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Field Notes: Reflections of Delta History-Mississippi State University
Written by 1 Mississippi intern in Tennessee, Mark River Peoples* I had the opportunity in the days before the quest to navigate an inspirational group of students from Mississippi State University on a clean-up and lunch on Montezuma Island. Weeks previous I had asked my mentor and brother, John Ruskey, if he had a book that I could read about pre-Civil War checks and balances in southern society. Of course, he had a book called The Most Southern Place on Earth-The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity by James C. Cobb. Ironically, the students on this trip were part of a Delta history course using this book as a reference. The Mississippi River is such...
Read MoreCity Feature: Cairo, IL
Founded: 1858 Best Known For: Being at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Size of City: ~3000 Residents Cairo, IL: Not to be confused with Cairo, Egypt (the town’s namesake), this small town is at the southernmost tip of Illinois. It is the lowest elevation in Illinois and it is the only city in Illinois to be located on a peninsula. The city is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, which means it has a long history of being a River town. The town was once a large river town with the potential of becoming a trading hub of the confluence region. Unfortunately, River transportation began to decline with the invention of the train,...
Read MoreField Notes: Reflections of the Circumnavigation of St. Louis
Written by 1 Mississippi intern in Tennessee, Mark River Peoples* As I awoke early Monday from a slumber so deep and intense, I could only focus on the beginning of new life, from the life changing adventure I had just completed. There comes a time in life that you must start paying attention to what’s in your heart. Personally, I’d become bored with the “American” dream we have been raised to chase and obtain. For me, it was simply not fulfilling. In my life, consumerism and materialism seemed to be manmade concepts used to persuade humans that, without advertised products, our lives are meaningless. I’ve practiced diversity my whole life,...
Read MoreZebra Mussels are taking over our River!
The Mississippi River flows 2320 miles through America’s heartland. Unfortunately, our great River is in trouble, from invasive species. An invasive species is a species that is not native, usually introduced by humans and which generally takes over the ecosystem in which it is introduced. Just like the Asian Carp, the Zebra Mussel is an invasive species. Originating in the Caspian Sea in the Middle East, they were first found in Lake St Clare (a lake between Lake Huron and Lake Erie) in 1988. It is believed that they were brought over in the ballast water from boats traveling internationally. Boats take up water at the start of their journey and then they empty the...
Read MoreField Notes: Clean-up a wild success
Written by 1 Mississippi intern in Tennessee, Elle Perry* For the second time in two years, Illinois-based nonprofit Living Lands and Waters and its volunteers worked to clear debris out of McKellar Lake, which feeds into the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tenn. Along with Americorps volunteers from colleges across the Midwest, the interns from the 1 Mississippi campaign all worked to pick up and bag trash. The college students lived on the LLW barge while they weren’t picking up plastics (particularly water bottles), liquor bottles, toys, styrofoam and other discarded items from the lake shore. About 70 percent of trash picked up will be recycled after sorting. The...
Read MoreRepost: Groups Sue EPA Over Pollutants in Mississippi River
Thursday, 15 Mar 2012 12:04 PM By Greg McDonald A dozen nonprofit groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), claiming the federal government and the state of Iowa have not been active enough in trying to keep pollutants out of the Mississippi River, according to the Des Moines Register. The lawsuit announced Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Iowa Environmental Council, and other groups, seeks to force the EPA to set tougher standards under the federal Clean Water Act and to make sure that states carry out their enforcement responsibilities. “This is a massive, multistate problem, but the EPA has not accepted its...
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