Totally Awesome Lobbyists

by Annie Scott
February 16, 2010

Here’s what’s going on in a land far away but not so far apart from the Mitten …

Picture a surfer. What does he (or she) look like? Sound like? Act like?

If you’ve ever seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, then I’m guessing you’re picturing Jeff Spicoli (quite possibly Sean Penn’s most memorable character of all time). Come on, admit it.

Even if you’re not picturing that infamous airhead “surfer dude” stereotype, others are. For years that has been the most commercially available portrait of a surfer — the dumb, bleach-blond Southern California guy with a lazy attitude and even less ambition. He frequently says things like “Totally awesome,” “Radical” and “Dude” in that annoying accent.

When I moved to the San Diego area a few years ago, I wondered how many of these Spicoli types actually populated Southern California’s coastal communities.

To be sure, there are a few. But the vast majority of the surfing-adept do not fit the Spicoli mold. Away from the beach, you can’t exactly pick the surfers out by sight. They might be in a business suit or doctor scrubs or construction gear. They might be your dental hygienist, accountant or the teacher next door. They have their own vernacular, but their vocabularies aren’t limited to “Totally” and “Gnarly.” And some of their extracurricular activities might come as a surprise.

A growing number of surfers out here are actually a more-bronzed breed of lobbyist.

They don’t go to Capitol Hill or Sacramento in their board shorts and flipflops (though wouldn’t that make for a charming photo-op?). They trade their wetsuits for business suits and employ legal and scientific know-how to advocate for change.

What do they care about most? Planet Earth. Clean water. Conservation and protection, especially of surf breaks. Pollution prevention. And so on.

In contrast to the more extreme, vigilante style of some environmental groups (read: Greenpeace), grassroots organizations like Surfrider Foundation take a more practical approach to activism.

The Surfrider Foundation was started in Malibu in 1984 by a group of “visionary” surfers who teamed up to protect a local surf break. Today their activities focus primarily on protecting beaches and ocean waters through legal challenges to harmful coastal development (yes, there are plenty of surfing lawyers), beach clean-ups, environmental and water safety education, and advocacy to “protect our oceans, waves and beaches.” They work to preserve the right of low-impact, free and open access to the world’s waves and beaches for all people.

A couple of summers ago, a friend of mine was working as a legal intern at Surfrider’s national office in San Clemente. I was impressed by his stories about how accomplished and passionate his coworkers were. Their backgrounds were all so different, but they were united by their love of the ocean and surfing. It is hard to imagine a cooler office environment than one that understands employees’ need to surf on lunch breaks or have flexible hours on “epic” wave days.

Surfing isn’t solely for those on the ocean coasts, though; it is also alive and well in the Great Lakes.

Given their unique climate and water conditions, the Great Lakes are host to a unique brand of surfer. A die-hard, fearless human with few qualms about being submersed and tossed about in hypothermic conditions, the Great Lakes surfer takes the sport to another level. Serious Great Lakes surfers routinely dodge ice chunks as they paddle through frigid water, in chilling air temperatures and icy winds. Although there are legions of hard-core surfers on the west coast, even some of them, when checking out Great Lakes winter surfing photos, simply say, “Those dudes are crazy.”

The surfing bug isn’t the only thing to spread from West Coast to Fresh Coast. A burgeoning movement of environmental activism in the surfing community has also expanded in the Mitten.

It led Grand Haven resident Vince Deur to start the Lake Michigan Chapter of Surfrider Foundation (one of 90 chapters worldwide) in 2007. As an avid surfer and maker of the film Unsalted, Deur is passionate about the health of the Great Lakes and the right of Michiganders and other residents in the region to enjoy them without having to compromise their health.

In that regard, Deur is also working the lobbyist role these days. News reports cited him as the lone surfer invited by the Healing Our Waters Coalition to lobby with 100 business leaders, lobbyists and activists in Washington on Great Lakes Day.

