The Death and Life of the Great Lakes First Edition

Dan Egan's "The Death and Life of the Great Lakes" is a sweeping chronicle of North America's largest fresh-water lakes and the environmental threats they face. Tracing their geological history, from the end of the last ice-age some 10,000 years ago, to today's troubling headlines, Egan explores man's impact on one of the World's most precious resources: fresh-water. Well written and meticulously researched the book is endlessly fascinating with the author's hand-on approach of traveling to many locations and interviewing the people who live and/or work in these affected areas. The problems started with the building of some bypass-canals in an attempt to link the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and the world of international shipping. Done with the best, of intentions in the mid 19th Century, these canals would allow goods from all over the World direct access to our "inland seas" and the communities who crowd their shores. Sounds like a good plan, right? Problem is; these canals not only served as a pathway for world commerce they were also a perfect avenue for any invasive organisms that happened that way. Whether these organisms swam, drifted or hitched a ride in the ballast of a cargo ship, they came in vast numbers from all over the Atlantic Seaboard and beyond. And they were unstoppable! I really enjoyed reading Dan Egan's marvelous book on the history and ecology of the Great Lakes. Written for the layman reader in clear, non technical prose, Egan starts out with their origins at the end of the last Ice Age. But it's man's impact on The Lakes, both intentional and non-intentional, that makes up the bulk of the book. The only connection between The Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean is the St. Lawrence River so any unwanted organisms would have a hard time getting past the many rapids and of course Niagara Falls. The early 19th Century governments of the United States and Canada wanted to open the area to worldwide shipping as a boost to the local economies and improve both commercial and recreational fishing. To that end it was decided to construct a series of canals that would allow the passage of deep-sea ships through a series of locks. There were a few dissenting voices heard but but those voices were largely ignored by the two governments and the canals were made available to overseas shipping concerns and the doorway to The Great Lakes was opened wide. At first everything worked fine but it wasn't long before environmental problems began to crop up. Foreign organisms, fish, algae, ect, found free passage to The Lakes on the hulls, and in the ballast tanks, of deep sea ships and, it turns out, the locks were largely ineffectual in stopping the invasion. Biologists and fishermen began noticing some strange fish in their catches. unfamiliar shell-fish and algae blooms added to the warning signs, but to no avail. Adding to the problem was the sewage discharge from coastal communities and and over application of fertilizer by farming concerns. It's a battle that continues to this very day. I was amazed at some of the suggestions made by professional biologists and by politicians, in both countries, to "fix" the problems. Also amazing was the connection between The Great Lakes and the Mississippi River and bodies of water even further west, it truly is a small world. I wholly recommend this book to anyone interested in the ecology and and social impact that can occur when Man tries to "improve" on Nature and how short sighted some scientists and governments can be. I received this Kindle edition free through the Good Reads Giveaway program. There were no technical or downloading issues with this edition.Last Ranger

Great Lakes reel from Anthropocene waves of change. Egan's 2017 book describes the tick-tock of biosphere chaos consistent with an emerging epoch.Global human population, within decades, is expected to reach 10 billion. Cultivation, breeding, and captivity of introduced species will continue to be central to our system of food production. Egan's book describes the ecological damage from both intentional and unintentional introductions of alien, aquatic, species along with the unsustainable remediation cost.Discussed is collapse of aquatic top-predators like the lake trout and of plankton scarcity at the food web's base. It's wave after wave of biological pollution coming in through elaborate, large-scale, canal systems and ingenious river locks connecting the Altlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes; and the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River watershed.Invaders include the sea lamprey, alewives, coho/chinook salmon, spiney water fleas, zebra/quagga mussels, and gobies. Each lacks the benefit of coevolution, resulting in waves of accelerating change reminiscent of concepts from Alvin Toffler's book, Future Shock.Like a bad moon rising, the hordes of invasive, dime-sized, filter-feeding mussels give the lakes' water a vodka-like appearance. The remarkable, undesired water clarity results from removal of essential phytoplankton and zooplankton which greatly improves growing conditions for cladophora, a noxious, native, seaweed-like plant. At intervals, it dies off, decomposes, and creates anoxic zones, thereby opening the door to botulism-producing bacteria. The invasive filter-feeders suck up those bacteria and gobies eat the tainted mussels. Poisoned gobies become paralyzed, making them easy prey for birds like loons, eagles, grebes, herons, terns, and gulls. At times, botulism outbreaks turn rampant and birds die by the thousands.Then there's toxic microcystis. It's a native, blue-green algae/cyanobacteria that thrives when runoff of phosphorous-rich fertilizer from farms and other agricultural sources pollute the lakes. The vast accumulations of filter-feeding zebra/quagga mussels won't consume the toxic microcystis and spits it out. Soupy, summer blooms of microcystis strangely give waves greencaps instead of whitecaps. The Maumee River mouth area of Lake Erie had a microcystis bloom in early August 2014 which resulted in an algae-caused, city-wide, drinking water shutdown, lasting four days, in nearby Toledo, Ohio.What’s next? More kraken-like monsters lurk out there. Incoming aquatic vermin includes three species of invasive carp; the razor-toothed snakehead eel; and the prolific, 1/8 inch-long New Zealand mud snail.The last chapter, ‘A Great Lake Revival’, is the best. Dan Egan’s book was fascinating. It's a gateway to an information-rich topic. I can’t recommend it enough.

The book gives a good breakdown of the changes in the biological communities of the Great Lakes and what it has wrought. A very good synopsis.

This book, written by a journalist who for many years has researched in detail the history of the Great Lakes with respect to primarily the fish populations, is a cautionary exploration about why invasive species can be such a challenge for an environment. Anyone who is willing to consider that we humans as a massively invasive species ourselves have caused lots of problems, will find this account very interesting. And perhaps the book will contribute to our growing realization that seemingly trivial events can cause massive changes, many of them unforeseen. As persuasive as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, but exploring a different aspect of human impact on the existing natural environment. When you consider how many ways we humans try to bend nature to our own desires and then find that life is marvelously -- and frighteningly -- interconnected, it's ever clearer that the impacts of environmental changes are, by and large, unpredictable. And thus need to be approached with great care and forethought, although even that will not prove sufficient.

Very easy to read, and has well researched and well written information on the history of the Great Lakes without being very technical. Most of all, it succeeds in giving perspective on an important environmental issue and a very significant resource for life.

Interesting and informative!

A very useful book: our ecosystem can be damaged by human activity but foresight and planning can avoid and fix many of the damages.

Easy to read and informative. The editing was a bit sloppy in parts making it read like a series of short stories that had similar introductions.

Spectacular! Elegantly written, the narrative is compelling, informative, and surprising. A "child of the Great Lakes", I learned so much more than I imagined I would, and remain in awe of how Egan let's this story unfold through multiple lenses including history, social justice, the environment, and economic development. An absolute pleasure, and a must-read!