Everybody who looks at the Great Lakes knows they're big, but why are they Great? From sea serpents to sunken ships, from lonely lighthouses to fish on Prozac, this book engages the reader in a quest to find what's beneath the surface.

FLOW's mission is to ensure the waters of the Great Lakes Basin are healthy, public, and protected for all. The public trust doctrine holds that certain natural resources like navigable waters are preserved in perpetuity for the benefit of the public to use and enjoy. Under the public trust, the waters of the Great Lakes Basin can never be controlled by or transferred to private interests for private purposes or gain. Our rights to use the water of the Great Lakes Basin cannot be alienated or subordinated by our governments to special private interests. Founded in 2011 by pioneering environmental leader and attorney Jim Olson, FLOW is tackling, among other threats, the antiquated Line 5 petroleum pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac, the commercialization of water, and raw sewage contaminating groundwater and surface water.