It’s no wonder surfers care so much about keeping the planet’s oceans and lakes healthy. They’re the ones most likely to get sick first when water is contaminated from storm runoff or other pollution. As I mentioned in a previous column, they are the “canaries in the coal mines” of water quality (a term coined by public radio). It’s only natural that they should take an active interest in protecting their own health by protecting the health of the lakes. And all of us benefit.

Not surprisingly, Surfrider CEO Jim Moriarty is pictured in the organization’s publications wearing a wetsuit and clutching a board. But his message is one calling primarily for environmental activism in local communities.

Surfrider has many successes behind it. Nationwide victories include:

• Securing approval of the federal BEACH Act in 2000 to require a uniform national water quality monitoring, reporting and beach-posting program;
• Winning the second largest Clean Water Act suit in American history in 1991, brought against two pulp mills in Humboldt County, California, that were charged with over 40,000 violations of the law;
• Mapping the location of storm drain outfalls at coastal beaches for use in city planning and regional water quality control boards;
• Educating thousands of school children on beach safety, coastal pollution and beach ecology.

The young Lake Michigan chapter already has had success of its own. The members’ efforts recently overturned a 30-year surfing ban at all Chicago area beaches. They also are leading a charge to implement a “first of its kind” water quality testing program in partnership with Grand Valley State University and the Norcross Wildlife Foundation.

When it comes right down to it, surfers’ media image can actually work for their cause. Writing in the latest issue of Transworld Surf magazine, Matt McClain explains:

“By and large, surfers are looked upon with mock and amusement from the powers that be…However, all these people…seem to think that just because we get painted like flaky apathetic burnouts, that we are going to act that way…It always catches them off guard when it’s surfers who end up throwing a wrench in their [latest development] plans.”

The Surfrider folks and their supporters — in California and Michigan — seem to have mastered the work-life balance of living and protecting their passion. In the immortal words of Jeff Spicoli, they are, like, totally awesome.

Annie Scott lives and works in San Diego and sends dispatches back to her beloved Michigan.

Michigan Readies Launch of Freshwater Research Front

Great Lakes Research Center at MTU campus designed to spur collaboration

by Dave Dempsey
January 16, 2010

The Great Lakes have never been sexier. Ecologically, socially and politically, they’re on the tip of the tongue.

Artist’s rendering of the new waterfront Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Tech. Courtesy Michigan Technological University.

Thwarting the invasive Asian carp, defending against water exports and winning $475 million in new federal money from the Obama Administration for Great Lakes protection were last year’s big headlines that will continue to play out on 2010’s front pages and Internet home pages.

But flying below the radar is yet another Great Lakes development with the potential to prove its historic importance. Work is being readied to build a new, state-assisted freshwater laboratory on the Keweenaw Waterway dividing Houghton and Hancock, adjacent to the campus of Michigan Technological University.

Approved by the Michigan Legislature’s Joint Capital Outlay Committee in the fall of 2008, the $25.3-million facility will go up on the waterfront next to the Michigan Tech campus in Houghton. Groundbreaking could occur this spring.

The state is paying 74 percent of the cost of the new research facility; MTU the balance. In a time of state budget austerity, the lab was one of the few capital outlay projects to get a check in 2008, and the school credits Senate Minority Leader. Mike Prusi (D-Ishpeming) and Rep. Michael Lahti (D-Hancock) with bringing home the bacon.

What are taxpayers getting for their investment?

Dr. Alex Mayer, director of MTU’s Center for Water and Society, says the Great Lakes Research Center is different from existing, well regarded Michigan higher education water labs and centers because of its interdisciplinary emphasis. It’s intended to provide a research home to ecologists, environmental engineers, chemists, hydrologists, microbiologists, economists, sociologists, atmospheric scientists and others studying a broad range of freshwater issues. Those include the impacts of climate change, spread and control of invasive species, restoration of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, water withdrawals, and persistent organic pollutants.

“The Center is going to house faculty and students from Michigan Tech, but also scientists from other universities, research institutions, and government agencies,” Mayer says. “We can collaboratively attack problems that are of interest to the scientific community and the public.”

“Speaking of the public,” he adds, “a significant portion of the Center’s space and activities will include outreach to K-12 and to the public at large. We want people to see the kinds of research we’ll be conducting and engage them in hands-on activities.”

Lake Superior
It makes sense that the new lab will also train its sights on Lake Superior, which contains 10 percent of the world’s surface freshwater. Although it’s the cleanest, as well as the largest, of the Great Lakes, it’s not untroubled. The frigid lake is warming faster than the air above it, leading to speculation that it’s a signal of climate change. A major warm-up of the lake would be bad news for the coldwater fish species that have adapted to the cold over millennia.

Lake Superior, largest and cleanest of the Great Lakes, is not without environmental problems of its own. Courtesy Michigan Technological University.

Superior has other mysteries to explore. Some tough toxic chemicals that are in decline in fish and wildlife farther south appear to be holding on, or even gaining in Lake Superior fish.

MTU engineering graduate Mel Visser, a retired Upjohn environmental manager and author of the book Cold, Clear and Deadly, published by Michigan State University Press, hopes the lab will be able to document and raise the visibility of how some chemicals build up at higher latitudes. Toxaphene, a pesticide long banned in the United States, contaminates Lake Superior fish well beyond EPA-set human health limits, while levels in the lower Great Lakes are significantly lower.

“This is one of those Great Lakes science questions that deserves a lot more attention than it’s gotten,” Visser says.

Other research topics the lab is expected to delve into include whether invasive species may thrive in a warmer Lake Superior, how loss of coastal and stream wetlands may be damaging the lake, and the impact of overfishing and reproductive failure of native fish stocks.

Blue-Water economy
University officials also hope to tie the Center’s programming to water-related economic development. Michigan is moving toward a blue-water economy, and the Center “will play a vital role in helping the state understand and use its freshwater resources,” said Michigan Tech President Glenn D. Mroz. “It’s a strategic investment in the future.”

The three-story lab building’s design, the university says, will provide “a distinct and personal image for the Great Lakes Research Center.” It will house eight labs with researchers from four departments: biological sciences, civil and environmental engineering, geological and mining engineering and sciences, and chemistry.

Next to it is a boathouse — the seed of the original project that ultimately led to the facility — to support field research activities on Lake Superior and other bodies of water. The school’s Agassiz and Polar research vessels will be stored in the boathouse in the winter.

Dr. David Reed, vice president for research at MTU, calls the lab’s location a solid choice for several reasons. “Michigan Tech’s expertise across so many disciplines related to the Great Lakes makes it an ideal environment for the research, education and community outreach that needs to be done. And its geographic setting — on the Portage Waterway linking two sections of Lake Superior — is perfect, too.”

To be sure, the Center is more than a building. It’s also a dressing-up of Tech’s waterfront, which has been dominated for years by unsightly annex buildings and other structures.

“From the water side, there’s no indication that Michigan Tech is here,” said W. Charles Kerfoot, professor of biological sciences and director of the Lake Superior Ecosystem Research Center. Now there will be. The 49,000-square-foot glass building will glint in the summer sun and showcase the campus and its relationship to the environment.

Intended to walk the environmental walk, the building will be made of low-impact materials, have a green roof and rain garden to treat stormwater runoff naturally. Geothermal cooling and heating will help reduce energy costs.

What research conducted at the Center will ultimately turn up, nobody yet knows. But it’s clear the research lab will give vital education and experience to the next generation of Great Lakes protectors — who will need to be world-class to sustain the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem.

