EarthKeepers II and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative across northern Michigan and NE Wisconsin: Interfaith native plant and vegetable gardens plus reducing airborne mercury through church/temple energy conservation audits/grants, and helping congregations reduce energy in their homes

Partnerships: Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Blog Series – Part 1, Julie Sims

Kudos to others who are helping restore the Great Lakes.

A big thumbs up to to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Science bloggers for reporting information on the big part the NOAA plays in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) – with its 19 GLRI projects.

NOAA protection and restoration efforts of coastal habitats include natural resource damage claims – and many community-based restoration efforts.

Check out this interview with Julie Sims – the NOAA Restoration Center Regional Coordinator at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Ann Arbor.

Plus read Part 2  – about the 19 NOAA GLRI Projects:

An interview with Rebecca Held – NOAA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Program Coordinator at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in Ann Arbor.

Held helps administer and coordinate NOAA’s 19 GLRI projects, and serve as NOAA’s point of contact for EPA and other agencies involved with the GLRI.

Sims outlines NOAA GLRI initiatives:

• Removal of over 200,000 metric tons of waste and demolition material

• Restore 1,300 acres of habitat for fish and wildlife

• Open 300 miles of river habitat for fish

The NOAA initiatives share the spirit of the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute GLRI projects across the Upper Peninsula including 250 interfaith congregations at churches/temples aiming to reduce energy consumption thus reducing airborne mercury in the Great Lakes plus the added benefit of protecting pollinators through native plant community gardens

We must protect/restore the Great Lakes – the America’s biggest freshwater source.