How does a global community provide for the needs of its citizens without destroying the planet? That’s the crux of “Anthropause: The Beauty of Degrowth,” a new book out this month.

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, society shut down for a few months. As humans stayed inside, animals returned to their old habitats and pollution eased as industry slowed.

Retired researcher—and new metro Detroit resident—Stan Cox looks at how that “anthropause” could be a preview of the necessary societal changes to save lives and the planet.

He spoke with All Things Considered – Detroit host Russ McNamara last month. Click on the media player to listen or read selected transcripts below.

Russ McNamara, WDET: Why did you write this book?

Stan Cox, Author: The main point I’m making in the book is imagining that we as a society, if we were to rapidly phase out fossil fuels and get by just on the energy that could be generated other ways; and if we stopped plundering the earth for minerals and cutting down forest and causing ecological damage; and we had less energy and materials, and had to allocate them carefully: people know that’s going to mean sacrifice. What am I going to have to give up and so forth?

And what I’m saying in the book is okay, yeah, there are certain things, obviously that will have to be given up. But let’s consider all of the dangers and nuisances, terrible stuff that we put up with an advanced industrial society that has all this energy and materials running through it.

We would be saying goodbye to a lot of those harms and ills by simply not doing a lot of the stuff that requires so much energy input. So the rest of the book, then, is going through specific technologies and activities and so forth that are really harmful to people and the environment, of course, that we would not have the fuel to undertake them, or we would be using resources for meeting people’s basic needs, and we wouldn’t be spending a lot of energy on these other things.

RM: You discuss this and I’m reminded of data centers to run artificial intelligence. People certainly don’t seem to want them and definitely don’t want these in their backyard because there is this concern about the high cost of electricity, and the amount of groundwater that is needed.

SC: That’s absolutely right. One of the big reasons these communities don’t want them is that they create this horrific noise at very high decibel levels and low low frequency noise, which is especially dangerous to human health. When I started writing the book, there wasn’t as much being said about A.I. and the data centers at that time, so I did eventually incorporated them, but the beginning of the second chapter is about noise pollution and and I just used it. It’s seemingly a very small thing, but it really brings out other issues. The leaf blower, especially the gas powered leaf blower, also produces this low frequency and very high volume sound—about eight times the decibel level that the World Health Organization says is safe – and they’re producing a wind about the speed of an EF five tornado. The low frequency sound can travel like three football fields. It’s still above the safe limit.

RM: So what are the societal impacts? Let’s say we start degrowth right now. What are the benefits?

SC: We can’t go on like we’re on the trajectory that we’re on now, because. A degrowth is going to happen. Either a chaotic, brutal degrowth where it’s a Mad Max kind of future, because we’ve tried to force growth to continue and have destroyed ecosystems

Or we can have a planned, rational degrowth that ensures that there’s enough for everybody and that we’re not causing ecological collapse. But there’s no way that growth can continue at this rate.

Sometime in the past three years, we passed a milestone. The quantity of human made stuff—that is everything that human society has manufactured or built or produced—if you weigh all of it up, the mass of all of that exceeds the total mass of all living things on Earth, all plants, animals, microbes, et cetera, and that quantity of stuff being produced is is doubling every 20 years. And clearly that can’t go on.

Herb Stein, an economist from the 70s or 80s was kind of the Yogi Berra of economists. He had a line: “if something can’t go on forever, it won’t” and that’s where growth cannot go on forever. So we have to pull back, create what I called in the book an “anthropause” of our own, and try to have a rational, safe and just reduction in the amount of economic activity for the good of everybody.

For more than half a century, the American environmental movement has struck a familiar rhythm: alarm, action, and industry backlash.

The first Earth Day in 1970 helped launch the modern movement, and by the end of that year, the Environmental Protection Agency was born. It was a promise that government had a crucial role to play, that it could protect our air and water from industry polluters.

Over the decades, that promise has ebbed and flowed: environmental rules were expanded under presidents from both parties, then pared back under others, only to be reinforced again as new science and public pressure emerged.

Critics — including historian Douglas Brinkley and former EPA administrators from both parties — argue the rollback push is an attempt to turn back decades of federal environmental protections.