Dave Dempsey is the author of two books on Great Lakes protection, a board member of the Alliance for the Great Lakes and former environmental advisor to Gov. James J. Blanchard. He is communications director at Conservation Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Bordering on Greatness

Michigan’s relationship with its Canadian neighbor provides a major economic advantage

by John Foren
November 16, 2009

Editor’s note: In this increasingly global economy, Michigan’s most important “foreign” relationship is close at hand, with neighboring Canada. This is the first in a regular series of features in which Dome explores major political, policy and cultural issues between Michigan and Canada and the importance of this relationship to the state’s future. The series is made possible through a sponsorship by the Canadian Studies Center at Michigan State University.

From his office at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michael Broadway looks out over the roiling waters of Lake Superior and admits, “Canada seems so far away.”

It’s a telling comment from someone who not only teaches about U.S.-Canada relations but is a board member of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, devoted to raising awareness about relations between the two countries.

Even Broadway admits selling Americans, notably Michiganians, on the importance of Canada is difficult.

“It doesn’t appear on their radar screens. [Americans] say, ‘They’re just like us,’ ” he says.

That’s the perception, at least. Canadians would be the first to tell you how different they are from their American neighbors, both culturally and politically — not to mention how much more they are aware of the United States than vice versa.

Broadway recalls the surprise NMU students felt when he took them on a trip to the Canadian capital of Ottawa.

“They were amazed that Canada was different from the U.S. and had a parliamentary system,” he said.

The two sides at least have numerous common interests, and that’s a key distinction for those pushing for stronger ties between Michigan and its international neighbor to the north, east and, yes, even a bit south.

Critical Importance
The relationship and proximity between the Great Lakes State and Canada may be critically important to Michigan’s future.

At a time when Michigan is scrambling, fumbling and grasping for any economic advantage, the state has a couple of huge geographic advantages: Canada and the Great Lakes they share.

More trade flows between Windsor and Detroit than any other border crossing in the world, reaching tens of billions of dollars annually. Canada is Michigan’s most important trading partner, which means thousands of state jobs are tied to economic activity between the two sides. A recent fact sheet distributed by the Canadian government pegged the amount of Michigan-Canada trade at $78 billion annually, and the number of trade-related jobs in Michigan at 221,500.

Michigan may be looked upon nationally as a has-been, tied to an antiquated industrial economy. But experts say there’s huge untapped potential in working closer with Canada in the new economic world order.

“The proximity to Canada is a competitive advantage for Michigan,” said Sarah Hubbard, senior vice president of government relations for the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Without many Michigan residents realizing it, our relationship with Canada helps shape not only our economics, but segments of our social life, identity and even our politics.

The latter is most evident in the debate over Canadian trash coming to Michigan landfills — more than 10 million cubic yards, or about 20 percent of all garbage in the state. And, yes, expect to hear those figures a lot in the coming election year as some state lawmakers fume about imported waste threatening Michigan residents.

But Canada is, and can be, so much more to Michigan, many economists and trade experts say.

Border Issues
“My economic vision is to see the border between us and Canada no different than the border between Michigan and Ohio,” said former state Treasurer Doug Roberts, who’s now director of the Institute for Public Policy & Social Research at Michigan State University. “My goodness, what are we waiting for?”

The border — and how to make it secure while maximizing trade — is one huge issue for Michigan and Canada. After all, the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit is the nation’s top border crossing, handling a quarter of all trade between the U.S. and Canada.

Tweaking the transportation network of highways, rail lines and air freight terminals also is on the agenda of policymakers from both sides.

Among other things that make the Michigan-Canada relationship unique:

• The state’s several border communities, such as Port Huron, and how they are shaped by their international neighbor.
• Shared environmental issues, such as protecting the Great Lakes.
• Efforts to work together to produce new energy sources, using the natural resources they share as neighbors in the Great Lakes basin.
• Extraordinarily close ties in agriculture.

Michigan exported $24 billion in goods to Canada last year, more than half of its overall exports. Much of that is in vehicle parts as auto plants trade supplies between the borders. But there’s also computers, furniture, and iron and steel.

In addition, Michigan buys more than $1 billion of Canadian oil and another $1 billion in natural gas annually — far more than comes in from the Mideast.

