Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
METAPHOR for EDUCATION: From Intentionally DESIGNED for OBSOLESCENCE to TRANSFORMATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY!
Story of Stuff http://www.storyofstuff.com
http://www.yesmagazine.org/multimedia/yes-film/the-story-of-stuff-chapter-1-introduction
Videos
Introduction
Extraction
Production
Distribution
Consumption
Disposal
Another Way
http://www.yesmagazine.org/multimedia/yes-film/the-story-of-stuff-chapter-1-introduction
Videos
Introduction
Extraction
Production
Distribution
Consumption
Disposal
Another Way
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Red, White And GREEN All-OVER! (A 21st Century "Transformative Green" Scenario)
Auto supplier turns trouble to triumph by venturing into turbines
"We knew the downturn was coming. ... we knew we were going to run out of work by the end of the first quarter of 2009." John Holcomb, general manager of MasTech's Manistee facility, who had an idea to save the supplier. (ROMAIN BLANQUART/DFP)
BY KATHLEEN GRAY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
John Holcomb felt the cold winds blowing through the auto industry as early as 2006. But it took him three years and a dream to come up with a survival plan in which wind would play a big part.
As general manager of the Manistee factory of Sterling Heights-based MasTech, Holcomb had made a good living for three years supervising the production of machines and assembly lines for auto manufacturers. But he saw trouble coming in September 2006, when Ford announced plans to close 16 plants, cut 44,000 jobs and revamp its product lines with an eye on becoming profitable again by 2009.
Why, Holcomb wondered, weren't the other struggling auto companies embarking on similar plans?
"I saw Ford go out and secure funding for new, more economical models, and the rest of them weren't doing that," Holcomb said. "Changes weren't being made that would make them competitive on a broad enough scale. That was my first inkling that something was going to happen to the automotive industry."
His plans began to take shape a year later -- during a dream-induced conversation with his father and grandfather, both long dead, as Holcomb lay hospitalized in critical condition with a ruptured colon.
"I asked my dad and grandpa if I could go fishing with them and they said, 'No, it's not your time,' " he recalled. "At that point, I decided I had to do something to make a difference in a positive way."
So Holcomb hit upon alternative energy as a way to make a contribution to cleaning up the environment and keep a thriving business going in Manistee.
He went to Manistee's newly formed Alliance for Economic Success and pitched his idea: It was time for the group to aggressively recruit alternative energy businesses to the Lake Michigan shoreline community as a way to stave off the devastation that would come from an implosion of the auto industry.
"We knew the downturn was coming because all of the quote requests dried up, and then all the purchase orders dried up," Holcomb said. "We knew we were going to run out of work by the end of the first quarter of 2009."
As the alliance was hunting for alternative energy companies that also needed the machining expertise available in Manistee, Mariah Power of Reno, Nev., was looking for a place to build Windspires, residential wind turbines that were smaller and more compact than traditional windmills.
In October 2008, as auto sales were plunging and the Detroit Three were shutting plants and shedding thousands of employees, MasTech's Manistee operation began transforming from an auto industry supplier into a wind turbine factory.
Last January, the plant sent out its last automotive job -- an assembly line for a BMW plant in Spartanburg, S.C.
"I've been doing automotive all my life, and there's a certain sadness in getting out of that business," Holcomb said. "But it's also been refreshing to step away from the unwritten rules and regulations of the auto industry. So often, they didn't reward innovation."
The joint venture between Mariah and MasTech shipped its first Windspire on April 20 and has since built hundreds. Optimistic initial estimates called for production of 75 to 100 units a week, but the overall economic downturn has forced Holcomb to scale back to 100 a month.
"We're trying to continue to get the American people to spend some money. And we've had a hard time getting traction for sales because of zoning issues," Holcomb said. "Right now, I'm talking to as many zoning boards as salespeople."
From a high of 43 employees, MasTech is down to 35, many of whom worked in the auto industry. That's a steady level of employment from about 40 as an auto supplier.
"I worked in the automotive industry for 15 years, and now I'm doing the complete turnaround," said Sean Jacobs, 39, a machinist from Manistee.
Adam Morris, 37, of Ludington had been working in an auto die stamping plant in Grand Rapids but jumped at the chance to move to MasTech.
