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Large close-up of small waves in Lake Erie, the water an opaque bright yellow‑green from a dense harmful algal bloom near Pelee Island. Alt text written using Perplexity AI.
Primary Sources

Climate Change Threatens Drinking Water Quality Across The Great Lakes

“Do Not Drink/Do Not Boil” is not what anyone wants to hear about their city’s tap water. But the combined effects of climate change and degraded water quality could make such warnings more frequent across the Great Lakes region. A preview occurred on July 31, 2014, when a nasty green slime – properly known as a harmful algal bloom, or HAB – developed in the western basin of Lake Erie. Before long it had overwhelmed the Toledo Water Intake Crib, which provides drinking water to nearly 500,000 people in and around the city. Tests revealed that the algae was producing microcystin, a sometimes deadly liver toxin and suspected carcinogen. Unlike some other toxins, microcystin can’t be rendered harmless by boiling. So the city issued a “Do Not Drink/Do Not Boil” order that set off a three-day crisis.

A vibrant mural painted on a long wall in Prampram, Ghana, depicting historical and cultural themes. The artwork includes an image of a figure in regal attire, a portrait of another individual, and a raised fist. Text on the mural features quotes, including one referencing Marcus Garvey. The wall is set against a sandy ground with a palm tree to the left and a partly cloudy sky above. Image courtesy of Ebony Aya. Alt text generated by Perplexity AI.
Feature (Peer Review)

Spirituality and Ecology: (Re)Membering Black Women’s Legacies

By Ebony Aya. I don’t have a green thumb, or at least one I have discovered yet. Keeping my indoor plants alive has been an ongoing struggle! And the outside plants? On the off chance that I do decide to plant, which I did try to do for several years, my yields are few and far between. I sometimes forget to water. Rather than doing the necessary research to understand what things can actually grow in my environment, I have often just dived right in to see what works.

Introduction

Action Camps Everywhere: Solidarity Programs in the Anthropocene

By John Kim. The Mississippi River Open School for Kinship and Social Exchange (Open School) (2022–2025) has engaged pressing issues at the intersections of race, environment, and extraction through education, cultural exchange, and action. A core aspect of this work has been partnerships with communities, many on the front line of struggles against resource extraction and climate-change-related natural disasters.

Feature

Imagining Life-as-Place: Harm Reduction for the Soft Anthropocene

By Sarah Lewison

During the summer of 2023, at a conference of the Mississippi River Open School, an experimental learning group I belong to, the brilliant Dakota astronomer Jim Rock invited us to enact a performance of reinhabitation. We met near the site of Wakan Tipi Cave in St. Paul, Minnesota, a place sacred to the Dakota people. Upon gathering, each participant in our group was asked to name and express gratitude toward a river or body of water that connected to their lives in a meaningful way.

The image features the cover of the book "All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis." The book is labeled as a national bestseller, with a quote from The New York Times at the top. The background includes a landscape with a cloudy sky and a ground covered in orange and green moss. Surrounding the book are illustrated flowers, including a red poppy and yellow blooms, adding a natural and vibrant touch to the scene.
In Review

All We Can Save

By Marceleen Mosher. All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, edited by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson, is an anthology for anyone looking to turn away from the brink of disaster and toward a life-affirming future for all of Earth’s inhabitants. The collection brings forward the feminist voices of people at the forefront of the climate movement, weaving together creativity and science through essays, poems, and art that face the existential threat of climate change head-on while illuminating a way out of our current mess with energy, humility, and a spirit of collective action.