Business advocates believe the amount of trade can grow significantly. But they point to border policies between the U.S. and Canada since the September 11 terrorist attacks as being a hindrance to open and expanded commerce.

The U.S. and Canadian chambers of commerce jointly issued a strongly worded report in July called “Finding the Balance: Shared Border of the Future.” As the title suggests, the report called for ways to reduce border backups that have trucks sometimes waiting hours to cross the bridge or tunnel. Chief among the recommendations: allowing so-called low-risk travelers and trusted shippers to speed through quicker, instead of holding everyone to the same security standard.

The business community is putting on a full-court press over the issue, buoyed by impatience from everyone who’s ever been stuck in an achingly long border line. The trouble, say those pushing for changes, is that post-9/11 security concerns are going too far and treating every family, day traveler and businessperson as a potential terrorist.

“My wife and I go to Port Huron, spend the night there and decide to spend a couple hours in Canada,” Roberts recalls in frustration. “When coming back, the American border agent says to us, ‘Where are you from?’ and starts questioning us. After a couple of those [incidents], you don’t want to go back.”

Adds Roberts: “There’s got to come a time when we appreciate Canada is not the same problem as the southern border [with Mexico].”

This isn’t just a matter of a few minutes, or hours, of inconvenience for everyday drivers, business leaders say. It represents significant and unnecessary restrictions on trade and commerce.

The federal government has had a legitimate reason to focus on border security since 9/11, conceded the Detroit Chamber’s Hubbard. But the effort “has been, for the most part, trumping trade,” she said.

That’s led to some shippers being overdone by paperwork or undergoing rigorous searches that detain them at the border for hours, Hubbard said. And that can cause a huge ripple through a supply line, as evidenced on 9/11 when the closed border in Detroit started impacting auto plants in the south within hours, she said.

“There’s an across-the-board approach to security that everyone has to go through the same protocol, when in reality a lot of freight is at low risk,” Hubbard said.

The net effect, she said: “We definitely aren’t able to capitalize as much as we should be on our proximity to Canada.”

Still, Michigan has seemingly boundless opportunities to benefit economically from its ties to Canada.

Hubbard cites the major railways that share lines between the two entities and the edge Michigan has as a U.S. entryway for goods from the crucial port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The port of Detroit is ripe for bulk shipping and to take on goods that have traditionally entered the Great Lakes through Chicago, she said.

“We think the opportunity is huge and it’s something we’re really trying to get everyone to focus on. And we’re gaining traction,” Hubbard said.

Michigan’s proximity to Canada gives it a clear competitive advantage. Now, she said, it’s a matter of bringing together many regional forces to improve the area’s infrastructure and work on technology that can track and move shipments more efficiently.

Bioenergy
Technology is at the heart of a less obvious but a potentially critical part of Michigan’s relationship with Canada: bioenergy.

Michigan’s woodland and its geography have more in common with Canada than with its Midwestern brethren, said Steven Pueppke, director of MSU’s Office of Biobased Technologies and of the university’s Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

Instead of turning to corn, Canadian and Michigan researchers are working on how to convert their woods into ethanol and meet the federal mandate to increase renewable energy.

MSU works with Canadian firms on improving their bioenergy technologies and helps link them with corporate partners in the U.S. Pueppke hopes the relationship will extend farther, to Canadian higher education institutions, such as the University of Guelph in Ontario, that have major agriculture and bioeconomic programs such as MSU.

“We’re in a very, very good geographic position,” he said. “Again, it’s the trees and the land that can grow biomass (plant and animal material used as fuel), and that’s probably not very good agricultural land that is an immense asset we share with Canada.”

It’s one of many links between Michigan and Canada that could hold the key to the state’s economic future.

John Foren is the former editor of The Flint Journal and spent years as a reporter for Booth Newspapers in Washington D.C., Lansing and Flint. He is an instructor at the Michigan State University School of Journalism.