DEADLINE: IJNR Virtual Workshops – Big Changes on the Great Lakes

Ten thousand years ago, retreating glaciers left behind a true natural wonder: a giant reservoir holding nearly one-fifth of all of the available fresh surface water in the world. Today, eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces border these Great Lakes. Some 40 million people depend on them for drinking water. Sport and commercial fishing operations bring in billions of dollars each year and millions of tourists flock annually to their shores.

While Great Lakes cities have been branded the Rust Belt – seen as shadows of their halcyon days – their unequalled access to water and projections for relatively mild impacts of climate change have many wondering if the Rust Belt is due for a renewal, or even potential wave of climate migration. Of course the Great Lakes will see their share of problems in a warming world. They are some of the fastest warming water bodies on the planet. Potentially toxic algal blooms are a rite of summer for coastal communities and threaten some public drinking water supplies. Increasingly extreme summer rainstorms overwhelm aging infrastructure and cause devastating floods. 

The Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources announces its first-ever “virtual Institute,” a series of four half-day, interrelated workshops that will explore current conditions and future projections in the Great Lakes and what those changes mean for both current and future residents. Sessions will run from 12pm to 5pm Central on FOUR Thursday afternoons - May 13, May 20, June 3 and June 10. Applicants must commit to attending all four workshop sessions.

Read more here. Apply here.

Application period closes Wednesday, April 28, at midnight (Eastern).

We will select 25 applicants who represent diversity in geography, outlet, race, gender, experience, and journalistic medium.

* Priority will be given to qualified journalists of color.

Registration is free. Accepted journalists will be sent a registration link.