Comedian Charlie Berens Joins Panel Discussion on the Health of Madison Lakes

Are you concerned about the health of Madison lakes? If so, you should attend the FREE panel discussion on phosphorus and lake health held by the Wisconsin Sea Grant on Thursday, August 31 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the UW-Madison Memorial Union. 

Photo credit: Danielle Letenyei

This panel discussion won’t be all serious stuff because one of the headline speakers is popular Wisconsin entertainer Charlie Berens. Also headling the event is Dan Egan, author of “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.” Egan’s most recent book is “The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance,” which discusses how phosphorus benefits our agricultural economy but devastates our lakes and perpetuates the growth of toxic blue-green algae. 

The panel will also discuss how research at UW-Madison can help inform policymaking and promote practices to reduce phosphorus. Freshwater lakes expert Jake Vander Zanden of the UW-Madison Center for Limnology and Randy Jackson from the UW-Madison Department of Agronomy will also be on the panel.