Commandments for the Great Lakes

Assembled by Jeff Alexander, National Wildlife Federation.

There are many things that individuals, communities, and businesses can and should do to protect and restore the Great Lakes. Here are 10 to get you started:

1. Conserve water: Residents of the Great Lakes basin rank among the world’s worst water wasters. The lakes contain a phenomenal amount of water but it is not an endless supply. Excessive consumption and global warming are already causing water shortages in some areas. Are you a water hog?
2. Conserve energy: Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing the Great Lakes. Water levels in some areas are at or near record lows, a change that threatens fish and wildlife and disrupts recreational boating and commercial shipping. You can combat climate change by conserving energy.
3. Keep invasive species out of the Great Lakes: Ocean freighters and artificial canals have allowed numerous foreign species to invade the lakes, but anglers and household aquariums also contribute to the problem. Learn how to help.
4. Fight Asian carp: These foreign fish could devastate the $7 billion Great Lakes fishery and the federal government isn’t doing enough, or working quickly enough, to head off this looming environmental disaster.
5. Stop sewage overflows: Each year, cities discharge more than 40 billion gallons of untreated sewage mixed with storm water into the Great Lakes. Learn more about the problem and how to help solve it here.
6. Take a child to the beach. The Digital Age has given an alarming number of American children a case of Nature Deficit Disorder. Sadly, many children who live within a few miles of the Great Lakes have never seen these wondrous bodies of water. How can we expect children to care about lakes they’ve never seen?
7. Help restore fish and wildlife habitat: A growing legion of individuals and groups are working to restore critical natural features. You can help.
8. Keep Great Lakes beaches clean: Don’t litter and, whenever possible, pick up after slobs who do. Last year, volunteers removed 31,000 pounds of trash from Great Lakes beaches. That’s appalling.
9. Fight sloppy, greedy oil companies: Get involved in efforts to prevent pipeline accidents and keep dangerous new oil pipelines from being built around and under the Great Lakes.
10. Be a voice for the Great Lakes: We are blessed to live amid the world’s largest assemblage of surface freshwater resources and we have a responsibility to protect them.

Read Jeff's entire blog entry on NWF.