Our new friend Jim Rowen at The Political Environment has been blogging about the Great Lakes Compact in Wisconsin, and the politics surrounding its passage, since February 2007. For many of us, the Compact elicits an easy, "Sure, I think the Compact is important. Let's pass it! I love the lakes!" But once you delve into the eight states, complicated implementing legislation that varies from state to state, amendments, diversions, permits and pending Congressional re-districting after the census in 2010 - it starts to get a little muddy...

Our buddy Melissa in Chicago sent us a map from Biohabitats, a national ecological restoration firm. It shows a number of the projects they've completed in our dear watershed. As Melissa reminds us, "A crucial part of revitalizing the basin is restoring ecosystem services (aka, the things that nature does to provide us the conditions that allow us to exist)." Uh, yeah, that does seem important...

Margaret Weber has been a coordinator of a Detroit local drop-off recycling facility for 18 years. She and other Detroit-area environmentalists and activistshave recently formed the Coalition for a Clean and Green Detroit to make sure that Detroit seizes "the once in a generation opportunity we have now to totally change the way we treat the business of waste in Detroit."

We've previously talked about the clear economic benefits of Great Lakes restoration. The Brookings Institution's Healthy Waters, Healthy Economy report demonstrates that implementing the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy would, with an investment of $26 billion, create between $80 and $100 billion worth of benefits.