Common Groundwater
Michigan is defined by the Great Lakes that surround it. But there's a so-called sixth lake that’s critical to our state, too: our groundwater. It flows deeply through every community and to every corner of our peninsulas. Yet, we have so much more to learn about this natural feature.
Like groundwater, this podcast shows environmental issues felt deeply, widely and personally across the state. It tells stories around those issues and the solutions to them. It goes beyond the headlines to bring listeners and viewers something grand yet personal to us all.
Episodes
28 episodes
After We Put the World on Wheels
It's Season 2 of Common Groundwater! We'll be taking this podcast on the road across the state to the places where the problems, stories and solutions to the topics we talk about are happening. Plus, we'll be leaning on you, the l...
The Proof of Youth
New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens. "The European Mind Cannot Comprehend This." City Beautiful.These are the (respective) internet communities, memes and influencers that have brought America's rising generations together arou...
Transit is a Small-Town Value
Wexford County in the northwest Lower Peninsula of Michigan has about 33,500 residents across it’s 575 square miles. The WexExpress, the county’s transit system, provided 155,000 rides last year alone......
SMART Service, FAST Routes
Eli Cooper likes he to say he was "born to ride." He grew up taking buses and subways in The Bronx. Now, as Oakland County's transit manager, he helps the residents, workers and visitors of Michigan's second-most-populous county get to where th...
The Pollinators
Yes, the pollinators of Michigan are the animals and insects, like bees and hummingbirds, that help plants grow and reproduce by moving flower to flower.But "The Pollinators" is also the name for Carly and David Cirilli, co-founders of ...
Of Swallow-Wort & Celandine
Swallow-wort. A vine with beautiful, star-shaped flowers. It tricks insects into laying eggs on its leaves. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat the leaves—and die with a one hundred percent mortality rate.Lesser celandine. A plant with b...
The New 'Silent Spring'
In the mid-1900s, governments and industries across the globe were using the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT.Then came Silent Spring, a book by Rachel Carson that thoroughly documented the harm caused by DDT t...
Roots Deep & Wide
Michigan's crops are the second-most diverse of any state. We tried to replicate that point of pride that in this episode. We went to two seemingly disparate places to talk about the critical relationship farms have with pollinators.Firs...
Rising to the Sun
The country roads around the small town of Albion are some of the prettiest you'll see in Michigan. Take it from this podcast host, who would run them with his cross country teammates at Albion College.Now, there are new neighbors out am...
Have a Haven?
Michigan's in a bit of an odd place. It's considered a climate haven, a place that can protect people from the worst of climate change. But its literal havens—our homes—are causing problems. They're old, expensive, elusive and, in fact, cau...
Up to Code
Update: Better building codes for all homes and building have been adopted in Michigan! You can read about it here.
Homes of the Future
Eric Schertzing considers land banks like a Veg-O-Matic. These entities offer a plethora of innovative ways to hold and redevelop properties in our communities. Eric joins us in the third episode of our green housing miniseries to discuss how t...
The Stove War
"God. Guns. Gas Stoves." That's what a prominent legislator posted on social media early in 2023. Welcome to the Stove War, a cultural flashpoint that pitted gas stoves against their electric counterparts. As with most viral debates, misinforma...
The Sentence
UPDATE: The bills discussed in this episode did not pass the Michigan Legislature. For the latest update on our efforts, click here.<...
The Polluter Rulebook
The environmental arm of our state was created to protect our land, water, wildlife and us residents from pollution—it's enshrined in Michigan's constitution. And yet, over the course of 30 years, the department and its thousands of employees h...
From in the Red To in the Black
Ink from recycled paper, of all things, was what polluted the Kalamazoo River Watershed so much, it was placed in two federal cleanup programs. Paper mills, oil spills, dams, manure—the "Kazoo" has seen it all. And yet, this watershed a...
Lightning in a Bottle
Michigan’s bottle deposit system: Buy a beverage, pay a bit of upcharge, drink it, return it, get that upcharge back.It’s as routine an experience for us Michiganders as talking about the weather. Yet, it’s extremely powerful. It's a wa...
Cold One Cracked Open
Buy a pop. Pay a little extra. Drink it. Rinse it. Return it, and then get that little extra back. Michigan’s bottle deposit system sounds simple, and yet it’s internationally known for keeping bottles and cans out of our landfills and landscap...
Turn of the Hourglass
Michigan is home to the world's largest assemblage of freshwater dunes. They run up and down the west coast of the Lower Peninsula and dotted along the Upper Peninsula. They're beloved by just about anyone who visits (and many do), and they hel...
Lines in the Sand
UPDATE: The bills discussed in this podcast episode did not pass the Michigan Legislature. For the latest update, click here.L...
How You Dune?
UPDATE: The legislation discussed failed to pass the Michigan Legislature. For the latest updates on our efforts, click here.I...
Sights for Sore Eye
Our dunes miniseries has focused on, well, dunes thus far, but the conversation we're really having is on the relationship between development and nature. Jake Parcell, executive director of Scenic Michigan, joins us to provide other perspectiv...
We Can't Be Lame Ducks - Special Feature
It's a special, standalone episode of the Common Groundwater podcast, and it's packed with urgency, policy and opportunities for action.In 2025, Michigan and the nation will undergo power shifts, and if we take our new leaders ...
Where Are We Now? Water Protections
Last year, we brough you a miniseries on the ways in which politicking has frozen and muddied longstanding water protections Michiganders expect their Great Lakes State to have.Reese Dillard, Environmental Council water policy specialist...
Where Are We Now? A Better Bottle Bill
Michiganders have used their state's bottle deposit system to keep billions of beverages out of our communities, nature and landfills. Now, as the system nears its 50th birthday, a plan is forming to make the system even better. More recycling....