Matt Harmon, Tegwyn John, and Solomon Medintz are members of the Climate Action Movement at the University of Michigan, which defines itself as “a coalition of stakeholders” that is urging the university to craft a meaningful sustainability policy and actively move its campus toward carbon neutrality. They were also co-organizers of last week’s Washtenaw County Climate Strike, a county-wide protest spearheaded by high school and college students that “demanded better and immediate policy from Washtenaw County City Councils” and the University of Michigan.
A Conversation With Global Climate Leader Christiana Figueres
Last week, we were honored to speak with one of the world’s most influential leaders on climate change, Christiana Figueres. Figueres steered the Conference of Parties to the historic Paris Agreement in 2015 and served as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change from 2010-2016. She’s kind of a big deal. (You can read more about her incredible work on her website.)
Continue reading A Conversation With Global Climate Leader Christiana Figueres
Environmental (In)Justice in Michigan
“One of the worst things you can do to a population is take away their ecology.”
– Oday Salim, quoted in Grist’s list of 50 “forward-thinking fixers” and sustainability leaders for 2018.
Professor Oday Salim is the director of the University of Michigan’s Environmental Law & Sustainability Clinic and he’s an attorney at the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center. (Those positions overlap.) Throughout his career, Salim has focused on environmental justice issues like water affordability, pollution control, improving non-native English speaker participation in state permitting processes, and more. Salim spoke with regular host Bella Isaacs about the issue of water affordability and accessibility in largely-minority communities, including water shutoffs in Detroit and a 1998 water infrastructure case in Lansing.
Flashback Friday: What’s in our Water?
Today, we bring you an archived show from summer 2019 that Hot In Here alum Ben Sonnega recorded during the very first Galaxy Sustainability Learning Exchange. 
As you may know, our show is intertwined with the Gala Platform which hosts the Michigan Sustainability Cases (MSC) at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (or SEAS). Check us out here if you’re curious.
Joe Trumpey Wants You to Fight for a Carbon-Neutral Life
Local Food, Global Fun
Shannon Brines and Eliot Jackson stopped by the studio to chat with regular hosts Ed Waisanen and Bella Isaacs and shamelessly plug the Local Food Summit, which — wouldn’t you know it — is happening this Saturday, February 16.
Shannon is a local farmer and manager of the Environmental Spatial Analysis Laboratory at the UM School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). He’s also one of the co-founders of the Summit and serves on the board of Slow Food Huron Valley.
Walk the Line (5)
The two hand-shaped maps of the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan cup the hydrological corridor that links Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The whip-sawed waters of this passageway contain some of the mightiest currents in the Great Lakes, which intermittently thrash around a volume of water ten-times that which flows over Niagara Falls. The powerful Straits of Mackinac reach a 3.5-mile distance at their widest width and a 295-foot range at their deepest depth.
Something’s in the Water
Editor’s note: We faced some technical difficulties with this recording, but the sound will level out after 1:07. Thanks in advance for your patience.
Ann Arbor and its 72 sister municipalities form the Huron River Watershed, meaning that every drop of water that falls in these locations makes its way back to the river one way or another. We share this water not only with our families, friends and neighbors, but also with our governments, businesses, and manufacturers. In sharing a common resource like water—the essence of life—it makes sense to have a rule book that outlines permissible and non-negotiable actions as well as provisions to guide the course of action in the event of foul play. Michigan water quality standards fill this niche. However, as regular hosts Aurora Aparicio, Bella Isaacs, and Heena Singh learned this week from guest expert Laura Rubin, our rule book does not always keep pace with the discoveries of contemporary science.
Plants Are Good
You heard it here first, folks! Today, we invited Peter Pellitier into the studio to elucidate the multi-faceted relationship between plants and carbon dioxide. Peter is a current Ph. D. candidate at SEAS where he researches terrestrial ecology and mycorrhizal fungi. He explained that plants have increased their carbon dioxide uptake by 31% as compared to pre-industrial rates.
You Want the Good News or the Bad News First?
Whatever your answer, we decided to start with a bit of good news. As we finished off the second week of the new year, the Hot In Here crew covered all things environmental, from the impacts of fast fashion trends to nuns karate-chopping incandescent light bulbs (full disclosure, this week’s tangents were sponsored by Ed’s empty stomach).
Continue reading You Want the Good News or the Bad News First?