Meanwhile, a striking silence is showing up in a place with massive moral reach. A new large-scale study of more than 700,000 Catholic parish sermons finds that climate change is rarely mentioned, even after the late Pope Francis issued some of the strongest language on climate change written by a religious leader.

Harvard historian of science Naomi Oreskes led that research. She joined The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to discuss the price of that silence.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Dearborn’s Department of Public Health has been awarded a $101,000 grant to advance firearm safety. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services funding supports collaborative efforts to educate gun owners on safe handling and storage. 

Dearborn Mayor Abdulllah Hammoud says firearm injury prevention is a public health and safety priority. 

The city’s health department will distribute firearm safety kits, including gun locks, lockboxes, and educational materials.  Dearborn Chief Public Health Officer Ali Abazeed says the grant supports evidence-based education and access to safety tools. 

Additional headlines for Monday, Dec. 22, 2025

Michigan Chief Medical Executive makes Standing Recommendation regarding children’s vaccines 

Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, made a Standing Recommendation to continue issuing vaccinations on schedule based on recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). 

Bagdasarian shared that public health experts are not in agreement with new federal vaccine recommendations, prompting the announcement. One of the recent changes was dropping the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth and removing the COVID-19 vaccine recommendation for healthy children and pregnant women. 

Bagdasarian’s Standing Recommendation was made with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Immunization. 

She says the recommendation does not supersede clinical judgment. She also asks health care providers to make vaccines accessible by removing barriers for patients. 

Bagdasarian says vaccines keep people safe and potentially save lives. 

EGLE renews license for hazardous waste facility 

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has renewed the license for a hazardous waste treatment and storage facility in Detroit for the next 10 years.

Hazardous Waste Management Facility Operating License to EQ Detroit Inc., which does business as US Ecology Detroit South, was issued the license after regulatory review and a public comment process. Several people strongly opposed the facility because it emits strong odors leading to health concerns like asthma. The facility also has a history of clean air violations. 

EGLE renewed the license, adding new requirements, such as expanding air and groundwater monitoring. The facility must replace six tanks beginning in January 2026 and install odor control equipment by the end of Dec 2027.

Tunnel in southwest Detroit 

The Great Lakes Water Authority has started building a sewage relief system near the Rouge River in Southwest Detroit. Crews will spend at least two years digging a tunnel to carry excess stormwater to an underused retention and treatment center. Chief Operating Officer Navid Mehram says the $87 million project should reduce the risk of flooding and sewage backups during heavy rain. 

“So this is an example where we’re making an investment in our existing system by rerouting some flows, so that we can leverage an existing facility that wasn’t receiving all the flow it can treat.”

Mehram says the project will not increase customers’ sewage bills. He says state and federal funding will help pay for the tunnel. 

New tech firm in town 

Detroit is getting a new high-tech security and AI solution firm, Eccalon. The defense tech company will create 800 new jobs ranging from $25-100 per hour. 

The facility will have manufacturing operations, training programs and an innovation center. 

The company’s headquarters is moving from Maryland to become a part of the tech innovation in Detroit. Eccalon will be located at the Bedrock-owned Icon building at 200 Walker Street. 

Eccalon Chairman and CEO André Gudger says the new headquarters will develop cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing and automation. 

The company hopes to open early next year. 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

An area of very old trees at Independence Oaks County Park has been recognized as part of a national network of old-growth forests, drawing attention to both rare natural features and thousands of years of human history tied to the land.

Carol Bacak-Egbo is an Oakland County Parks historian. She says the newly designated old-growth forest lies within a landscape shaped by Indigenous peoples for 5,000 to 6,000 years. The park sits near historic Native American trail routes, and contains the headwaters of the Clinton River, once a major travel route for the Anishinaabe across what is now southeast Michigan.

“This history doesn’t start with log cabins and sawmills,” Bacak-Egbo says. “People lived with and cared for this land long before Europeans arrived.”

Artifacts indicate the area was likely used as seasonal camps rather than permanent villages. The park also contains one of only two remaining wild rice beds in southeast Michigan, a culturally and spiritually significant food source for the Anishinaabe.

