This is a personal account. I have spent the last twenty years learning about the
Laurentian Great Lakes, the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, identifying
impairments and restoration opportunities, and aligning ideas, people, and
resources to improve its ecological health. The opinions that follow are mine
alone. They are not those of the Great Lakes Protection Fund, the Fund’s
directors, owners or staff, or any other organization.
This paper uses a case study approach. A brief history of the interaction of
human populations and the basin ecosystem is presented. In the pages that
follow, I begin to unpack the case by summarizing the state of the Great Lakes
ecosystem, through the lenses of physical, biological and chemical integrity. I
briefly describe the key threats to the integrity of the ecosystem. I attempt to link
those threats to sources related to various human populations. Finally, I suggest
ways in which our collective conduct might be changed to avoid continued injury
and better take advantage of the ecological restoration opportunities we now have.
By necessity, this paper focuses on key interactions, key systems, key stresses
and key opportunities. In the space available, a comprehensive treatment is
impossible, and I have not attempted it. I have also chosen to be provocative,
and have written this as means of beginning a new conversation on how we can
effectively govern our behavior – both within and outside of government – in
a recovering freshwater ecosystem.