By Audrey Richardson for Great Lakes Echo.
Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Michigan News Connection reporting for Solutions Journalism-Public News Service Collaboration

A start up company recently got design approval to build a ship that moves cargo with sails rather than fuel.

The 330-foot-long, hydrogen cell powered sailing vessel is proposed by the Veer Group, a Bahamas-based company committed to zero carbon emissions. The design was approved by the American Bureau of Shipping.

"If there was a desire for this in the Great Lakes, it would just make me super happy to be able to fulfill that," said Veer CEO Danielle Doggett.

Whether such vessels will someday ply the Great Lakes is uncertain. But interest is high in decarbonizing shipping. Globally, shipping's 100,000 vessels are responsible for 3% of carbon emissions, according to Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center, a nonprofit research company committed to decarbonizing the maritime industry.

The Maritime Administration recently announced a study to explore low carbon options for shipping on the Great Lakes. The group, which includes the International Council on Clean Transportation, the American Bureau of Shipping and others, is looking at alternative fuels and power. The study will examine environmentally friendly fuel alternatives like biofuel and how to incorporate different power systems, like hydrogen fuel cells, into Great Lakes shipping, according to a press release.

Combustion engines have dominated the shipping industry since the 1930s. Veer is looking to bring sailing cargo back, Doggett said. The company seeks funding to begin an 18-month build and have two vessels sailing by 2024 and six by 2026.

Greenhouse gas emissions significantly contribute to climate change. They increase global temperatures, weather variability and air pollution. The Great Lakes have seen the effects of emissions from increased flooding, algal blooms and soil erosion.

"Veer sail ships in the Great Lakes would make a lot of sense," Doggett said.

One reason is that Veer's plans are consistent with the clean shipping goals of the U.S. and Canada, Doggett said. Another component for the Great Lakes is that the hydrogen fuel cells produce freshwater. It would be nice to excrete freshwater into a freshwater lake rather than into the ocean, Doggett said.

Growing up around the Great Lakes ships in Kingston, Ontario, inspired her field of work, she said.

Cleaner shipping comes at a crucial time for action, said University of Michigan Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Professor Matthew Collette.

In 2021, the U.S. joined a United Nations coalition to reach net zero emissions. The executive order emphasized the goal to reach net zero carbon emissions from federal operations by 2050. Reaching zero means replacing energy sources that produce man-made emissions with renewable energy sources, like solar and wind power.

"If we want to be at zero carbon by 2050, the decisions we make in the next five years are really going to shape what fuel will become dominant," Collette said.

Great Lakes vessels primarily see the impact of climate change through variability in lake levels, extreme cold weather and major weather events, said Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers' Association, a group participating in the Maritime Administration study.

"If the levels are low, or lower than normal, for each inch of water we lose as much as 270 tons of cargo per vessel load," said Weakley, whose organization moves over 90 million tons of cargo throughout the Great Lakes each year.

The group wants to reduce the risk of climate change and is open to using Veer Group vessels once they are sailing, said Debra DiCianna, director of environmental affairs for the Lake Carriers' Association.

But using the existing ships on the Great Lakes would be better, she said.

"With our membership and their existing fleet, they are doing well at hauling the cargo that they need to," she said.

Veer's sailing vessels may be part of the solution, Collette said. But figuring out a balance of technologies and fuel is the way to a more sustainable future.

"We don't have a single winning technology today that everyone is pointing to and saying this is the way forward," he said.

While Veer's methods may not be in the cards for the Great Lakes for another few years, the idea of sail-assist to reduce emissions is relevant today, Collette said.

It is easier to update existing Great Lakes vessels by adding sails or replacing combustion engines with a lower sulfur level fuel cell, he said.

"Adding sails to existing ships might reduce emissions from 10% to 30%, he said. "But I think we are also going to have to figure out a zero carbon fuel source for them."

Alternative fuels that don't involve burning a hydrocarbon include methanol, ammonia or hydrogen, Collette said.

"I think there's a lot of work to be done on figuring out which one of those will be the most effective," he said.

Decarbonizing Great Lakes shipping may require multiple approaches.

"We need to make sure we are taking a holistic view of minimizing our impact on the Lakes and the people who live around the lakes," Collette said.


Audrey Richardson wrote this article for Great Lakes Echo.


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In rural Alabama, where hurricanes and tornadoes are a constant threat, communities often struggle with damage and limited resources for extended periods.

