The Water We Swim In

How does lead contamination affect Great Lakes communities, especially marginalized ones? In this episode, Bonnie and guest host Dr. Deidre Peroff to explore the impact of lead contamination in Milwaukee.  Special thanks to our guests: Jamie Ferschinger, (former) Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers Alejandra Vigil, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers Dr. Molly Cousin, Sixteenth St...

For the final episode of Public Trust, we head to the communities of Peshtigo and Marinette in northeast Wisconsin, where we meet local residents who have been engaged in a yearslong battle with a multinational company that polluted their drinking water with PFAS. We learn how community members have come together to fight for clean water and why they are committe...

Are PFAS in maple sap, wild rice, fish and other harvestable goods important to the Anishinaabe way of life? These are some of the questions the Voigt Intertribal Task Force asked Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s emerging contaminants scientist, after PFAS were found in wolves. In this episode, Public Trust producer Bonnie tells Richelle about the beginnings of a tribally-driven research proje...

Firefighting foams made from PFAS have been used at airports for decades, contaminating groundwater throughout the country. In this episode of Public Trust, we return to French Island, a community near La Crosse in Western Wisconsin, to learn more about how local drinking water became contaminated with PFAS. Listen to episode 1 of Public Trust here. View the transcript Midwest Environmental Advoca...

Public Trust is a new podcast miniseries by Midwest Environmental Advocates and Wisconsin Sea Grant . The series explores Wisconsin's response to PFAS contamination. Host Richelle Wilson visits communities impacted by these toxic "forever chemicals" to understand how local residents have been affected and what they're doing to secure their rights to clean water. In this episode, we travel to the s...

Today, we're talking about red pine forests, blueberries, treaty rights, and how they all converge around fire on a tiny split of land jutting out into Lake Superior - Minnesota and Wisconsin Points. Melonee Montano tells us about the importance of cultural fire for the Anishinaabe people and Evan Larson takes us on a walk in the woods to decipher the stories left by elder trees. Wildland firefigh...

Hear an update about season two and a farewell message from Hali, co-creator of The Water We Swim In and former Wisconsin Sea Grant intern.

People experiencing houselessness are amongst those most affected by extreme cold, extreme heat, wildfires, and other weather exacerbated by climate change. The Water We Swim In team wanted to learn more about houselessness and its ties to the environment - especially because Wisconsin’s already frigid winters and hot summers might become more erratic. We sat down with 7 community leaders and rese...

Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin’s largest inland lake, is important to many - the Indigenous people who live there now, the Indigenous people who have a long history on its shores, the non-Indigenous residents of the Fox valley, and the local plants and animals. On this episode, we talk to one inter-tribal team that is looking to unite all of these groups for the health of the lake and for Indigenous so...

For this episode, we criss-cross Wisconsin to talk to ten young people about the future. These young individuals, between middle school and post-college, are all passionate about the environment; whether that is focus on the Great Lakes, sustainability, waste, water or environmental justice. In the current era of climate crisis and intense change, these young advocates speak to their experiences,...

Books provide a plethora of perspectives, and it is important for people from all walks of life to have access to books about their culture, language, and way of life. This is why Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission teamed up to create a book club called “Maadagindan! Start Reading!”, which aims to increase awareness of Ojibwe culture and teach kids, and edu...

The Water We Swim In will be back soon, but in the meantime, we'd like to introduced you to a new podcast called Wading Between Two Titans, a show from The Repair Lab about place, race and power in the time of rising tides. This limited series investigates climate gentrification, sea-level rise and historic processes of racism. The podcast aims to tell the story of these processes and imagine pote...

Fishing is an activity that gets people outdoors and helps them develop a relationship with water. It provides many anglers with peace and can often have a positive impact on mental health. But for those growing up in segregated central cities, economic and transportation barriers often prevents them from accessing green spaces and water bodies. This is where The Midwest Crappie Hunters comes into...

Immigrants and refugees often bring their food habits with them to their new homes. This includes their love for fishing, or maybe their favorite fish soup recipe. But what happens when immigrant families rely on fish from contaminated waters? A Wisconsin Department of Health Services study found that in the Burmese refugee community in Milwaukee, women of childbearing age had higher levels of Mer...

In this episode, we focus on accessibility in the Great Lakes region. How does a wheelchair user navigate at a beach? How does a blind person enjoy the coasts? We talk with leaders that have been working to make the outdoors more accessible for people with disabilities. You can expect to hear from people like Damian Buchman; the founder and executive director of the Ability Center, who helped make...