In this final installment of our mini-series Trail Tales, writer and naturalist Sam Kapp explores Asylum Lake Preserve, a development-locked urban oasis for trail lovers and wildlife. Kapp digs into Asylum's unique history as a working and recreation farm for the 'insane' and the ongoing struggle to preserve the preserve.
Climate change is impacting us all in big and small ways. SW Second Wave is committed to sharing solutions-oriented climate stories that inspire both action and hope. On the Ground Battle Creek Project Editor Jane Parikh was recently in NYC with journalists from around the world to learn impactful ways to cover climate change at a local level. See what she learned.
Kalamazoo students waged a Youth Climate Strike to end the use of fossil fuels on Friday, Sept. 15 with nearly 150 youth and concerned adults attending the protest. The Ardea Youth Climate Action Coalition organized the rally to ask for decisive action.
The LIFT-UP program gives students a pivotal role in identifying and addressing barriers to expanding local produce in school cafeterias.
While faith-based groups may disagree about the science of climate change, they typically agree on the importance of caring for creation. Using the approach of shared morality, Hope for Creation, an interfaith group, aims to "galvanize the faith community" to promote earth-friendly actions within a climate action framework, says organizer Joan Hawxhurst.
The third Kalamazoo Lyceum convened at the Kalamazoo Nature Center in May to focus on nature and what it means to the community. Protecting wild, urban spaces; cleaning up the Kalamazoo River; and halting pollution of our neighborhoods were just a few of the topics that arose. The general consensus: Hope plus action can equal impactful change.
Across the Great Lakes basin scientists and planners are pivoting to re-examine alternative drainage systems and to address barriers — including obsolete data — that may stand in the way of innovative, sustainable green designs that could help alleviate flooding.
Voices of Youth Battle Creek artist and writer Kayanna Smith is a Lakeview High School budding clothes designer and journalist. She wanted to research what sort of impact easily-ordered, affordable 'fast fashion' has on the environment – and what might be some alternatives. She also wanted to express the concept through design. So out of packaging materials, she created a fashionable Plastic Patchwork Packing Dress. Check it out!
On the first publicly-celebrated Earth Day since the pandemic, Southwest Michiganders gathered to plant, weed, and beautify. For the Litter Ladies and Lads in Battle Creek who pick up trash year-round to protect humans and wildlife, every day is Earth Day.
Marking its 25th Anniversary, the Lillian Anderson Arboretum near Oshtemo Park off of West Main, owned and cared for by Kalamazoo College, has quietly become a trail treasure, with its 140 acres (plus and addition 150-plus surrounding acres) that includes winding paths through woods and around water. As with most nature preserves, The Arb (as it is known) has a story. Read on to find out more.
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