Alliance for the Great Lakes Alliance for the Great Lakes The Alliance for the Great Lakes is the largest and oldest citizens' environmental organization dedicated to the protection of the Great Lakes. With more than 20 staff and six offices, its mission is to conserve and restore the world's largest freshwater resource using policy, education and local efforts, ensuring a healthy Great Lakes and clean water for generations of people and wildlife. Throughout its history, the integration of public engagement and sound policy have been the cornerstone to its approach to Great Lakes restoration and protection. The proliferation of nuclear power plants around Lake Michigan
History of Milwaukee in the Great Lakes "rust belt," Milwaukee saw the loss of blue collar jobs and the phenomenon of "white flight." The construction of Milwaukee's interstate highway system, beginning in 1964 with the completion of its first seven miles of I-94, heralded an age of greater decentralization, as southeastern Wisconsin suburbs continued to proliferate along interstate corridors, providing an alternative to crowded city living. Nevertheless, a backlash against the freeway in the late 1960s and early 1970s virtually ground Milwaukee's freeway construction to a halt, leaving the city with about 50% of the highways recommended by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning