Save the Week: April 17 - 24, 2021 - Rotary Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup.

In 2021 The Rotary Foundation Trustees and Rotary International Board of Directors added a new area of focus: Supporting the environment.  There's no better way to celebrate than participating in the first ever Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup on April 24, 2021.
 
To date we have commitments from 15 Districts bordering the Great Lakes as well as the Niagara, St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers and the Erie Canal in New York State. We are naming the event the Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup to open it up to any club on a waterway that empties into the Great Lakes system. Rotary International Director Valarie Wafer with Rotary International President Holger Knaack are both supportive of this collaborative project.
  
Get your club to select a nearby waterway or even a local park to clean up and be a part of this exciting event on April 24! Mark this in your calendars - more details will follow.
 
The Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup initiative is an effort to focus attention to the Great Lakes and to all the great work that is being done to cleanup our lakes, streams, and waterways. Through the coordination of many associated clean up events from April 17 to the 24, our goal is to make this the single largest series of linked clean up events ever planned and held during this one period on the Great Lakes.
 
The individual Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup events will be planned to be held between Saturday April 17th and Saturday April 24th, to coincide with the celebration of Earth Day which falls on April 22nd.
 
Please email James Weber if you plan to particpate. James will be coordinating locations and times for people looking to work togther (in a COVID safe way).  
 
Statistics on Environmental Pollution in Canada:
  • Every year, Canadians throw away 3 million tonnes of plastic waste, only 9% of which is recycled, meaning most plastics end up in landfills and about 29,000 tonnes find its way into our natural environment. (Government of Canada)
  • Up to 12 million tonnes of plastic waste end up in the oceans each year. Only 9% of all plastic produced since the 1950s has been recycled, the rest is burned, goes to landfill, or ends up in the environment. (Greenpeace Canada)
  • Every year, one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals worldwide are injured or die when they mistake plastic for food or become entangled. (Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada)