The West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC), with support from the Wege Foundation, organized a delegation of 27 West Michigan environmental professionals, activists, educators, government officials and elected officials for the Great Lakes Restoration Conference in Detroit this October.
Delegates learned about emerging issues in Great Lakes protection, the latest strategies for water advocacy and restoration and had the opportunity to network with other leading Great Lakes water professionals.
“The Great Lakes and surrounding watershed are integral to the identity, economy and culture of Michigan and the region. We need to do everything we can to protect this vital resource,” explains local environmental activist Kevin Soubly.
Throughout Great Lakes Week and at the Healing Our Waters conference,” he continues, “we had the chance to see firsthand not only some of the success stories and remaining challenges for Detroit, but also the impressive support for improving the health of our Great Lakes and communities."
The seventh annual conference was presented by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition and was part of a series of concurrent water events including the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality H2O Now International Joint Commission Biennial Meeting, Great Lakes Week and the 2011 Conference of the Great Lakes Annual Areas of Concern Program.
“I think it’s important for everyone to recognize that West Michigan is dealing with the same problems as everyone else in the Great Lakes -- Traverse City, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Kenosha, Wis. and up in Canada,” remarks WMEAC's Dan Schoonmaker. “We can learn from what everyone else is doing."
Some of our delegates are going to be implementing new strategies as soon as this week,” he assesses. “And in other cases, where we’re ahead of our peers in the Great Lakes, sometime decades ahead, knowing that can be quite inspirational and a great affirmation of the strategies we’ve worked so hard on for so long.”
The conference had a record attendance and even Al Gore spoke at one of the Joint Commission sessions. And, it allowed our community to plug into a larger regional movement to protect the Great Lakes.
Want to help put the good back in do-gooder by helping WMEAC with their mission? Here’s how:
• For more information on protecting the Great Lakes visit the Healthy Lakes
website
Source: Dan Schoonmaker, West Michigan Environmental Action Council; Kevin Soubly, Americorps
Writer: Jennifer Wilson, Do Good Editor
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