"I wanted to be in a business that was more secure," he said.
The company has plans for expansion.
This fall, it began producing a Windspire that is large enough to store wind-created energy in a battery for future residential or vehicle use. MasTech expects to begin construction on another production facility in mid-2010 to meet expected demand from overseas.
"We have some really huge orders pending overseas. We thought we'd sell more domestically right off the bat," Holcomb said. "But it turns out there's more interest right now in Europe, Asia and north Africa than in Iowa."
And, thanks in part to a dream, MasTech's Manistee plant will deliver.
Contact KATHLEEN GRAY: 313-223-4407 or kgray99@freepress.com
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
HEAVY LIFTING 101 (Preparations Underway on Way Forward to Acquiring the Loot)
Public schools
Granholm pushes reform, aims for U.S. grants
By CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
LANSING — Gov. Jennifer Granholm gave strong support Tuesday for measures she said will both improve public schools and qualify Michigan for up to $400 million in federal grants next year.
She called on lawmakers to approve legislation to give the state more power to intervene in academically failing school dis tricts, increase the number of high-quality charter schools, merit pay for teachers and alternative certification for teachers without education degrees.
Those changes are among the criteria the feder al government will use to award $4.3 billion in grants to states to improve schools academically.
Earlier Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee ap proved legislation that would create more charter schools, enable state takeover of failing schools and allow alternative certification of teachers.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said his caucus supports the changes Granholm endorsed. The House plans to consider similar legislation, which must be completed this month to allow the state to apply for the federal money.
Granholm’s remarks were her most forceful public en dorsement of changes that have long been opposed by teachers unions, which have been her po litical allies and a powerful influ ence in Democratic politics.
“We have to transform education in Michigan; we have to be fearless about it,” Granholm told educators.
Michigan Education Associ ation spokesman Doug Pratt said compromise is possible. But he questioned the need for recruiting non-certified teach ers “when there are thousands of unemployed teachers out there now.”
Granholm pushes reform, aims for U.S. grants
By CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
LANSING — Gov. Jennifer Granholm gave strong support Tuesday for measures she said will both improve public schools and qualify Michigan for up to $400 million in federal grants next year.
She called on lawmakers to approve legislation to give the state more power to intervene in academically failing school dis tricts, increase the number of high-quality charter schools, merit pay for teachers and alternative certification for teachers without education degrees.
Those changes are among the criteria the feder al government will use to award $4.3 billion in grants to states to improve schools academically.
Earlier Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee ap proved legislation that would create more charter schools, enable state takeover of failing schools and allow alternative certification of teachers.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, said his caucus supports the changes Granholm endorsed. The House plans to consider similar legislation, which must be completed this month to allow the state to apply for the federal money.
Granholm’s remarks were her most forceful public en dorsement of changes that have long been opposed by teachers unions, which have been her po litical allies and a powerful influ ence in Democratic politics.
“We have to transform education in Michigan; we have to be fearless about it,” Granholm told educators.
Michigan Education Associ ation spokesman Doug Pratt said compromise is possible. But he questioned the need for recruiting non-certified teach ers “when there are thousands of unemployed teachers out there now.”
Monday, November 30, 2009
Brutal Heavy Lifting (DO the RIGHT Thing)
Editorial
En route to the ‘Top’
The carrot is tantalizing: a share of $4.3 bil lion set aside in federal stimulus money to help a handful of states revamp failing schools.
But some in Michigan’s educational estab lishment are balking at the stick: more charter schools, expanded alternative teacher certifi cation, and teacher reviews tied to student performance.
If Michigan is going to win, or even compete for, the federal Race to the Top dollars that are being dangled in front of states, it will need to embrace reforms that have confounded the state in the past.
It’s well worth doing, no matter whose hide gets a little tanned in the process.
In a way, Race to the Top is a shrewd fol low- up to the No Child Left Behind reforms rolled out by former President George W.
Bush. He believed his landmark education act would incentivize states to embrace reforms through the enforcement of tough standards.
He learned pretty quickly that the education establishment could be bullheaded in its recal citrance.
Enter President Barack Obama and his administration, which puts the proposition more bluntly: Enact reforms, or be left out of key federal funding.
Race to the Top requires states who even apply for funds to align their schools with fed eral guidelines. It’s an attempt to change pol icy in a lot of states in a short time.
