Earth Day is upon us. Hopefully we have all figured out ways that we can contribute towards better stewarding the planet. Whether it’s changing our purchasing and consumption habits or participating in a neighborhood cleanup effort, there are countless ways that we can all pitch in.
While individual efforts are important, there is one organization in particular that is doing a smashing job when it comes to cleaning up WNY’s waterways. On Saturday, April 22 (Earth Day), Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper will be organizing the second annual Great Lakes Cleanup – Spring Sweep. In order to pull of this massive undertaking, Waterkeeper has partnered with 19 other like-minded organizations across the Great Lakes basin. All told, 1500 volunteers will participate in the massive cleanup, across nearly 40 WNY waterfront sites. The effort will result in the collection of between 15-20 tons of trash that might otherwise find its way into our waterways. Not to mention that over the last two years over 150,000 pounds of litter were directly removed from Great Lakes waterways. Each year, the data is tracked with a Clean Swell app that helps to tell the horrific story of how so much litter and trash flows to our shores, and into our waterways.
Litter pollution in the Great Lakes basin is increasing, as evidenced by the 250% increase single-use plastics use since the start of the covid-19 pandemic and poses a threat to the 40 million people who get their drinking water from the Great Lakes, as well as the habitats of native fish and wildlife species.
“New York is a Great Lakes state, and protection of our globally significant resources often falls on the shoulders of frontline communities and organizations line ours,” said Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper Executive Director Jill Jedlicka. “Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper is honored to lead this effort, and we are grateful for our dedicated citizen volunteers, our local mission partners, and our neighboring Great Lakes organizations’ support for this multi-state, multi-lake collaborative effort. We are thrilled to be able to work with other environmental groups and our fellow Waterkeeper organizations around the Great Lakes, who are some of the most effective water advocates in the world. Our collective action is intended to benefit the health and future of the millions of people and species that call the Great Lakes Basin their home, and we are thrilled to once again mobilize thousands of citizen volunteers in these cleanup efforts.”
The 2023 Spring Sweep is made possible thanks to the financial support and backing of mission partners and sponsors, including Labatt USA, Life Storage, Scott Lawn Yard, and Wegmans.
For more information on the Spring Sweep, please visit www.bnwaterkeeper.org/cleanup.
More information on the Great Lakes Basin-wide cleanup events can be found at www.greatlakescleanup.org.