The forest largely escaped widespread logging and farming in the 19th century, almost by accident.

In the early 1900s, a wealthy Detroit businessman purchased land around Crooked Lake but left it undeveloped. Later owners also did not farm the southern portion of the property, allowing the old-growth trees to remain intact.

Park naturalist Kegan Schildberg says the designation supports efforts to protect remaining natural areas in Oakland County, which has developed rapidly during the last century.

Bacak-Egbo encourages visitors to view parks as places where natural and human history intersect.

“When people walk these trails, they aren’t just connecting with nature,” says Bacak-Egbo.  “They are walking through the same forest people walked through hundreds and even thousands of years ago.”

This story is part of WDET’s ongoing series, The Detroit Tree Canopy Project.

This year’s harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie was among the mildest this century.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitors the development of algae in the lake each year.

On a scale of 1 to 10, NOAA rated this year’s bloom between 2 and 3, which is mild. Compare that with 2011’s very severe bloom, which peaked between 9 and 10.

NOAA researcher Rick Stumpf says each bloom is different. He and his colleagues use several factors to rate each one.

“The mildness is a reflection of how much bloom there is,” he says. “The amount of biomass, the quantity, and how severe it is over the peak 30 days.”

Weather is a big factor

The amount of rainfall in the spring also affects the bloom’s development. Algae feed on phosphorus, a common chemical in farm fertilizer. When farmers apply it to their fields, rain will wash some of it into streams and creeks. That water then flows into the lake through the Maumee River in Ohio.

Stumpf says lower-than-average rainfall in 2025 meant less phosphorus for algae to consume, and thus a milder bloom. He also says this year’s growth started later than usual.

“The last few years, the bloom’s been pretty well-developed in July,” Stumpf says. “This year, it wasn’t until well into August when you had the greatest quantity of bloom.”

Stumpf says one way farmers can limit the amount of phosphorus in the lake is to test their fields for it early.

“If you’ve got enough phosphorus in the field, you may not have to fertilize for a couple of years, and that can make a big difference.”

Navigating the shutdown

Stumpf says the federal government shutdown in October did affect some of NOAA’s observations. But he says by then, researchers had enough data to rate the bloom accurately.

“We do a lot with satellite data, and that data has continued throughout this year’s bloom,” he says.

That data will also help NOAA figure out what other factors affect harmful algal blooms and how they’ve changed over the last 25 years.

Size doesn’t always matter

The size of each bloom doesn’t necessarily reflect how toxic it is. For example, the 2014 bloom was rated moderate to severe (5 out of 10). But it produced enough toxin to contaminate Toledo’s municipal water system that year.

In general, Stumpf says algal blooms can harm people and animals who are exposed to them. He says the best way to prevent that is to avoid areas of green scum on the surface of the lake.

The head of Macomb County’s government says the economic uncertainty felt in some sections of Michigan has yet to truly impact his area.

County Executive Mark Hackel summed up the situation in his annual State of Macomb County speech.

Hackel says the county is not just weathering the ebbs and flows of the overall U.S. economy but thriving in the midst of them.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mark Hackel: With our financial situation, our economic foundation, we’re in a great place. I know the things that you’re hearing across the country are challenging. But there’s so many things that kind of help lift us up. We’re pretty diverse too, though we rely heavily upon the automotive and defense industries and manufacturing. But the reality is Macomb is in a very sound place.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: President Trump’s tariffs have impacted various segments of the U.S. economy, including the auto sector, which does have a pretty significant presence in Macomb County. Some of the prices for vehicles are starting to climb now. Do you have any concerns about how tariffs or the overall economic outlook are going to impact jobs or other parts of Macomb County’s economy?

MH: We’re always concerned about what happens at the federal and or state level that may have an impact on our economy. But look at what happened in 2010. There was a huge challenge with manufacturing, job losses, housing shortages that we faced back then. And we doubled down on manufacturing. By doing so, we’ve seen our economy continue to grow here.