In Michigan, as in most states, the primary opposition is expected to come from teachers’ unions, which have opposed most such re forms in the past.
But Michigan Education Association presi dent Iris Salters says her organization hasn’t decided whether, or how, it might oppose changes to help the state qualify for the federal money. Her union, Michigan’s biggest for teachers, is working with the governor and the Department of Education to figure out what the state needs to change to compete.
Some of Salters’ concerns are reasonable and ought to help shape the state’s efforts. But if MEA leaders are primarily interested in preserving the status quo, state policymakers will have to move forward without them.
Salters, for example, points out that open ing up broader alternative certification might make it even harder for the 9,000 teachers the state graduates each year to land jobs here.
That may be so for teachers in some fields, but many districts have trouble recruiting good math and science teachers, and alternative certification might help there. Salters cautions that those who’ve mastered specialized con tent areas can’t be presumed to have mastered teaching them, as well. But no one proposes putting wholly untrained instructors in class rooms; reformers simply want to rethink the requirement that every teacher have an educa tion degree.
Salters also says the Race to the Top re quirement to tie teacher performance to stu dent performance is limited to a single test (in Michigan, probably the MEAP), and she ques tions whether that would serve educational purposes. But nothing in Race to the Top pre vents the state from going further. Michigan could create more sophisticated ways to mea sure student achievement. The MEA would do better to help shape those measures than it would to oppose the idea.
The MEA has historically opposed the ex pansion of charter schools. One of its objec tions has been lax oversight. Race to the Top could be seen as an opportunity to tighten that oversight, a long overdue reform, so the expan sion does not come with a downside.
If the MEA is savvy, it could use Race to the Top as a way to help put its own mark on re form.
If it doesn’t, state officials should stiffen their spines to oppose union obstruction. The federal money, and the reforms that are tied to it, are too important to Michigan’s future.
En route to the ‘Top’
The carrot is tantalizing: a share of $4.3 bil lion set aside in federal stimulus money to help a handful of states revamp failing schools.
But some in Michigan’s educational estab lishment are balking at the stick: more charter schools, expanded alternative teacher certifi cation, and teacher reviews tied to student performance.
If Michigan is going to win, or even compete for, the federal Race to the Top dollars that are being dangled in front of states, it will need to embrace reforms that have confounded the state in the past.
It’s well worth doing, no matter whose hide gets a little tanned in the process.
In a way, Race to the Top is a shrewd fol low- up to the No Child Left Behind reforms rolled out by former President George W.
Bush. He believed his landmark education act would incentivize states to embrace reforms through the enforcement of tough standards.
He learned pretty quickly that the education establishment could be bullheaded in its recal citrance.
Enter President Barack Obama and his administration, which puts the proposition more bluntly: Enact reforms, or be left out of key federal funding.
Race to the Top requires states who even apply for funds to align their schools with fed eral guidelines. It’s an attempt to change pol icy in a lot of states in a short time.
In Michigan, as in most states, the primary opposition is expected to come from teachers’ unions, which have opposed most such re forms in the past.
But Michigan Education Association presi dent Iris Salters says her organization hasn’t decided whether, or how, it might oppose changes to help the state qualify for the federal money. Her union, Michigan’s biggest for teachers, is working with the governor and the Department of Education to figure out what the state needs to change to compete.
Some of Salters’ concerns are reasonable and ought to help shape the state’s efforts. But if MEA leaders are primarily interested in preserving the status quo, state policymakers will have to move forward without them.
Salters, for example, points out that open ing up broader alternative certification might make it even harder for the 9,000 teachers the state graduates each year to land jobs here.
That may be so for teachers in some fields, but many districts have trouble recruiting good math and science teachers, and alternative certification might help there. Salters cautions that those who’ve mastered specialized con tent areas can’t be presumed to have mastered teaching them, as well. But no one proposes putting wholly untrained instructors in class rooms; reformers simply want to rethink the requirement that every teacher have an educa tion degree.
Salters also says the Race to the Top re quirement to tie teacher performance to stu dent performance is limited to a single test (in Michigan, probably the MEAP), and she ques tions whether that would serve educational purposes. But nothing in Race to the Top pre vents the state from going further. Michigan could create more sophisticated ways to mea sure student achievement. The MEA would do better to help shape those measures than it would to oppose the idea.
The MEA has historically opposed the ex pansion of charter schools. One of its objec tions has been lax oversight. Race to the Top could be seen as an opportunity to tighten that oversight, a long overdue reform, so the expan sion does not come with a downside.
If the MEA is savvy, it could use Race to the Top as a way to help put its own mark on re form.
If it doesn’t, state officials should stiffen their spines to oppose union obstruction. The federal money, and the reforms that are tied to it, are too important to Michigan’s future.
Friday, November 27, 2009
From WHY to HOW (Disruption 101)
"Disrupting" High School Failure
Can you legislate graduation rates? Today, the Washington Post editorial board called on the state of Maryland to raise the compulsory age for school attendance, essentially using state law to require students to stay in Maryland high schools until the age of 18 (it is 16 now). The move, following on the heels of a similar policy adopted by the Montgomery County Board of Education is in direct response to the latest data showing a growing dropout rate in Maryland. The full editorial can be found here.
Eduflack is all for any measure designed to improve high school graduation rates, but can you really legislate the problem away? And if so, why just raise the dropout age to 18? Why not require by law that every student stay in school until they earn a high school diploma or reach the age of 21? Why not mandate a high school diploma in order to secure a driver's license or buy a beer?
We don't take such steps because such a "stick" approach to high school reform simply doesn't work. Despite the best of intentions, requiring an intended dropout to stay in school for two extra years rarely results in that "a-ha" moment when he finds his calling in high school, puts himself on the illuminated path, earns his diploma, and leads a successful life. It leads to two more years of resentment, coupled with two years of wasted resources at the school and district level.
Talk to anyone who has succeeded in high school improvement efforts, and you will hear that the secret to true high school transformation is not about maintaining the current course. To boost high school graduation rates, we need to make classroom learning more relevant to at-risk students. We need to personalize courses, connecting directly with students. We need to bring real-life into classroom learning, through internships, speakers, and any other means that link high school with life.
As part of its efforts to invest in meaningful high school reform models, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has regularly touted the successes of the high school reform model offered by Big Picture Learning. While the Gates model for high schools has shifted over the years, its praise for Big Picture has been unwavering. But the Big Picture model has been one of those "best kept secrets" in education policy. Those intimate with the details are true believers, but many are unawares of what the Rhode Island-based organization is truly doing in schools across the world. (Full disclaimer, Eduflack worked with Big Picture's founders on their October policy event.)
Last month, Big Picture held its coming out in Washington, DC, educating the policy community on how the Big Picture model fits with the current call for school improvement and innovation. Touting the need for "disruptive innovation" in school improvement, Big Picture leaders focused on the importance of a student-centered curriculum, a close relationship with teachers, and real world internships to best serve those students at greatest risk of dropping out. And working in more than 130 schools, Big Picture knows of what it speaks. More than eight in 10 BPL schools receive Title I funding, while 66 percent of their students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. Such measures are usually the early markers of dropout factories and graduation problems. But at Big Picture schools, more than 92 percent of students earn their high school diplomas (compared with 52 percent nationally). And 95 percent of their students are accepted into college, the first step toward achieving the President's college-educated Americans goal by 2020.
The true measure of Big Picture's effectiveness, though, may best be found in what others were saying about them in DC a few weeks ago. According to Congressman George Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, "Big Picture is engaging students in discovering the level of context they understand, and how they apply it, and how they appreciate it, and how they can connect it to the next task in education, life, and experience."
And Harvard Business School Prof. Clay Christensen, the author of Disrupting Class and the godfather of the concept of "disruptive innovation" said: "I think that the Big Picture schools are about as great an example of integrating opportunities to feel success with the delivery of curriculum as exists in America. By knitting together the delivery of the content they need to learn, with projects that allow them to use that they learn and feel successful, they've just done a wonderful thing; and I think it is a beacon for all of us."
High praise from two who know a little bit about the topics of school improvement and comprehensive reforms. So how does it translate back into what our states and school districts are looking to do through Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation to improve our schools and reform those so-called dropout factories? Big Picture co-founder Elliot Washor summed it up best as part of their October event: "In our quest to improve public education, we often overlook the importance of the student perspective. Based on our experiences, students thrive in high school when they see the relevance to their current interests and future plans. Every student can earn a high school diploma with the right classroom and practical instruction."
