GVSU experts to moderate sustainability forum

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—A pair of Grand Valley State University specialists in sustainable development will moderate a panel on emerging issues during a water conservation conference that will feature mayors and other leaders from U.S. and Canada.

The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative holds its fourth annual meeting on July 11-13 in Grand Rapids’ DeVos Place convention center. A panel discussion titled “Emerging Issues and Strategies” will be moderated by Norman Christopher, the director of GVSU’s Sustainability Initiative and John Koches, the senior program manager for the Information Services Center in GVSU’s Annis Water Resources Institute. Panelists include Carl Eric Lindquist, director of Superior Watershed Partnership; Jon Magnuson, executive director of the Cedar Tree Institute; Julie Kinzelman representing the city of Racine, Wis.; and Stephanie Smith of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

The Emerging Issues and Strategies session is scheduled for Friday, July 13 from 11 a.m. to noon. Topics will include water conservation, ballast water controls, invasive species, St. Lawrence River issues and climate change. The conference is open for media coverage. For credentials, contact Chad Parker at (404) 358-5055 or [email protected].

During the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative conference, mayors and administrators, public works directors and environmental advocates, community and business leaders, and educators and students from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin will gather to discuss and advance key strategies and actions to protect and restore the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Participants will hear speeches from Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell, Racine Mayor Gary Becker and Toronto Mayor David Miller.

As the world's largest source of fresh water, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River are essential to the continued vitality of cities, townships, villages and counties along their shores. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River represent nearly 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater supply and provide drinking water for more than 40 million United States and Canadian citizens. According to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, over the past ten years water levels on Lake Superior have dropped more than two feet, and by more than three feet on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Lake water levels are projected to go down again this year.

Founded by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in 2003 and headquartered in Chicago, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is a binational coalition of mayors and other local officials that works actively with federal, state, tribal and provincial governments to advance the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Toronto Mayor David Miller is chairman and director of the coalition and Grand Rapids’ Mayor George Heartwell is the Secretary and Director. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative has nearly 100 participating cities and has received support from the Joyce Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Brico Fund, the Wege Foundation, and Chicago's Environmental Fund. For sponsorship, registration and additional information, visit www.glslcities.org .

For more information about the conference, contact Chad Parker at (404) 358-5055 (cell) or [email protected]. To arrange interviews with Norman Christopher or John Koches, contact Brian J. Bowe at (616) 331-2221 or [email protected].