Please join the Great Lakes Creative Hub and Michigan State University Sea Grant Program in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement through an informational webinar. Discussions will be based on the history of the Agreement and ways the creative arts can foster greater binational connections across the Great Lakes Basin. More information regarding the webinar agenda and registration can be found below.
Register: https://msu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uacqX6F8T_SRmlPDxTqnzg
When: April 14, 2022, 4:00 pm EST.
Cameron Davis, Great Lakes Czar in the Obama Administration, and Lead Negotiator, U.S. EPA & State Department Negotiating Team, 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
John Jackson, Member of the Great Lakes Ecoregion Network (GLEN) and past-president of Great Lakes United. John will discuss the role that community groups have played over the decades in the development and implementation of the GLWQA
Todd Fleet, Canadian Director, Great Lakes Creative Hub. The case of cultural renewal in the greater Sault Ste. Marie region.
Mark Mattson, Director, Swim, Fish, Drink. Building a coalition with Royal Canadian Geographical Society to commemorate the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in conjunction with US/Canadian interagency meeting in September of 2022 in Detroit/Windsor.
The signing of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement fifty years ago heralded a new era of binational cooperation and environmental protection. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this historic Agreement between Canada and the United States, please join this April 14 virtual meeting to learn about the Agreement’s history and join in a discussion about ways the creative arts can foster greater binational connections across the Great Lakes basin.
A few centuries ago, before European settlement fish and wildlife existed in splendid abundance and waters flowed cleanly, unhampered by dams, throughout the watershed. But the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the Great Lakes undergo tremendous social and economic transformation. Phenomenal growth in population and the ready availability of water and its means of transport rapidly helped to turn the region into a world center for innovation and industrial manufacturing. Conventional wisdom held that the releases of pollutants into Great Lakes waterways were magically made harmless in the face of the vastness of the resource.
Yet by the 1960s, the problems of the Lakes could not be so easily brushed aside. The fires on the Cuyahoga River and ugly algae outbreaks drove home the need for dramatic action to save the Lakes. People with a love of the Lakes looked beyond traditional jurisdictional remedies and sought a vision for the future based on a binational agreement that sought long-term solutions, which saw the ecosystem as a comprehensive living and vibrant whole.
One can only imagine the multiple concerns that will confront a future generation when they approach the 100th anniversary of the Great Water Quality Agreement in 2072. Ongoing binational cooperation, creative solutions, and increased public engagement will certainly play pivotal roles. Indeed, over the past two decades UNESCO has emphasized the need for heightened cultural connection as a prerequisite for achieving truly sustainable communities. Yet recent times have seen the free and unhindered connections across our borders seriously impaired by terrorist concerns and a worldwide Covid pandemic. How better to renew a sense of common destiny and broadened public participation than in actively promoting cross-border cultural arts exchange. Thus, the April 14 meeting will feature creative models and new initiatives that help foster binational connections and a broadened sense of stewardship throughout the Great Lakes region.