[
  {
    "id": "gap-nurdle-monitoring",
    "issue": "plastics",
    "title": "No dedicated nurdle monitoring program exists",
    "invitation": "Pellets contaminate 42 of 66 surveyed beaches; a federal bill is pending; the Rossport spill proved pellets persist for a decade, and no dedicated monitoring program exists on any of the five lakes. The survey methodology exists. The volunteer network already walks those beaches. The shortest distance between open and addressable on this list.",
    "type": "coordination",
    "who_could": [
      "nonprofit",
      "academic"
    ],
    "adjacent_orgs": [
      "org-alliance-great-lakes",
      "org-glpc"
    ],
    "source_ids": [
      "src-nurdle-survey",
      "src-hr7543"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "monitoring",
      "open-opportunity"
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": "gap-tire-wear",
    "issue": "plastics",
    "title": "Tire-wear particles: possibly the largest source, essentially unstudied here",
    "invitation": "Globally suspected to be among the largest single microplastic sources, and yet there is almost no targeted Great Lakes research. No regional lab has yet made it a central question; an early, well-designed study would shape how the whole field approaches it.",
    "type": "knowledge",
    "who_could": [
      "academic",
      "federal"
    ],
    "adjacent_orgs": [
      "org-rit",
      "org-wayne-state"
    ],
    "source_ids": [
      "src-ijc-2024"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "research-agenda",
      "open-opportunity"
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": "gap-cmc-designation",
    "issue": "plastics",
    "title": "A binational designation, drafted and waiting",
    "invitation": "The IJC's science advisors have formally recommended microplastics be designated a Chemical of Mutual Concern, the trigger for coordinated binational management. The recommendation is published. Adopting it would not start from zero: the scientific groundwork was commissioned by governments themselves and is already in hand.",
    "type": "policy",
    "who_could": [
      "federal",
      "nonprofit"
    ],
    "adjacent_orgs": [
      "org-ecology-center",
      "org-epa-glnpo"
    ],
    "source_ids": [
      "src-ijc-2024"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "binational",
      "ready-made"
    ]
  },
  {
    "id": "gap-economic-impact",
    "issue": "plastics",
    "title": "No one has priced the problem",
    "invitation": "No serious regional quantification exists of what plastic pollution costs Great Lakes fisheries, tourism, water treatment, or public health. Advocates currently argue in particles per liter to decision-makers who budget in dollars. One good economic study changes every legislative conversation in the region.",
    "type": "knowledge",
    "who_could": [
      "academic",
      "coordination"
    ],
    "adjacent_orgs": [
      "org-rit"
    ],
    "source_ids": [
      "src-ijc-2024"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "research-agenda",
      "advocacy-enabling"
    ]
  }
]