Protestors in Detroit last month objected to plans to cut pension benefits of city workers and retirees.

cnn.com - by Chris Isidore - July 18, 2013

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Detroit filed for bankruptcy Thursday, becoming the nation's largest public sector bankruptcy. The move could slash pension benefits to city workers and retirees, and leave bond holders with only pennies on the dollar.

The bankruptcy was filed by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and approved by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Snyder said the financial condition of the city left him no choice.

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detroit.cbslocal.com - by Matt Roush - May 6, 2013

CHICAGO — At Monday’s American Wind Energy Association conference in Chicago, leaders of the newly-formed Michigan Energy and Technology Center (METC) announced their multi-faceted plan to generate economic activity in the Great Lakes State.

METC is a consortium comprised of officials from Michigan State University, the Grand Rapids sustainable energy construction firm Rockford Berge, Consumers Energy and other Michigan-based clean technology and services companies. Their mission is to accelerate the global market growth for clean technology and services.

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Image: FarmedHere is the nation's largest indoor organic farm

inhabitat.com - May 27th, 2013 - Bridgette Meinhold

The nation's largest indoor organic farm is now churning out greens and herbs to supply the Chicago area with fresh, local produce. FarmedHere recently opened up a new aquaponic and aeroponic farm in a 90,000 square foot post-industrial building in Bedford Park, IL. They grow arugala, basil, mint and other micro greens, which are then sold in Whole Foods stores in the city. We've been writing about indoor vertical farms for years and now they really do exist!

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Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township, Michigan.  Alamy

huffingtonpost.com - May 6, 2013

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in southwestern Michigan was taken offline Sunday after operators discovered a leak from a water tank. . .

NRC officials estimate "79 gallons of 'slightly' radioactive water" flowed into Lake Michigan over the weekend, explained Michigan Radio. Officials reportedly don't know exactly how radioactive the leaked water was.

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neighborhoodscout.com

Even the most dangerous cities in America can have relatively safe neighborhoods, as there is more variation in crime within most cities than between cities. But using exclusive data developed by NeighborhoodScout, and based on FBI data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies in America, we here report those specific neighborhoods in America that have the highest predicted rates of violent crime per 1,000 neighborhood residents of all. Violent crimes include murder, forcible rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. These neighborhoods are the epicenters of violence in America, where social issues are likely to ignite into violence and spread. See our FAQ on how we rank the most dangerous neighborhoods

Click on any neighborhood name in the link below to view the neighborhood map and full profile.

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/neighborhoods/crime-rates/25-most-dangerous-neighborhoods/

submitted by Gary Vroegindewey

http://detroitworksproject.com/for-detroit-to-work-we-need-action-today/

The Detroit Works Project was introduced in 2010 as a process to create a shared, achievable vision for Detroit’s future to improve the quality of life and business in Detroit.

It began with a series of meetings to engage residents in the process. Initially we heard from nearly 10,000 of you who told us for Detroit to work, action is needed today while we continue to plan for tomorrow.

As a response, Mayor Dave Bing introduced the separation of the Detroit Works Project into two tracks in July of 2011—Short Term Actions and Long Term Planning.

As city officials continued to spearhead Short Term Actions, they worked to realign some city services and leverage available resources to make improvements in neighborhoods based on market conditions.

The city of Detroit is moving towards a land deal with Hantz Farms, an urban agriculture venture with big plans and lots of critics with in the urban farming movement. (Flickr: MattBerggren)

submitted by Theresa Bernardo

huffingtonpost.com - July 7, 2012

Detroit's urban farmers have been waving their pitchforks indignantly over it for years, but a controversial agriculture deal between the city of Detroit and a wealthy investor looks like it may finally be heading to market.

The Detroit Free Press reports that mayor Dave Bing's group executive for planning and facilities, Karla Henderson, is close to finalizing a sale that would allow the Southfield-based financier John Hantz to transform 175 acres of vacant east side lots into a commercial lumber farm.

The mayor hopes to close on the transaction -- estimated to be in the realm of $600,000 -- with his business, Hantz Farms, when city council gets back from its summer recess, according to the Free Press.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Credit: ThunderKiss Photography on Flickr

americancity.org - Michaela Krauser - June 28, 2012

Detroit Mayor David Bing has promised to demolish 1,500 abandoned and unsafe houses within the next 90 days, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The decision is one facet of Bing’s greater plan to “rightsize” Detroit, encouraging residents of low-density, failing neighborhoods to move to healthier areas with larger populations. Bing plans to focus the city’s attention and funds on those areas identified as healthy, while slowly decreasing city services to other areas as a means to lower costs.

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submitted by Albert Gomez

www.plasticstoday.com - by Heather Caliendo - June 22nd, 2012

While much talk and discussion centers on plastic waste in the Pacific gyre, a new study will be conducted this summer on the Great Lakes, including Lake Erie.

This study will assess for the first time the potential effect plastic pollution has on these bodies of water. It's expected to provide data regarding the levels of discarded plastics from trash to tiny particles found in the lakes, as well as examine their impact on food supplies, according to an article on Cleveland.com.

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Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants In the Great Lakes Region (54 page .PDF file)
http://www.nrdc.org/air/files/poisoning-the-great-lakes.pdf

switchboard.nrdc.org - Thom Cmar's Blog - June 8, 2012

This week we released a report, Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal Fired Power Plants in the Great Lakes Region, which highlights the impacts of mercury emissions from Great Lakes power plants on the people, fish, birds, and wildlife of our region.  EPA recently issued new nationwide Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that require power plants to cut their mercury emissions by 90% on average, as well as to make similar cuts to their emissions of arsenic, lead, acid gases, and other toxic air pollution.  

submitted by Janine Rees

Stream Gaging Station by Beige Alert, on Flickr

by John Farrell - energyselfreliantstates.org - February 27, 2012

In a New York Times SundayReview piece last week – Drawing the Line at Power Lines – Elisabeth Rosenthal suggested that our desire for clean energy will require significant tradeoffs . . .

I disagree.

The future of American electricity policy is not about tradeoffs, but rather a chance to trade-in an obsolete, centralized paradigm for a local, clean energy future.

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First, there is great value in a systems approach as a heuristic for understanding interlocked social-ecological-technological processes, and in analysis across multiple scales. Yet we need to move beyond both systems as portrayed in resilience thinking, and the focus on actors in work on vulnerability, to analyse networks and relationships, as well as to attend to the diverse framings, narratives, imaginations and discourses that different actors bring to bear.

For More:

http://resilienturbanism.tumblr.com/post/7573475902/reframing-resilience

There are many definitions of resilience from simple deterministic views of resilience anchored in Newtonian mechanics to far more dynamic views of resilience from a systems perspective, including insights from quantum mechanics and the sciences of complexity.  One baseline perspective of resilience sees it in terms of the viability of socio-ecological systems as the foundation for sustainability.  For those that are ready to look beyond resilience as the ability to return to the "normal state" before a disaster, take a look at:

http://www.resalliance.org/