Alberto Rey’s artistic passions are wide-ranging. But water and wildlife may most succinctly describe them. The retired State University of New York at Fredonia professor of art has waded into drawing, painting, ceramics and filmmaking all while diving headfirst into the deepest affection for the natural world.  

The 64-year-old Cuban-born artist moonlights as an Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide on Western New York’s Lake Erie tributaries.

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A few months ago, I was riding on Amtrak’s new Borealis line from St. Paul, Minn., to Chicago. The train was packed that day, and the new line has proved popular.

My coach seat was much nicer than any airline. Plus, I didn’t have to go through security.

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This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.

By Kayla Nelsen, Great Lakes Echo

A California woman on “The Daily Show” recently swapped her sandals for snowshoes after moving to Duluth to escape her state’s wildfires.

The Comedy Central show featured Duluth as a climate haven, an ideal place to live to avoid wildfires, droughts, hurricanes and extreme flooding.

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Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.

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Should natural resources like the Great Lakes have the same legal right to protection from harm as a person has? Including the right to be free from exploitation as a commodity for financial gain?

New York state Assemblyman Patrick Burke thinks so and has introduced formal legislation that would provide for those rights.

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If you notice your packages arriving much faster than they did at the start of the pandemic, it isn’t just a minor coincidence – rather, it could be the Great Lakes shipping industry making a comeback after weathering the effects of COVID-19’s spread.

“(This) has been a bounce-back season from the COVID-induced lows of 2020,” said Jason Hron, director of communication and marketing for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The lengthy effort to clean up the Buffalo River could pay off in the next few years.

The Buffalo News reported Sunday that the federal Environmental Protection Agency has told a local U.S. representative that the winding waterway could lose its status as an environmental danger zone, or “area of concern,” by 2025.

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Update: The 2021 winner is Team RNA Power, and the runner-up is Team Agri-Tech Ohio. Watch the archived stream with their pitches on YouTube.

The objects wouldn’t look out of place as decorative lanterns or centerpieces. But the winner of the 2019 Erie Hack did more than look nice, it was designed to capture debris from stormwater – including plastic, waste and needles – that normally go rushing into Lake Erie whenever there’s bad weather. 

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As President Joe Biden tries to advance his high-profile legislative agenda in a sharply divided Congress, a low-profile bill that could help the Great Lakes region is progressing with bipartisan support.

If passed, it could finally help the region shake its Rust Belt image.

The legislation is the U.S.

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As moratoria expire across the Great Lakes region, advocates say ongoing affordability and debt relief are key.

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