The data is there, and folks like Bill Gates and George Miller have recognized the benefits and impact. Perhaps there really is more to high school improvement than increasing the compulsory age for school attendance. Relevance and an increased focus on the students surely can't hurt.
MOVING the INNOVATION NEEDLE! (Threading the Eye Informs our Understanding)
(Click on Elliot Washor for More Innovative Insights)
GOING, GOING, GONE!
The president has indicated that "dropping out is no longer an option," signaling his intention to ensure that all young people obtain a high school diploma so they can earn higher wages, contribute to society, and lead happier lives. He is right to be concerned: About one million students leave school every year without a high school diploma, mostly because of academic problems, disinterest, behavior, and family issues. So, how do schools have to change to reduce dropouts?
One of the most significant changes actually runs counter to a growing trend in education. In order to keep students in school, schools must provide experiences where students learn out of school. Students don't have enough opportunities in the daily school routine to pursue significant and enduring learning where they are treated like adults by the adults they will soon become.
Many students -- even those with good grades -- are bored and disconnected from what goes on in schools. They do not see schools as the place where they can do the learning they want and need to do when and where it makes sense to them. Robert Epstein, former editor in chief of Psychology Today has observed, "In America, most teens face a level of restriction in their daily lives that would not be tolerated for hardened felons. As a matter of fact, a recent study demonstrated that teens today typically have 10 times as many restrictions as adults, twice as many as active duty Marines, and twice as many as convicted felons." It is these restrictions placed upon youth while they are in school that prevent them from having the productive learning experiences that past generations have had.
To understand this view on the dropout crisis, consider what essential conditions need to be in place for all youth to experience productive learning. Here are the questions students might ask about those essentials:
~ Relationships: Do my teachers care about my interests and me? Can I work with and
learn from adults who share my interests?
learn from adults who share my interests?
~ Relevance: Do I find what the school is teaching to be relevant to my career interests?
~ Choice: Will I be able to choose what, when, and how I will learn?
~ Challenge: Do I feel sufficiently challenged in doing this learning and work?
~ Practice: Will I have an opportunity to engage in deep and sustained practice of those
skills I wish to learn?
skills I wish to learn?
~ Play: Will I have opportunities to explore and to make mistakes without being chastised
for failing?
for failing?
~ Authenticity: Will the learning and work I do be regarded as significant outside of
schools?
schools?
~ Application: Will I have opportunities to apply what I am learning in real-world contexts?
~ Time: Will there be sufficient time for me to learn at my own pace?
~ Timing: Can I pursue my learning out of the standard sequence?
Unfortunately, schools are not designed to offer these essential conditions for learning that youth crave and which figure in nearly every decision to drop out, including those students who stay in school but drop out psychologically. These essential conditions for learning are much more easily provided if schools take advantage of the world outside of schools, where young people can find adults who are doing the work they wish to do in order to develop the habits and practices they will need as thoughtful and productive adults. When students learn outside of school, time is more abundant and flexible. Practice and play focused on relevant and authentic work comes more naturally.
So, what are schools to do? Schools need to engage students with adults in and outside of school as a core part of the student experience. They need to treat students like adults who make real choices about their lives. Young people need to "drop back in" with the understanding that their teachers and mentors are with them, supporting and monitoring their learning when they are out learning.
The variety of ways to engage and bring students into the adult world include internships, service, shadowing, travel, courses on a college campus, field trips, obtaining a certification for work, entrepreneurial and social ventures, and taking a year off to work. These experiences can also be supplemented by connecting youth virtually to people and places around the world.
So, while we absolutely agree with the spirit of the president's statement, we would like to advocate for a focused effort to change schools so students can engage with adults outside of school throughout their high school experience in order to obtain the kind of learning -- and conditions for learning -- they see as essential while also staying connected to their schools. Dropping out, of course, should never be an option, but pursuing great learning opportunities should be, and schools should energetically support these choices and engagements as part of every student's learning portfolio.
