The Great Lakes – Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Superior, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario –constitute the earth’s largest freshwater system. For hundreds of years the lakes have shaped the lives of the people inhabiting the Great Lakes basin. They are a significant part of the cultural and physical heritage of North America and the Midwest.
This thesis focuses on the fluctuating water levels, an aspect of the Great Lakes that has become a center of attention over the past decades. The reader will be familiarized with the Great Lakes area and some facts, figures and phenomena of the Great Lakes region. Moreover, contentious subjects such as environmental issues, potential impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes ecosystem and diversion in the Great Lakes basin are discussed.
Additionally, a qualitative content analysis of thirteen newspaper articles published in the New York Times was conducted. The content analysis is to portray how the Great Lakes water levels are communicated by the media. A bilingual terminology database containing the keywords of this thesis provides the reader with the most important terms and rounds off this valuable cultural studies project.
187 pp., 80 fig.
Table of Contents
0 PROJECT SCOPE 8
1 THE RELEVANCE OF CULTURAL AND TERMINOLOGICAL STUDIES IN TRANSLATION 10
1.1 OUR KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOCIETY 10
1.2 THE TRANSLATOR’S WORKBENCH: TOOLS OF THE 21ST CENTURY 11
2 THE FLUCTUATING WATER LEVELS OF THE GREAT LAKES AS A SUBJECT OF TERMINOLOGY RESEARCH AND CULTURAL STUDIES 15
2.1 GENERAL LANGUAGE, SPECIALIZED LANGUAGE AND TERMINOLOGY 15
2.2 ACQUIRING TERMINOLOGY 16
2.2.1 BUILDING A CORPUS USING WEBRESEARCH 3.X PROFESSIONAL 16
2.2.2 TERM EXTRACTION USING THE SIMPLE CONCORDANCE PROGRAM 4.09 18
2.3 CONTENT ANALYSIS 19
2.3.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METHODS 19
2.3.2 TECHNIQUES OF QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS 20
3 THE LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES 24
3.1 FACTS AND FIGURES 24
3.2 WATER LEVEL FLUCTUATION IN THE LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKES 32
3.2 THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE 33
3.2.2 MEASUREMENT METHODS 34
3.2.3 SHORT-TERM CHANGES 35
3.2.4 SEASONAL CHANGES 3.2.5 LONG-TERM CHANGES 37
3.3 LAKE EFFECTS 40
3.4 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES42
3.4.1 A LOOK INTO THE PAST 42
3.4.2 PRESENT ISSUES 45
3.4.3 COASTAL WETLANDS - A FRAGILE ECOSYSTEM 49
3.5 POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE GREAT LAKES ECOSYSTEM 55
3.5.1 CLIMATIC MEASUREMENT 55
3.5.2 GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS 57
3.5.3 CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE GREAT LAKES WATER RESOURCES 60
4 WATER DIVERSION 65
4.1 THE CHICAGO RIVER REVERSAL 66
4.2 LONG LAC AND OGOKI DIVERSIONS 72
4.3 THE WELLAND CANAL 77
4.5 POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE DIVERSIONS 80 5
5 INTERNATIONAL BODIES TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE GREAT LAKES. 81
5.1 THE INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION (IJC) 82
5.1.1 THE BOUNDARY WATERS TREATY82
5.1.2 IJC OPERATING PRINCIPLES 83
5.1.3 THE GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY AGREEMENT 85
5.2 THE GREAT LAKES COMMISSION 89
5.3 THE COUNCIL OF GREAT LAKES GOVERNORS 91
5.3.1 THE GREAT LAKES COMPACT 92
5.3.2 EVOLUTION OF THE GREAT LAKES COMPACT 93
5.3.3 A DANGEROUS LOOPHOLE 95
5.4 THE US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) 100
5.4.1 THE EPA’S GREAT LAKES NATIONAL PROGRAM OFFICE 101
5.4.2 AREAS OF CONCERN (AOCS) 103
5.5 THE UNITED STATES ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS (USACE) 105
5.5.1 HISTORY OF THE USACE 106
5.5.2 ORGANIZATION OF THE USACE 107
5.5.3 THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS – DETROIT DISTRICT 108
5.5.4 THE SOO LOCKS 110
6 THE GREAT LAKES WATER LEVELS IN THE MEDIA 115
6.1 GENERAL ASPECTS 115
6.2 CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES 116
6.3 RÉSUMÉ 126
7 CONCLUDING REMARKS 127
8 BILINGUAL TERMINOLOGY DATABASE 128
8.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE DATABASE 128
8.2 THE DATABASE 131
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 162
9.1 PRINT MEDIA 162
9.1.1 BOOKS AND ARTICLES 162
9.1.2 PRINT DICTIONARIES 163
9.2 ONLINE SOURCES 163
9.2.1 WEBSITES AND ONLINE DOCUMENTS 163
9.2.2 CORPUS OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES: 167
9.3 LIST OF FIGURES 168
10 APPENDIX 174
cultural studies in the heartland of