Macomb County is a $54.2 billion economy. That’s bigger than the states of Vermont and Wyoming. We are right now at an all-time high. There’s never been a better time in Macomb County with our economy being as robust as it is right now. So whatever might happen with some of these tariffs or other economic concerns, we’re not seeing it directly have an impact right now. We’re in a good place with that.

QK: There is some financial stress in other parts of the country, other parts of Michigan, other parts of metro Detroit, for that matter. In your view, why is Macomb County doing well when some of these other places are having a bit of a struggle?

MH: We decided to double down on manufacturing. We retooled some of our manufacturing facilities. They’re different than they once were. We upgraded them. We really put a full-court press on making sure people understood that with our workforce, from concept to consumer, no one does it better than right here in southeast Michigan. And Macomb County is a major part of that. We are the defense capital of the Midwest. More contracts are awarded to Macomb County, as far as the actual number and the money associated with them, than anywhere else in the entire Midwest. So we keep promoting that, we keep pushing that.

And I think all the attention that we’ve been trying to drive has really helped us. We used a protecting growth strategy when we first got in and worked with the state on that. And we’ve done so well that we’re not really as worried about protecting anymore because we’re seeing that continuous growth. So we’re fortunate. Working with everybody has really had an impact on where we’re at today.

QK: In last year’s State of the County speech, you said that Macomb needed to focus on partnerships instead of partisanship. There was a line about not reaching across the aisle but getting in the aisle. How’s that bipartisan effort been going for you?

MH: Aside from a certain election here or there, for the most part, partisanship is not our conversation. None of that drives what we do here in Macomb County. People are willing to work with each other. You’ve heard that phrase, “Us versus everybody.” Some sports teams use it sometimes, municipalities or communities use it, as a sense of pride, a sense of esprit de corps. But when I look back on 15 years of how Macomb County has got to where it’s at and how we’ve evolved, we’ve kind of flipped the narrative on that. We look at it as, “Macomb with everybody.”

We’re trying to partner at the local, state and federal level. And never do we look at it as, “We can’t talk to them because they’re Democrats or Republicans. We can’t let their idea soak through or let them get successful because their party may get credit for it.” We don’t talk about that, don’t think about it. It’s a call for everybody who wants to come to be part of the solution. And if somebody looks more like they’re wanting to be part of the problem or be just a naysayer, we accept that. But the reality is we continue to forge ahead with people that want to provide solutions and help us get to where we need to go.

QK: When you talk about bipartisan cooperation, there are elections next year that could be pretty significant on a number of fronts. Michigan U.S. Rep. John James, for one, is running for governor and leaving a seat open that represents part of Macomb County. And there is a gubernatorial race underway. Whoever ultimately wins, what would you like to see from Lansing that you think could really affect Macomb County?

MH: That same willingness to partner and work with us rather than figure out how they could get credit by giving support to one particular area or segment of the state as opposed to somewhere else. Ensuring they are not ignoring any community within the state of Michigan. Specifically for Macomb County, whoever the governor is needs to realize they’re not the governor on behalf of the party, they’re the governor on behalf of the people. So govern on behalf of the people. That’s all I ask from whoever the next governor is. Work together on projects that matter, whether it’s in Macomb County, southeast Michigan or beyond.

QK: In terms of the partnerships that you’ve had, are there specific projects that you would like to see either the state or the federal government partner with Macomb on? Or projects that you’re pleased that they have partnered with you on to date?

MH: I’ll go with the ones I’m pleased that they have done to date. We got some support from the state because they realized the importance of our new jail project. It isn’t just about a jail. It’s about dealing with people that are going to be assessed for mental health or substance abuse when they’re brought in at the first point of contact. Every municipality now is partnered-in on this particular facility. We make a determination whether there’s any substance abuse, then decide what we need to do. The state partnered with us with some financial contributions because it impacts the state prison system too. When people are leaving our facility and sentenced on a felony, they’re going to the state facility. We look at what happened with Mound Road, a quarter of a billion dollar project. We got some state funding to help support that as well as federal and local. And then look what happened with Selfridge Air National Guard Base and us pushing the defense industry here in Macomb County. We are the defense capital of Midwest. And I do declare that at some point in time we’re going to be the defense capital of America.

There’s so much happening and we’re so excited about that. But there’s more to be done. We’re partnering on trying to figure out how we retool a facility or find a new use for the Romeo Ford engine plant. We’re looking at the Romeo airport. There’s a lot more that we need to do with our water quality. The support we get from Candice Miller and her team at Public Works. I’m telling you, there’s another trusted voice and a fierce advocate for cleaning our waterways and making sure we’re addressing underground issues. So, a lot has been happening. We’re going to continue those conversations and hopefully wherever the next governor is, they’re willing to address the issues that we’re talking about as opposed to politics.

The whole issue of where we’re headed as a region and even as a state is incredibly important. The biggest thing is that we all need to come together because we need to be competitive with other regions around the globe. And southeast Michigan is a major player. But our biggest challenge right now is our workforce, making sure that we’re attracting people to this area so they take on these jobs. That provides better opportunities for these manufacturers or companies that do the things that they do here in southeast Michigan. Us all coming together to promote the region as one.

Residents in Saline Township are hoping to create a “critical mass” of concerned citizens  at a virtual public hearing Wednesday night over a proposed $7 billion data center backed by tech giants OpenAI and Oracle.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) is holding the hearing to review DTE Energy’s application to supply power for the 1.4-gigawatt facility. DTE is also seeking approval for an additional $300 million substation dedicated to the project.

Saline Township resident Tim Bruneau is helping mobilize local residents to stop the project’s construction. He says he fears the plan is being pushed through too quickly and worries about how the data center could influence future policy.

“This is going to affect every DTE customer and it might set a precedent for other utilities in our state and possibly even nationally,” Bruneau said.

Bruneau says he had a disturbing conversation with a DTE spokesperson at a recent Saline Township board meeting regardingt how the company would prioritize power during outages.

“He told me that number one priority is hospitals, fire and police stations, and number two would be senior citizen facilities,” Bruneau said. “I asked him if data centers would be number three and he refused to reply.”

In a press release, MPSC Chair Dan Scripps said Wednesday’s hearing will “add an important element of transparency in evaluating DTE Electric Co.’s proposed special contract.”

Find a link to join the virtual public meeting here.

Choosing the right tree to plant that will thrive long into the future just got easier.

Michigan’s tree canopy is changing due to climate change. Whether it’s due to invasive species, flooding and drought, or extreme heat, some species will do better than others.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently released a 57 page species selection guide that rates species for climate change resiliency and hardiness using characteristics like size, shade and rainwater absorption.

Lawrence Law is an urban and community forester and partnership coordinator with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He led the development of the Michigan Communities Tree Species Selection Guide.

He says some species that are ubiquitous in Southeast Michigan, like Silver Maple (rated 1 of 10), are poor choices compared to lesser-known ones like Kentucky Coffeetree (rated 10 of 10) due to climate adaptability.

“I have seen so many good examples of Kentucky Coffeetree in the area. It’s just a powerhouse. You can get cultivars that are seedless and it’s like boom, plant and forget, almost.”

Law spoke with David Leins on The Metro about how people can use the guide to choose the right tree for their yard or right-of-way.

WDET’s Detroit Tree Canopy Project is supported by a grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has cleaned up most of the tree damage from last winter’s historic ice storm in the northern Lower Peninsula.

But crews are not done yet.

Many broken limbs still dangle from treetops, while fallen branches block backroads in many counties.

DNR fire management specialist Nate Stearns says debris shut down more than 3,000 miles of state forest roads at one point. Since then, they have fully or partially reopened most of them.

“We’re at 366 miles of impassable roads and 169 miles of partially closed roads, so we’ve made some really good progress,” he says.

Fire danger looms in 2026

Fallen timber remains on the ground in some hard-to-reach areas, providing potential fuel for wildfires. Stearns says that hasn’t been a problem this year, but it could cause trouble next spring.

“As that dries out and starts to decay, it’ll be like tinder for starting a campfire,” he says. “And any fire that does start on state land could give responders a more difficult time with access and fire intensity.”

Stearns says property owners in the northern Lower Peninsula and the eastern U.P. should consider composting or chipping wood debris instead of burning it. He says that will reduce the risk of wildfires.