Elliot Washor, Ed. D., is Co-Founder of Big Picture Learning, a global leader in education innovation with more than 80 highly successful schools throughout America, the European Union, the Middle East, and Australia. Washor is working on a book about leaving to learn.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
HEAVY "Sifting and Winnowing" (Governor Granholm on Reform Frameworks: Race to the Top and More)
Governor Granholm on Race to the Top
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Learning, Doing, Being: A New Science of Education
Learning, Doing, Being: A New Science of Education [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]
November 19, 2009
What Adele Diamond is learning about the brain challenges basic assumptions in modern education. Her work is scientifically illustrating the educational power of things like play, sports, music, memorization and reflection. What nourishes the human spirit, the whole person, it turns out, also hones our minds.
I listened to Adele Diamond's interview and you can too. There is a podcast on the link posted above. Adele is a Nuero scientist whose studies confirm the absolute necessity of maintaining a Wholistic learning/living environment to engage and maintain a child's cognitive development.
As we know, the nourished Mind and Spirit are inseperable and along with a nourished body will allow for all children to grow into responsible creative individuals who are capable of solving the challenges facing them and life on this planet.
I would challenge you to listen to the podcast and comment on how we can get together to create and expand the kinds of learning communities that would foster these opportunities for all children.
November 19, 2009
What Adele Diamond is learning about the brain challenges basic assumptions in modern education. Her work is scientifically illustrating the educational power of things like play, sports, music, memorization and reflection. What nourishes the human spirit, the whole person, it turns out, also hones our minds.
I listened to Adele Diamond's interview and you can too. There is a podcast on the link posted above. Adele is a Nuero scientist whose studies confirm the absolute necessity of maintaining a Wholistic learning/living environment to engage and maintain a child's cognitive development.
As we know, the nourished Mind and Spirit are inseperable and along with a nourished body will allow for all children to grow into responsible creative individuals who are capable of solving the challenges facing them and life on this planet.
I would challenge you to listen to the podcast and comment on how we can get together to create and expand the kinds of learning communities that would foster these opportunities for all children.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
"Fly Me to the Moon!"
Posted: Wednesday, 18 November 2009 3:38PMMetro Airport Explores Wind Power |
Detroit Metropolitan Airport will further reduce its consumption of fossil fuels by producing its own wind energy at two locations on opposite ends of the facility. The Wayne County Airport Authority Board approved a contract with Michigan-based Southern Exposure Renewable Energy Co. to install five wind turbines at the airport entrance on Rogell Drive and at the South Cell Phone Lot on Eureka Road. Unlike the traditional, towering, three-blade, windmill-type turbines, the Windspire units, manufactured by MasTech Manufacturing of Manisee, are cylindrical, vertical-axis wind turbines that operate quietly while generating electricity for immediate use regardless of wind direction. At only 30-feet in height, they easily fit within DTW’s airspace height limitations. “We have calculated that the two units at the South Cell Phone Lot will, on average, generate 60 to 70 percent of the power needed for the lot’s overhead lights and to illuminate the sign,” said WCAA Director of Facilities and Infrastructure Ali Dib. “On windy days and during daylight hours, we will be feeding electricity back to DTE Energy’s grid.” The wind energy project is one of many environmentally friendly initiatives at the airport. DTW has been the world leader in recycling aircraft de-icing fluid for eight of the past nine years. The new North Terminal is programmed to harvest daylight and to automatically reduce lighting and cooling in terminal areas not in use. The North Terminal also supplies pre-conditioned air, 400hz power and underground jet fuel to each gate which reduces the need for aircraft engines to be idling and excess vehicles on the ramp. This is expected to reduce emissions of various air pollutants by more than 1,300 tons over the expected life-span of the building. The airport has installed a solar panel and LED lighting prototype at the North Cell Phone Lot and established more efficient electrical fixtures in the parking structures saving $79,000 in energy costs annually. In 1999, Detroit Metropolitan Airport received international acclamation for the creation of Crosswinds Marsh, a 1,000-acre wetland preserve constructed in Sumpter Township to replace airfield wetlands disturbed by runway and terminal construction. Described as “Michigan’s showcase wetland,” the preserve continues to provide spectacular habitat for a variety of wildlife and offers public access and educational opportunities for children. “Many other such initiatives are under way or planned for the future,” said WCAA CEO Lester Robinson. “We continue to look for opportunities to be a friend to the environment while maintaining one of the most operationally-capable airports in the world.” |
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