The nonprofit Hometown Organizing Project is stepping in to help. Through their Climate Protection Canvass initiative, they are forming teams to support communities during severe storms.

Messiah William-Cole, mayor of Camp Hill, said rural communities rely on outside funding for storm recovery help. The support is crucial in his own community, which is still recovering from unprecedented flooding and damage caused by a hailstorm six months ago.

"All homes in our municipality's jurisdiction took damage, roofs were damaged," William-Cole recounted. "When we did a damage assessment 76 % of our towns cars were damaged. "

The Climate Protection Canvass will help communities in Colbert, Coosa, Dallas, Tallapoosa, and Walker counties. Organizers said it is a long-term, four-phase project, which will take place over two to three years. It includes story sharing, a community road tour, political education training, and the development of community protection teams.

Environmental Protection Agency data project Alabama will see warmer weather and more severe flooding and drought.

Michaela Lovegood, executive director of the Political Healers Project, will work with the Hometown Organizing Project on the canvass. She said weather pattern changes are a global problem, and stressed the need for long-term commitment to mobilize communities to take the lead in climate protection.

"The importance that we are putting here is that we are trying to create climate protection where local communities have the training development and the support in order to be able to create the kind of response, recovery work and plan they need," Lovegood outlined.

NOAA has recorded 15 weather-related disasters in 2023, each causing at least $1 billion in damage.


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Researchers at the University of Maine are working to develop a more resilient electric power grid to withstand the growing number of climate change-related weather events.

The goal is to help communities disproportionately impacted by such events build locally controlled microgrids fueled by renewable energy.

Sharon Klein, associate professor of economics at the University of Maine, said rural and remote communities identified as socially vulnerable often face the greatest effects when power lines go down.

"A lot of our northern communities are on that list," Klein pointed out. "Also a lot of the coastal communities who are going to be susceptible to a lot of the sea-level rise and flooding."

Klein noted researchers will also work with communities in Alaska, South Dakota and Puerto Rico to study how local microgrids could better ensure the lights stay on when extreme weather strikes.

Researchers said the key to developing microgrids is to first build strong relationships with communities to ensure their individual needs are met. Klein explained she is working with all of Maine's tribal communities, who have shared the effects they have already faced from climate change, as well as their vision for a more sustainable power grid.

"It's important to me personally that the communities that have not been part of the conversation as much, that they're accessing directly those benefits to transitioning to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels," Klein emphasized.

Klein added researchers and community members express a sense of urgency in ensuring America's aging power grids can withstand climate change. The bulk of America's transmission lines and transformers are at least a quarter-century old and were not designed to withstand the types of extreme weather conditions the U.S. is experiencing today.


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A 2021 survey published in The Lancet showed almost half of U.S. youth ages 16 to 25 feel "heightened worry" about climate change.

Sponsors of Nebraska's upcoming Youth Climate Summit, "Seeking Solutions to the Climate Crisis" aim to foster hopefulness in the youth who attend.

Ken Winston, executive director of Nebraska Interfaith Power and Light, is also a community organizer for the Nebraska chapter of the Sierra Club. He said speakers will cover a variety of ways to deal with the effects of climate change.

"The state climatologist will talk about climate change in Nebraska," Winston outlined. "We have a panel of people who are going to talk about things like renewable energy and regenerative agriculture, hydroponic growing and sustainable business."

Winston noted afternoon plans include an interactive "scenario gaming exercise," based on requests from last year's attendees for more "interactive" events. The summit is geared toward 15- to 25-year-olds and will be held Sept. 22 on the East Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There is no fee to attend, but preregistration is requested by next Monday.

Winston emphasized they are lucky to have twenty-four-year-old Filipino environmentalist Louise Mabulo as keynote speaker. Mabulo, who's also an award-winning chef, was designated a United Nations Young Champion of the Earth and a National Geographic Young Explorer because of the impact of The Cacao Project she founded in the Philippines.

"She started organizing local farmers and helping them develop a cacao crop, and then she also has a business that markets the chocolate," Winston explained. "So, she's an organizer and a chef and an entrepreneur."

One of the panels will feature young Nebraskans sharing steps they have taken to spur action on climate change.

"They'll talk about their own experiences," Winston added. "Testifying before the Legislature, creating rallies to draw attention to climate change, going to the U.S. Capitol and talking to members of Congress."

Winston stressed young people have been involved throughout the planning process and the fifth Youth Climate Summit has generated the most interest so far.