The GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour – In Praise Of Non Human Lifeforms

The Great Lakes Odyssey Radio Hour is broadcast on NPR (National Public Radio)

s5.e4. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour – In Praise Of Non Human Lifeforms

In the Great Lakes basin, a powerful economic engine provides for a good life to about 40 million humans, and as all of nature’s living beings pay the cost, should not humans be in praise of non-human lifeforms?

Wendall Jones, a retired logger connecting with the lifeforms of the Boreal forest in lower Batchawana Bay gives a local and personal history of living on the magnificent north shore of the Great Lake Superior.

Rob Croll, Division of Intergovernmental Affairs at Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, coordinator Climate Change Program, advocates for Ojibwe treaty rights and natural resources stewardship.

Brad Robinson, Co-Founder & Guide of Thrive Tours, shares the several meanings of a Medicine Circle, the sacred symbol in many Indigenous cultures representing the interconnectedness of all life in the universe.

Featured Music: John Hewitt & The New Americans. Neil Woodward. Cat Clyde. Rheostatics (feat. Neil O’Donnell). Brad Robinson.
Music beds: Michael John DiSanto. LOWFREQUENCYoscillator. Walter MacDonald White Bear. Shub. Lac Du Flambeau Band Of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
Theme music: Ray Bonneville. Rusty McCarthy.

Photo by Adriano: In Praise Of Water

s5.e4. GREAT LAKES ODYSSEY Radio Hour Music Credits

Title – Big Five Water
Artist / Composer – Ray Bonneville

Title – Steeltown Rhapsody
Album – Which Side Are You On
Artist – John Hewitt & The New Americans

Title – St. Mary’s River Fantasy
Album – Nocturnes
Artist / Composer – Rusty McCarthy

Title – The Ballad Of The Frozen Logger
Album – The Promise Of Place
Artist – Neil Woodward

Title – The Tamarack Adventures
Album – Master Files
Artist / Composer – Michael John DiSanto

Title – George Townsend
Album – Master Files
Artist / Composer – Michael John DiSanto

Title – Found Fleeting Fair
Album – Master Files
Artist / Composer – Michael John DiSanto

Title – Lin Ching-Yi
Album – Master Files
Artist / Composer – Michael John DiSanto

Title – Hawk In The Tree
Album – Down Rounder
Artist / Composer – Cat Clyde

Title – Solemn Ground
Artist / Composer – LOWFREQUENCYoscillator

Title – Mud Bay
Artist / Composer – LOWFREQUENCYoscillator

Title – Magpie’s Laughter
Artist – Walter MacDonald White Bear

Title – Mammals
Album – Great Lakes Suite
Artist / Composer – Rheostatics (feat. Uncle Neil O’Donnell)

Title – North Shore Ogitchidaa (The Honour Song)
Artist – Brad Robinson
Composer – Traditional

Title – Roots Run Deep
Album – Heritage (Part One)
Artist – Shub

Title – Lac Du Flambeau
Artist – Lac Du Flambeau Band Of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
Composer – Traditional

Visit: raybonneville.com

Visit: rustyandmaja.com

Visit: johnhewittmusic.com

Visit: glifwc.org

Visit: cordovabaystore/rheostatics-the-great-lakes-suite

Visit: walterwhitebear.com

Visit: catclydemusic.com

Visit: ldftribe.com

Visit: djshub.ca

This program produced by GLOW Radio Partners in venture with The Borderline Events Co.

Great Lakes Odyssey World

Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Great Lakes Odyssey World is a multi-national effort to strengthen and explore our relationship with the natural wonders known as the Great Lakes.

In this part of the project, we have created a multi-part audio series looking at the way the Great Lakes shape our lives, our livelihoods, our health and our culture.

50 years ago, folks in the media and elsewhere were ready to declare the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie “dead.”

The thought so appalled citizens in Canada and the United States, they forced their national governments to act.

Because, of course, the Great Lakes shape the life of both Canada and the United States. And, of course, the Great Lakes are a single system stretching from Duluth to Ottawa and down the St. Lawrence seaway. What happens to any of the Lakes will soon happen to the others.

So, the politicians of 50 years ago negotiated the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, “for the purpose of restoring, protecting and enhancing the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes basin.”

50 years later, we can see the agreement worked. We see more fish, cleaner water, and less pollution. Unlike the early settlers and colonials, who mostly saw the Lakes as a resource to tap, we now recognize, like the First Nations, the Lakes are part of our identity. They shape our relationships, our songs and celebrations of place, the way we eat, how we play, and what we make, or sell, or harvest.

50 years since the wake-up call of a burning river, Great Lakes Odyssey wants to learn how we live and love, hurt and restore the incredible gift which is the Great Lakes.

We will explore Great Lakes art and artistic expression, and meet the artists, writers, musicians who make it. We will also dip into Great Lakes history and lore – and learn from the people who have been here the longest and know it the best: The People of the Three Fires, the Anishinaabek.

On our Odyssey around the Great Lakes, we will also hear from people working to prevent poisonous algal blooms or stop the spread of invasive species. We will meet visionaries undoing decades of development that hardened shorelines, emptied marshes and wetlands, and destroyed critical spawning grounds. We will talk to people working to ensure all beings have access to pure drinking water.

Because none of us can live without pure drinking water.

In this wondrous place we call the Great Lakes, we know we are blessed by these Sweet Water Seas. We claim them as our H.O.M.E.S. as the emotionally accurate mnemonic says. They are Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, and they are our HOMES.

As long as humans have lived in, and of and through the Lakes, people have told stories about them, sung about them, and gloried in this great gift of the long departed Ice Age. Left by glaciers thousands of years ago, they are the World’s storehouse of fresh water. If they are drained… or ruined… or damaged, they can never be replaced.

So, as we travel around the Great Lakes basin, we want to see how we are doing – what we are doing – how we’re feeling and what we’re learning as we try to live as lovers and restorers – and children and family – of the being whom the Anishinaabek call Nayaano-nibiimaang Gichigamiin, the five freshwater seas.

We hope to galvanize, inspire, and motivate you to strengthen, support and steward the Great Lakes to a beautiful and healthy future.

So please join us on this magical, dare we say “magical mystery tour” of the Great Lakes basin and Great Lakes culture.