A New Website, A New Invitation

We are happy to share our new website with clearer organization and new photos (with a winter theme). We have more updates to make and welcome your suggestions -- and photos. We'll be updating the photos every season so start sending in best spring photos. We would also like images (photos, paintings, carvings, etc) that help illustrate our transformative approach:

Meet Our New Co-ordinator

Bronwyn Clement is one of GLC's newest members. She grew up on Toronto Island where Lake Ontario was the heart of community life. She is passionate about strengthening connections between water and a range of social and environmental justice work. She recently returned to Toronto from Maine, where living on the coast gave her a deeper understanding of how communities connect to and are sustained by their waters. She has tipped her toes in every great lake. See all of the GLC team's bios and faces on our new Who We Are page.

What is a 'Commons' and how is this transformative?

A commons names everything that belongs to all of us and that we must share, care for, and pass on to future generations undiminished. Water is one of the most essential commons we have — water belongs to all of us and is owned by no one. It is a living eco-system unto itself on which the biodiversity of the watershed depends. And like any commons, if it is to thrive, it needs people who step up to act as stewards and protectors.

How does this initiative connect with the sovereign rights of First Nations?

One of the most important truths to remember is that Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (North America) were here occupying the lands, implementing their laws, and governing themselves prior to contact with the settlers, and were never conquered by the settlers or their imported governments. This is important to remember because, according to International Law, if the Indigenous Peoples were conquered then all of the laws of the settlers’ imported governments would apply to the new lands. 

Paul Baines

Paul Baines is GLC's Outreach and Education coordinator. Paul leaped into the GLC work after reading ‘Our Great Lakes Commons: a peoples plan to protect the Great Lakes forever’ and then founded the Great Lakes Commons Map in 2012 to crowdsource people’s worry and wisdom for water health through data, discussion and story. He comes to this water reconciliation work with a background in critical pedagogy, democratic media, and environmental and cultural studies. Paul is home in the Lake Ontario watershed and in the summer of 2016 toured the Great Lakes for 5 months connecting people, issues, and perspectives.

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Commons Water Artist Profile: Melanie Ariens

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Melanie Ariens is an environmental advocate and volunteer community coordinator with diverse interests, skills and a willingness to learn just about anything to achieve a set goal. She received her degree in painting, drawing and printmaking from UWM in 1992 and worked there as the print shop assistant. She was formerly represented by La Galleria Del Conte (now closed) and participated in many group and juried shows. 

Detroit Water Shutoffs Must End

Detroit’s emergency manager filed for bankruptcy in July 2013 to force creditors to negotiate a bankruptcy plan that would slash the city’s unwieldy debt. Last month, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit approved a plan that would over time give Detroit a chance to survive. Missing from the plan, however, is any mention of the disturbance and threat to the rights to water and health of Detroit’s poor caused by the abrupt shut off of their water service.

Cook County, Illinois Joins Call to Stop Proposed Nuclear Waste Dump

On October 8, 2014 the Cook County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution opposing the construction of a nuclear waste repository on Lake Huron as proposed by Ontario Power Generation. This is a refreshing recognition of how water decisions in other parts of the Lakes affect us all.

Slash phosphorus flowing into Lake Erie, Great Lakes Commission says & Toxic algae near Toledo: a wake-up call

Boats going through an algae bloom on Lake Erie near Toledo, Ohio. The Great Lakes Commission wants to slash the amount of phosphorus flowing into Lake Erie, the source of toxic algae outbreaks and the reason the city of Toledo lost its drinking water for two days this past summer.

"We Are Water" celebrates Milwaukee's big drink

Most Milwaukeeans value living in close proximity to a large body of water, but what are we willing to do to celebrate it? Improve it? Protect it? The year-old Milwaukee Water Commons is a project committed to fostering connection, collaboration and leadership on behalf of the bodies of water in our community.

Grassroot Effort Grows to Create Milwaukee Water Commons

The idea is to get the entire community involved in Milwaukee's freshwater future. Alexa Bradley started the conversation almost three years ago. Bradley is a long time activist - and Milwaukee native, - who helped “incubate” the “Commons” idea in Minneapolis. Bradley went on to help create the Great Lakes Commons, that is taking shape in places like Toronto and Cleveland and especially in Milwaukee.