More work to do

The DNR took a break from cleanup during Michigan’s firearms deer hunting season. But crews will try to pick up as much debris as they can before heavy snow forces them to wait until the spring to resume.

The ice storm also caused widespread power outages in 12 counties. The Federal Emergency Management Agency granted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s initial request for disaster aid. In October, she asked for more assistance, but FEMA rejected it.

Last month, a highly invasive insect was spotted for the first time on the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s campus. The Environmental Interpretive Center (EIC) identified the spotted lanternfly, a sap-sucker that has been making its way across the U.S. since 2014. 

The first confirmed colony in Michigan was found in Oakland County in 2022. 

Program and natural areas manager for the EIC Rick Simek says that spotted lanternflies don’t usually kill their host trees outright, but as their numbers grow, so does the damage they can do to the environment as they feed.

Environmental harm

Infestation weakens the host tree’s ability to withstand disease, drought, and other pests.

“They have been known to kill off the saplings of a couple of native tree species,” says Simek. He lists black walnuts and maples as examples. 

Simek said that the spotted lanternfly’s dietary habits are especially hard on fruit-bearing plants, like the river grapes that provide nutrition for birds in the EIC’s natural area. 

The spread of the spotted lanternfly poses trouble for Michigan’s produce, predicts Simek. “Lanternfly infestations can cause real harm to grapes, both cultivated and wild… [which is] cause for  serious agricultural and economic concern.”

Thankfully, the spotted lanternflies do not bite or pose direct harm to humans. However, the sugary “honeydew” that they excrete attracts mold, wasps, and other pests. 

Squish and scrape

What should you do once you identify a spotted lanternfly?

“One of the control methods—I’ve seen actual videos on this, it’s fairly commonly practiced—is to squish them!” says Simek. “Just make sure to become familiar with what lanternflies look like before squishing, but they are easy to identify.”

Also, it’s good to remove their egg masses, which look a bit like chewed gray-brown gum, advises Simek. And definitely check for hitch-hiking lanternflies while entering and exiting natural areas. 

Fall is the season to look for and remove egg masses before they hatch in spring. 

Vigilance helps slow the spread

It’s important to reduce the spotted lanternfly’s ability to reproduce and spread as much as possible. 

“One of the things we don’t want to see here on campus, of course, is for it to become a breeding area that produces lanternflies that can spread around the area even more,” says Simek. Thankfully, the EIC is well maintained and better prepared for invasive visitors.

The spotted lanternfly’s preferred host, tree of heaven, has been regularly removed from the Environmental Interpretive Center’s grounds for years. Tree of heaven is a particularly entrenched invasive plant that comes from the same region as the spotted lanternfly. As a favorite food source, it is a marker of where to look for the insect. 

Additionally, birds and bats are beginning to recognize spotted lanternflies as a food source. The near 121 acres of the EIC’s natural center helps support those populations. Though, Simek notes, its being theorized that spotted lanternflies become less appetizing after eating tree of heaven. 

That’s one more reason to be diligent about removing the invasive plant. 

Report sightings

The spotted lanternfly’s impact on the tree canopy at large remains to be seen. 

The DNR says all sightings by the public should be reported. 

So far, spotted Lanternflies have been seen in Wayne, Oakland, Lenawee, and Macomb counties.

“It’s the new invasive kid on the block,” says Simek. “We’re probably going to see them more and more, and then we’re all going to find out what their impacts are.”

The Trump administration wants to cut the number of waterways protected under the Clean Water Act.

Some business owners and developers say the move would help them operate better because it would change which wetlands and streams legally count as an “official water of the United States.”

Those designations are covered by the Clean Air Act, which was originally written in part by the late Michigan Congressman John Dingell.

