more information about this.) My focus is on the importance of aquatic macroinvertebrates as a bio-indicator in Mid-Michigan and on the importance of clean water in all ecosystems. This is the fourth year that I have been doing this program.
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| Found yesterday - a Giant Case-maker Caddisfly (Family Phryaneidae) |
Coincidentally, the united Nations has declared 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation.
Because water is a limited resource, there is tense competition for its use, whether that use is for agriculture, industry, drinking etc. Sometimes the role of water in the environment is neglected. The thoughts of some people seem to trend toward the idea that water is too valuable to leave alone. Living in Michigan, the need to protect this resource is even more apparent. The Great Lakes is the largest available source of fresh water in the world. As other areas of the United States experience extreme drought there are cries to pipe water from the Great Lakes to those areas. Many of the areas that are experiencing water shortages have been populated and developed beyond their limited water resources and have mismanaged the resources that they have. Now they turn their eyes to the Great Lakes.
There is a film about water that I wish every upper elementary, middle school, high school, and college science class would watch every year around Earth Day. Please enjoy The Incident at Tower 37 by Chris Perry and Bitfilms.
On a completely non-water related note. I saw two first of the year birds today: Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) and Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna).
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