His wife, current U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, says protecting streams and wetlands helps stop pollution from flowing to large bodies of water like the Great Lakes.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell: People that are seasoned, like myself, know what our waters used to look like. And John Dingell was really the significant author of the Clean Water Act, along with the late former U.S. Sen. Ed Muskie. And he did it because the Rouge River caught on fire. Now, the consequences of what this administration is going to do would undermine the strong protections that have kept our water safe and healthy and have cleaned them up. So I’m very concerned that we not go backwards. We see the Great Lakes and our Detroit water system is significantly improved from where it was 30 years ago, 40 years ago. But we have to keep cleaning it up. And taking away those safeguards endangers our water.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Some environmental groups often raise concerns about runoff from farmland into waterways or companies dumping there illegally at times. Now they say this change proposed by the Trump administration could increase the chance of those types of activities happening. Do you agree with those kinds of concerns?

DD: I’m very, very concerned about what this means and what the real consequences are. Lake Erie has seen very significant experiences of algae blooms. People have actually been told not to drink tap water. So I think it’s very important that we make every effort to continue to clean up our water, protect our waters. And the administration’s announcement that they were going to roll back Clean Water Act regulations worries me greatly.

QK: On the other side, some business owners and farmers, among others, have said that they think the change will help them. It’ll limit the costs and regulatory red tape, they say, of having to check if a stream or other waterway on their property is covered under the Clean Water Act. They say it should be something that states regulate more than the federal government. What’s your reaction to those comments?

DD: We need to have federal regulation. Because here’s the reality. Water doesn’t say, “oops, I’m at a state line.” Do you think Lake Erie or the Detroit River know when they’ve crossed a state border? I think we should all be working together to keep our water safe. But when water runoff is going into major tributaries like the Huron River, the Rouge River, then goes into the Detroit River, which goes into the Great Lakes, there are consequences when there are things in those waters that are not safe. Things the public needs to be protected from. I want to reduce regulation. I want to look at how we can simplify. But undermining the goal of clean water is something that worries me greatly and something I will always fight for.

This past spring, the city of Rochester became home to a ‘micro forest,’ a dense grove of trees and shrubs planted in an area as small as 1,000 square feet. 

The micro forestry concept began in Japan and aims to support birds, insects, and other pollinators in heavily urbanized communities. Specifically helping to remediate degraded soil caused by human development. 

Rochester City Council member Marilyn Trent spearheaded the project with the help of volunteers, arborists, and city officials. 

“The response from the community was absolutely phenomenal,” she says. 

Trent based Rochester’s micro forest on the famous Miyawaki method of planting native plants, trees and shrubs thirty times as dense as usual, a very different method of helping water mitigation, pollinator species support, and carbon capture than re-foresting or rewilding land. “We’re not trying to replicate a forest,” Trent adds.  

Trent says other cities in metro Detroit have reached out with interest in replicating the project in their communities. With one growing season successfully over, she says the biggest lesson so far is be prepared to water, water, water. 

“Keep it watered…that is one thing. And thank goodness for the DPW [Department of Public Works] when the drought starts coming in July or August, you have to keep it watered,” she says.

This story is a part of WDET’s Detroit Tree Canopy Project

Michigan is racing toward the data center boom that powers artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Lawmakers have approved generous tax breaks, and utilities are courting multi-billion-dollar projects, including a proposed $7 billion “hyperscale” campus in rural Saline Township, backed by tech giants OpenAI and Oracle. 

Supporters promise investment and new tax revenue. But critics warn that these vast, windowless buildings could come with higher electric bills, heavy demands on local water supplies, and pressure to keep fossil fuel plants running long past Michigan’s clean energy deadlines. 

So who really pays for Michigan’s data-center gold rush, and who gets to decide?

Brian Allnutt, a senior reporter and contributing editor at Planet Detroit, has been following Michigan’s data center deals from the state capitol to township board meetings and courtroom settlements. He joined Robyn Vincent to help make sense of the choices Michigan faces.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Detroit has finally started to regain some population, but it has a long way to go. And that means there’s still a lot of vacant land — 18 square miles of it — that’s just sitting around. What should be done with it?

The local think tank Detroit Future City has an idea. 

They are creating a conservancy to protect and steward the land today and well into the future. The Detroit GreenSpace Conservancy wants to protect forests and meadows, and build walking paths and opportunities for agriculture. 

Producer Sam Corey spoke with Kimberly Faison, the vice president for thriving and resilient neighborhoods and Sarah Hayosh, the director of land use and design for Detroit Future City.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro