TruSweets • Pyramid Point University of Minnesota Duluth PENNSYLVANIA 2015 TEAMS University of at • Sleeping Bear Point - Recreational Sports Outdoor BATH • Student Alliance for Public • Sunset Shores Beach Program Beach Combers Bucket Brigade ILLINOIS Health and the Environment • Tiesma Road Weis Family Carpe Rifiuti IN MEMORIAM ANNUAL IMPACT Al Raby High School Team VISANOW Global Immigration Fruitport Alternative High School Environmental Education Staff INSIDE Anna Kenig-Ziesler - KZ Team Whitney Young Eco Club Global Marine Insurance Agency NEW YORK Greener Behrend YOUR CONTRIBUTION Apple Whole Foods Market: Chicago Dawn Goodwin Capco, Inc. - Kimberly Forness Howard Hanna 1,323 EVENTS TURNING 25 ACTING LOCALLY DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH Arabella Advisors Whole Foods Market: Deerfield Grand Haven High School Walt & Sue Drag Kuhar/Zawacki Great Lakes a Adopt-a-BeachTM volunteers Global bank invests Volunteers help spur rebirth of Emma Bataglia Wilmette Harbor Rotary Club GREEN Club Erie Chautauqua Cattarugus Mercyhurst University Hours worked is the equivalent Windy City Diving Grand Traverse Resort and Spa Board of Cooperative Beach Park Middle School Pinetree Pickers Matt Wnek Green Committee Educational Services amass decades of beach data in Great Lakes two lakefront parks in Cleveland Black & Veatch Corporation Plastek Group passion for former of 3.94 years valued at $250,567 Bowen High School Yanny-Tillar Family Gratiot Lake Conservancy HSBC Buffalo 348 SITES Presque Isle State Park 14,926 Brownie Troop 21802 Youth Conservation Corps Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative HSBC Water Programme Short Jetty Girls buildOn Zion Park District Harbert Volunteers • Marybeth Guarnieri board member Team Higgins Volunteers would fill Katie Bussey Hippe/Kinney • Rosemary Kossow The Alliance is saddened by the loss Volunteers Team Sarnowski Carrigan’s INDIANA Hope College Environmental • Legal Department Team Shaffer 34,561 HOURS 207 school buses STEWARDSHIP ISSUE 2016 Glenn Cekus Association of Beverly Shores Issues Group • Andrew Minderler of Henry “Harry” Chandler, Alliance Center for Conservation Residents Houghton - Keweenaw • Susan Morrison Windjammers board member emeritus and true WaterMarks Leadership Decay Devils Conservation District • Kathy Neiss Chicago Adventure Therapy Discovery Charter School Hudsonville High School Green • Bernie O’Donnell WISCONSIN Great Lakes champion. He passed Chicago Craft Beer Enthusiasts Dunes Learning Center Team • Larry Posses Alverno College away in February at the age of 91. Chicago Girl Scout SU 279 Griffith Izaak Walton League of Inland Seas Education • Bridgette Preston Antea Group - Milwaukee Office Chandler was board president in Chicago Health Corps 2014-15 America Association • Risk Department Bay Shore Lutheran Church Citgo Noelle Hinkel Johnson Controls Incorporated • Vivian Stromberg Bay View Neighborhood the late 1980s and early ’90s when Chicago Parks Foundation Indiana Harbor-East Chicago • Information Technology • Stephen Toner Association the Alliance was the Lake Michigan Paul Culhane Lions • Post Model Service Center • Laurel Vaughn Bethesda Lutheran Church Dewey Elementary School Marina Shores • Woman’s Resource Network • Paul Yaeger Big Bay Team Federation. He was one of a handful Disney II Magnet High School Michigan City Parks and Kazoo School Jessica Lister Coca-Cola Milwaukee of key supporters who managed the Environmental Resources Recreation Department Keweenaw Bay Indian Power of One Nela Deutmeyer #ILoveTheGreatLakes because ... Federation through turbulent waters Management Northwest Indiana Parrothead Community - Natural Slippery Rock University - Fernwood Elementary Francine Ephraim Club Resources Department Geography, Geology, and Friends of Crescent Beach and made sure it lived to grow into Evanston Lighthouse Rotary Club Ogden Dunes Environmental Lake Michigan College the Environment Friends of Grant Park the Alliance for the Great Lakes. No sharks, beautiful beaches, freshwater . . . Exelon Corporation Advisory Board Lake Shore High School SUNY Fredonia Friends of South Shore Park the reasons our volunteers love the Great Fish Bar Our Lady of Perpetual Help Environmental Science Classes • Insitute for Research in Friends of the Manitowoc River In the mid-2000s, Chandler Foss Beach Sea Glass Searchers Green Team Stacey LaRocco Science Teaching Watershed committed his personal support to Lakes are too many to list, but we asked Fourth Presbyterian Church Portage Middle School students Latter Day Saints Church - • Christina Jarvis & Sherri Giles-Pufahl Family anyway so they could share them with the Holland and Hastings the Alliance’s emerging major gift George Washington High School Save the Dunes Mason Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Stewardship Through Education Leelanau County Democrats Team Dex world. When they weren’t singing the lakes’ Glenbrook South High School • Fernwood Montessori School program, and in so doing helped lay Sue the Goldfish Lady Lend A Hand Program The Depew Two Interact Club • Garland Elementary School the foundation for the organization’s praises at the September Adopt-a-Beach™ Go Green Glencoe The Green Herons Ludington Students University at Buffalo Honors • Hawley Environmental School cleanup — our biggest day of action around Goose Island Beer Company Valparaiso Girl Scouts Manistee Water Guardians and College subsequent growth and success. He • Highland Community School Gordon Salon Manistee United Methodist the Great Lakes each year — our 7,034 • Milwaukee Parkside School rallied his friends and family to the Great Lakes Brewing Company MICHIGAN Church OHIO • University School of volunteers were clearing 16,138 pounds of Guerrero Howe A Few Friends for the Michigan Technological Baldwin Wallace University - cause of the Great Lakes and was Milwaukee Hanson Family Environment of the World Univeristy Association Environmental Ethics loyal to the lakes, and the Alliance, to trash from 288 sites. Hi-Cone Ring Leaders Allens/Crosbys of Students for People, Beaumont School • Wedgewood Park School Holland & Knight Alpha Phi Omega Environments, and Nature Business Volunteers Unlimited Matt Hale the end. It was a personal passion. Ann Hopkins Avery & Jennifer Angers Family (ASPEN) (BVU) Hmong American Peace “Harry welcomed me into his Roche Barnes Family Joseph Mikula Campus International School - Academy National Honor home, asked me tough questions HSBC Water Programme Beachside Scoops Alyssa Morin 5th Grade Society • Legal Team Beaver Island Association Muskegon Save Our Shoreline Campus International School - Hollisters about the issues and the Alliance’s • Victoria Patzer Belle Isle Conservancy National Cherry Festival 6th Grade Taylor Jarmes operations, schooled me on the • Wendy Raffaelli Binder Park Zoo Newberry Correctional Facility Case Western Reserve Student Jennine Pufahl Home School Illinois Council of Skin and Scuba Marvin Bishop North Central Michigan College Sustainability Council (SSC) Team history I needed to know, and gave Divers Blossom Land Parrot Head Club - BIO101 Charles A. Mooney Mustangs Johnson Controls - me his trust that we would put his Illinois Environmental Council - Booking.com North Muskegon Middle School Cleveland Clinic Group of Manufacturing Excellence support to good use,” says Joel Young Professional’s Board David Borgeson - 8th Grade Aspiring Leaders (GOAL) Team Illinois Institute of Technology - Brewery Vivant Northwoods Conservancy Cleveland Metroparks Zoo - Zoo Kenosha Junior Womans Club Brammeier, Alliance president and Orland Park Bunche Bobcats Oakridge School Fusion Crew Kenosha Public Museum’s Green CEO. “I valued his commitment and Insurance Industry Charitable Chandler Park Academy Maddy Pelon Cleveland School of the Arts Team Foundation Environmental Club Pentwater Green Schools Club Cleveland State University Kleen Test Products advice immeasurably.” Jackson Park Advisory Council Charlevoix Montessori Academy Portage Lake Garden Club Student Environmental La Pointe Elementary School One of Chandler’s greatest joys was Powell Family Japanese Chamber of Elementary Movement Shenandoah LaRock to spend time with his family on the Commerce Cheever Treatment Center Cory Robinett Drink Local. Drink Tap., Inc. Lauren & Crystal Sharon and Ted Jones Lang LaSalle Circuit Controls Corporation East Clark Elementary School Michael Lazaro shores of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Clean Water Action Southwestern Michigan East Harbor State Park Justin Wynn Fund Milwaukee Parkside School for Darling Cetaceans Association of REALTORS Euclid Beach Adopt-a-Beach™ Upper Peninsula, and he was an avid Kaplan University the Arts King College Prep High School Delta College Biology Club Straight from the Lake Team lake and saltwater boater. He and Mussels Lake Bluff Park District Delta Sigma Phi & Friends Taylor’ed Tunes Group EY Connect Day Nemschoff Chairs his wife, Clarissa, kept a sailboat on Lake Forest Open Lands Detroit Zoo Team Deegan Gates Mills Environmental Power Family Association Douglass Academy for Young Team General Electric Education Center Lake Michigan for about 40 years, Red Apple School STEAM Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church Men Team Sault Schools Girl Scouts of North East Ohio Schlitz Audubon Nature Center taking it out nearly every weekend Louis J. Agassiz Elementary Drummond Island Lions Club The Green Hearts Glenville High School Loyola Dunes Restoration - Ann Dyer-Anderson The Nature Conservancy - Greater Cleveland Aquarium Sheboygan River Basin and cruising together several weeks Whelan E.B. Holman Elementary and Marquette Hathaway Brown School - Class Partnership and Camp Y-Koda each summer. The Chandlers and Southeastern Wisconsin Loyola University Chicago Middle School The Times Herald of 2017 their sailboat often took part in the • Ecology Class Emerald Elementary The UP Crew Hawken School Watersheds Trust, Inc. (Sweetwater) • Graduate Student Advisory Eslick Family The Van Buren Ultimate Beach IMG Federation’s annual Sunset Sail. Lloyd DeGrane Council Faith Lutheran School Combers John Adams High School - Potter Stormwater Solutions The lakes and the Alliance will miss Marie Murphy Roots and Shoots Ferris State University - Biology Thunder Bay Jr. High Team 6A Environmental Engineering, LLC Club Students Tuesday Night Golden Girls John Carroll University The Monfils him deeply. Fifth Third Bank URS - DBU MI Beach Environmental Issues Group The Prairie School Middle Brow Beer Co. Robert Flesvig Remediators John F. Kennedy High School Union Grove High School MonDog FLOW (For Love of Water) Washington Middle School Keep Mentor Beautiful United Natural Foods Inc. Racine National Teachers Academy Forest Hills Central High School Watershed Center of Grand Keepin’ It Fresh UW-Milwaukee Northeastern Illinois University Environmental Club Traverse Bay Lake Ridge Academy • Atwater Squad Oak Park-River Forest Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools - Jill Webb Lakewood High School • Conservation Club We’re in awe of all you do Community Foundation - 6th Grade Whitehall Middle School 7th Laurel School - 2nd Grade • Conservation & n September we asked volunteers at great Great Lakes city. engaging family, friends and neighbors along the way. Future Philanthropists Fremont Middle School graders Luis Munoz Marin Middle School Environmental Sciences our largest annual Adopt-a-Beach™ Lynn Habermehl and Steven Lauricella, coworkers in Twenty-five years of volunteer action has left the Friends of Jean Klock Park Al Whitfield Magee Marsh Nature Preserve Open Water On Lee (OWOL) • Conservation & event to tell us why they love the HSBC’s upstate New York office, trek to Lake Ontario Great Lakes cleaner and created decades of data that Park District of Highland Park Friends of the Sleeping Bear Yanfeng Automotive Interiors Fiat Mayor Frank G. Jackson 2015 Environmental Sciences and Peck School Dunes Beach Patrol Chrysler Automobiles Business Summer Youth Employment Geosciences Service Learning Great Lakes. I was pleased to hear for regular beach cleanups. Their work is part of a is now driving big changes. Most importantly, those Unit Phi Chi Theta • Boekeloo Road Program • Conservation & I • County Road 651 Good ZQuest School Nations Lending Corporation answers as varied as the people who major effort by the Alliance and the bank to enable its years were filled with the passions and ideas of tens Reavis High School Environmental Science Harbor Bay Loans Patricia Reese Program & Ecotone student commit to this critical work. employees to become community leaders on water of thousands who took a critical personal step toward • County Road 669 Good MINNESOTA Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab group Reflections on gorgeous views, family issues, while putting in hands-on time as Great Lakes protecting the lakes. Joshua Sainer Harbor Bay City of Grand Marais School • Panthers SARAHPOTEMPA, INC. • Elberta Village Beach and Duluth Coca-Cola Ohio Sea Grant gatherings and water for swimming stewards. For those of you who’ve been with us for years • Student Water Council Barbara Schmidt-Bailey Bluffs Duluth Mentor Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Thank you, Aveda UW-Superior echoed from the thousands who chose to spend a day In the wake of Toledo’s toxic algae drinking-water and decades –— thank you. If you’ve just joined us, Shedd Aquarium: Listen to Your • Empire Bluffs Fern Ave Livin Our Lady of the Lake University School of Milwaukee Lakes • Esch Road Beach Harbor City International School Rhodes High School Once again Aveda staff and salons protecting the lakes. I’m thankful for every person, and crisis, educator Laura Schetter strives to connect the welcome! Our programs are growing and changing US Bank Green Team Sierra Club Chicago Group • Glen Arbor/Manitou Kappa Psi Delta Psi Pharmacy Rock and Roll Hall of Fame around the region have gone above and I’m especially happy to share a few of their stories. importance of healthy Great Lakes to youth who bore and we need your help. Walden III Middle School Solberg Family Boulevard Beach Fraternity Green Team Babbette Gowda and Stephen Love, for example, the brunt of the crisis. By banding together, we become a force greater Spa Bleu • Glen Haven Beach Marketing Analytics Club Saint Joseph Academy Washburn High School Ecology beyond to raise funds for the Alliance Team Public Communications Inc. • Lane Road between Sunset Minnesota Department of Health Bloomfighters Club for the Great Lakes as part of Earth forged partnerships in Cleveland that have brought I’m always awed by volunteers who have made the than what any of us could accomplish alone. Team Ted Glasoe Shores and Pyramid Point Beach Team Team Bank of America Washburn Public School Month. We are so grateful for your communities together to revitalize two tarnished Great Lakes a life’s work. Al Whitfield and Cynthia Price Thank you for sharing your successes. The Honeycomb Project • North Bar Lake Beach Minnesota Sea Grant and Tri-C Biology Club Washington Island School Bucks The K-Z Team • North Manitou Island - American Fisheries Society UT Lake Erie Center Wedgewood Park IB Middle support and dedication to protecting lakefront parks. Once places of neglect, the parks are have been doing their part every year since the start of Truman College South Shore Northwoods Woman in Science Water & Wildlife Training for School the lakes! becoming centerpieces of Cleveland’s leadership as a our Adopt-a-Beach™ Program — now 25 years old — Joel Brammeier, President and CEO Truman College-DePaul • Peterson Road Beach Temple Israel Educators - Stone Laboratory Whitefish Bay Middle School University Bridge • Platte River Point The Sahl’s Wells Fargo Green Team

BOARD OF DIRECTORS STAFF

Executive Committee Joel Brammeier, President & CEO Angela Larsen, Who We Are Lori Colman, Chair Todd Brennan, Community Resilience Manager The Alliance for the Great Lakes is the largest Rachel Schneider, Vice Chair for Development Watershed Project Manager, Katharine Larson, Sanjiv Sinha, Ph.D., Vice Chair — Policy Wisconsin Education Manager organization dedicated solely to protecting and Paul Botts, Secretary Ethan Brown, Resilience Coordinator Khalil Ligon, Southeast Michigan TOP 10 LITTER ITEMS restoring the Great Lakes. We work hand in hand Frank Washelesky, Treasurer Jennifer Caddick, Engagement Outreach Coordinator LITTER: BY THE NUMBERS CHICAGO Susan MiHalo, Chair — Nominations Director Olga Lyandres, Research Manager COMPOSITION with tens of thousands of volunteers, advocates 150 N. Michigan Ave. 1. Cigarettes - 57,062 Joy Mulinex, Ex officio Susan Campbell, Bettina Marshall, 2015 REGIONAL DATA and supporters around the region to pursue

Suite 700 Joel Brammeier, President & CEO Communications Manager Office Manager, Chicago 2. Plastic pieces - 30,536 Requested Service Return Chicago, IL 60601 Jamie Cross, Danika Miller, Executive Assistant protective policies, advance on-the-ground action 312-939-0838

Adopt-a-Beach™ Manager Sarah Neville, BY MATERIAL 3. Glass pieces - 20,101 and educate our communities.

Fax 312-939-2708 William Jefferson Black Jeffrey Reutter Crystal Davis, Policy Director, Stewardship Coordinator 60601 IL Chicago,

[email protected] Stephen Brewster Joan Rothenberg Cleveland Ruth Perret-Goluboff, 85% PLASTIC 4. Foam pieces - 15,913

Paul Culhane Laura Rubin Nate Drag, Watershed Project Community Coordinator 700 Suite Ave., Michigan N. 150 Buffalo • Cleveland • Detroit 15% OTHER MATERIALS 5. Food wrappers - 15,783 2125 NO. PERMIT Thomas Denbow Joyce Solberg Coordinator, New York Mary Grace Sartoris, www.greatlakes.org

Grand Haven • Milwaukee Kathryn Bryk Friedman Frank Washelesky Molly Flanagan, Vice President, Development Coordinator 6. Plastic bottle caps - 15,150 IL Chicago,

Buzz Patterson Lee Botts, emeritus Policy Stephanie Smith, BY TYPE www.greatlakes.org Jeff Pearsall Henry T. Chandler, emeritus Judy Freed, Marketing Strategist Vice President of Operations 7. Straws / stirrers - 8,498 PAID

takeaction.greatlakes.org David Pippen James Griffith, emeritus Rebecca LaGesse, Lyman Welch, 37,583 33% TINY TRASH

Database Manager Legal Director 8. Metal bottle caps - 8,061 POSTAGE U.S. 29% FOOD-RELATED Nonprofit Pounds of trash collected 9. Plastic bottles - 5,576 28% SMOKING This newsletter is printed with soy inks on processed chlorine-free paper comprising 100% post-consumer waste content. No recycled fibers have been rebleached with chlorine-containing compounds, and any virgin fibers are totally chlorine-free. 10. Beverage cans - 4,459 10% OTHER How you love the Great Lakes . . . Great Lakes curriculum a Global company invests big in Great Lakes Not only are HSBC employees “natural fit” rolling up their sleeves and volunteering their time to Al Whitfield for learning clean Great Lakes beaches, Volunteer Al Whitfield thought About 1,500 students in the they’re becoming freshwater his first beach cleanup would Evanston/Skokie School District 65 ambassadors in their hometowns. be “a one-time deal.” are getting up close and personal And that’s had a big impact on with science these days, using the Great Lakes. the Great Lakes as their local Lynn Habermehl and Steven Sharing an laboratory. Lauricella, coworkers in the global The district just completed the banking company’s Depew office Jamie Cross second year of a collaborative pilot in upstate New York, say the ethic of care program that uses innovative ways education they’ve received as to bring Great Lakes education to Adopt-a-Beach™ team leaders Caring for a favorite Lake Ontario for 25 years third and sixth graders at all of its has been life changing. beach has become a shared 16 schools. That can look like a “When you read about areas passion for HSBC coworkers Lynn When he signed up for trip to the water reclamation plant that really don’t have fresh water Habermehl and Steven Lauricella. his first cleanup at Tiscornia for sixth graders learning how anymore, and that it’s getting Beach in St. Joseph, Mich., Al water is treated before it’s returned worse and worse, you start to world-class resource that we’re Lloyd DeGrane Whitfield had no idea he’d still to Lake Michigan, or mapping the realize it is an important issue,” so fortunate to have in our own Volunteers gather for a September Adopt-a-BeachTM cleanup at Chicago’s North Avenue Beach. be cleaning the beach 25 years surfaces of the school playground Habermehl says. backyard — and the Alliance has later. and parking lots for third graders Since 2013, the Alliance has been a great partner in making TM He attended that first event to learn the impact on Lake joined with over 500 HSBC that happen.” back in September 1991 after Michigan water quality. employees to clean 57 Great For her part, Habermehl says Adopt-a-Beach at 25: reading about it in the local “I wanted to bring in more Lakes beaches and remove more Lloyd DeGrane she’s learned a lot about the Great Advancing newspaper. “I kind of thought it of a local feel and make it more than 1,500 pounds of litter in Adopt-a-Beach™ team leaders from HSBC on a beach cleanup at Ohio Street Beach in Chicago. Lakes, water and the environment would be a one-time deal, “ he accessible to their lives, to see Chicago and western New York. along the way. recalls. Whitfield hasn’t missed that science is a real thing that’s Some employees have painted their favorite local beach on Lake “HSBC has shown what is Lakes, the Alliance joined with “Environmentally, I guess I STUDENTS SHOW PARK PRIDE a single September Adopt-a- picnic structures in western New Ontario every other month for a possible when a multinational EarthWatch — one of HSBC’s research and creative solutions Beach™ cleanup since. happening around them all the was always of the mindset that Students from Chandler Park Academy in suburban time,” says Taylor Fusinatto, York’s lakefront parks, replaced cleanup and water testing. “It’s company dedicates itself to three principal Water Programme whatever is going to happen is Detroit spent a day this spring with community Adopt-a-Beach™ turns 25 Lakes beaches comes from Whitfield remembers who teaches sixth-grade science invasive plants with native ones, just encouraging.” a critical global issue, and partners— in training 186 going to happen long after I’m partners putting the finishing touches on a multi- this year, and has a one-of–its- beachgoers. “To know where watching the volunteer at Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of and built recycling bins for spent Now in the final stretch of a understands that many solutions employees like Habermehl and gone and I don’t have to worry year shoreline restoration project on Belle Isle. It was kind data set to show for it. it’s coming from gives you the program spread from western Global Studies. “And that a lot fishing line. five-year, $100 million Water to water problems will emerge Lauricella to become EarthWatch about it,” she says. the latest in a series of habitat improvements to the Far from gathering dust, the first step to say, ‘OK. What can Michigan north and east of these issues — like invasive What started as an appealing Programme that saw $35 million from local communities of Citizen Science Leaders and “What this program really nation’s biggest urban island park, made via a three- data — collected by tens of we do?’” he says. to Lake Huron, across Lake species, water consumption and way to include community service allocated to charities managing people.” Adopt-a-Beach™ leaders. did for me was change that year partnership with the Alliance and funding from thousands of volunteers — is With cigarette butts found Michigan to Wisconsin, then on water pollution ­— are directly in their annual performance local water projects in 35 The Alliance’s Great Lakes work “HSBC is committed to thinking,” says Habermehl. “That the NOAA Marine Debris Program and Great Lakes being put to good use: It’s to comprise up to half of to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. tied to going to the beach on a reviews at HSBC has turned into countries, HSBC can point to any has received significant funding making the local communities it really is important to keep telling Restoration Initiative. The project’s aim is to improve spurring scientific research, beach litter, that seemed Along the way, he’s Saturday.” a passion for Habermehl and number of successful local “water from HSBC, and Adopt-a-Beach™ where we live and work more people about the environment fishery habitat in the Detroit River. spawning local awareness a good place to start. So, introduced his students, The Evanston district was Lauricella — dubbed the “Depew stories.” has seen its volunteer ranks swell sustainable,” says Kelly Fisher, and what they need to do to campaigns, and helping steer Hoellein and the Alliance are children and now his 9-year- approached by LakeDance, Two.” “The Great Lakes are fortunate thanks to HSBC’s firmly held head of corporate sustainability keep it clean, and thinking about national and international piloting a “voting ashtray” at old granddaughter to the which teaches about the Great “It kept our interest and we to have been part of that belief that employees perform for HSBC USA. “Our employees what are my grandchildren going marine debris strategy. Chicago’s Oak Street Beach program. As an ecology teacher Lakes watershed through the just kept going,” says Lauricella, narrative,” says Joel Brammeier, community service. To help have shown us they want to give to have to swim in, and to drink Researchers like Tim that asks smokers to use at Buchanan High School he arts, to bring the Alliance’s Great who travels with Habermehl to Alliance President and CEO. make that happen in the Great back to the Great Lakes — a when they become older.” Hoellein, assistant professor cigarette butts to vote for would give his students extra Lakes in My World curriculum to Parks’ renewal more than a beach cleanup of biology at Loyola one of two options — such credit for coming out to a district students with the help of University, and Sarah as deep-dish pizza vs. Lloyd DeGrane beach cleanup on a Saturday a grant. Evanston is one of two Two Cleveland beaches on Gowda’s and Love’s Lowe, of the Chicago-style morning. school districts around the region Lake Erie’s shoreline lay in a volunteers held cleanups at National Oceanic hotdogs. Litter at Lowe, Great Lakes regional Hoellein says the breadth “I’ve always believed it was incorporating the curriculum at the state of overgrown neglect both beaches, and other local and Atmospheric Oak Street Beach coordinator for NOAA’s Marine of work done by Adopt-a- important to take the students district-wide level. and decay just a few years ago, groups joined in. They set up Administration, will then be compared Debris Program, says the plan Beach™ volunteers could out into the environment,” he Toledo crisis a lesson in water’s global importance tales of street-corner dealing an Urban Beach Ambassadors are taking the with litter on a itself was driven largely by the never have been accomplished says. “If we get the students Andalib Khelghati, principal of Dewey Elementary School in the Trash on a remote beach in the that our drinking water comes further tarnishing their image. program to welcome people, data to the next level. Chicago beach that Alliance data, which provided by scientists alone, and has to buy into the ecological Evanston district, says the Great Arctic. A well dug deep into the from Lake Erie, and that what we Though the stories were talk with them about curbing Though NOAA’s doesn’t feature the novel a baseline for the problem and laid a strong foundation for movement . . . we’re going to Lakes curriculum was a natural earth in a small village in India. do to our lawns and our farms is more perception than reality, litter, and to walk or ride the Marine Debris Program is ashtrays to see whether even made the case for the all manner of research into build some strong stewards fit with their existing curriculum, A Lake Erie algae bloom so toxic connected to our drinking water the effect was the same, recalls park’s paths. They launched celebrating 10 years of work people respond to anti-litter action plan. solutions to the problem of to protect our lake into the which emphasizes a hands-on it shut down the drinking water source.” Babette Gowda of the group a litter awareness campaign, on ocean debris, Hoellein messages that are reinforced Adopt-a-Beach™ volunteers Great Lakes shoreline debris. future.“ approach to science. supply of a major U.S. city for That got her thinking that Drink Local. Drink Tap. Many posting signs at both beaches notes there was no similar in a fun, creative way. are having an impact beyond “They’re allowing this Now 73, Whitfield sees “Any time the teachers have nearly three days. what her students really need to stayed away. and adding bins for recycling research on freshwater debris. Now in the second year of a the region, too, adding to an work to span a huge radius, marked improvement in the an opportunity to know how What do they all share? Laura understand is that what we do Yet there’s no disputing the and cigarette butts. The Alliance data was just five-year plan to address Great international discussion about on a resource that’s really condition of Tiscornia Beach. to better engage with the Schetter, an environmental here in the Great Lakes affects beaches’ dramatically improved When the Metroparks what he and his students Lakes shoreline debris, NOAA the global problem of marine important,” he says. “We’re “I’d say we’ve turned a major environment that surrounds the educator in Northwest Ohio, not only our drinking water, but status today. ultimately took over the two needed to launch a study. and its partners are likewise debris. “They have a larger just starting to analyze the corner with our cleanup effort school in a more profound way, sees not only a drinking water all around the Both beaches, Euclid on the lakefront parks in 2013 with What they found is that the drawing on Adopt-a-Beach™ voice because of what they data. There’s still a lot we can on the lakeshore after 25 that’s a win-win for the students connection, but globe. city’s East Side and Edgewater Adam Stoltman substantially more resources, majority of litter on Great data to help find solutions. do,” says Lowe. learn from it.” years.” because their eyes open to what’s also a way to “Water knows no boundaries,” on the West Side, are cleaned Stephen Love (far right) says Adopt-a-Beach™ was a Gowda says it expanded the happening around them,” he says. teach students she says. “It connects everywhere up, policed and popular springboard for cleaning up and reconnecting Euclid Beach number of recycling bins, In addition to visiting the about how the in the world.” destinations for concerts and with the community. added trash bins, brought in treatment plant, Fusinatto says Great Lakes Schetter in November launched sunbathing. rangers to patrol, installed her sixth graders gathered and intersect with H2yOu (www.h2youproject.com), The story of their comeback Beach — began taking matters Ohio in 2009, Love assembled native plantings and improved recorded litter data and performed the waters of the Schetter a website hosting water stories shows what happens when into their own hands. a team of volunteers to clean bathrooms and picnic areas. From beach to boardroom, volunteer inspires others water quality tests during an world. from around the world as part local volunteers join to reclaim “It was really just people up Euclid Beach. It would be a Mechanical beachcombers Cynthia Price is not only and, soon after, she was invited many cigarettes we found,” volunteers used Adopt-a- Adopt-a-Beach™ cleanup. That Schetter’s recent visits to an arid of a project designed to inspire their shoreline, working in feeling it wasn’t safe,” she springboard to bigger things were brought in to remove one of the rare few who have to her first cleanup. she says. “At the time, it was Beach™ data in convincing information was shared with the village in India that slakes its thirst conservation and raise awareness part with the Alliance for the recalls. “So people in our for the park. larger pieces of litter. been with Adopt-a-Beach™ Price would go on to co- thousands and thousands Chicago to ban smoking at all larger community when students from a single, closely guarded about the geographic and human Great Lakes and aided by a group and Stephen’s group “I saw an urban park that A first-ever concert series since the beginning, she’s also establish a Federation chapter each September. It was just city beaches. “We just felt we created and presented a poster at well, and to a remote, uninhabited connectedness of water. willing partner in the Cleveland were working with the state was very neglected and, hosted by the Metroparks at someone who inspired other in Muskegon, and continue to horrible.” were leveraging what we’d a local festival. Arctic shore littered with trash The first story is about an Adopt- Metroparks, a regional park to try to get people to come frankly, an opportunity to really Edgewater and Euclid parks in volunteers to reach beyond the volunteer for and lead Adopt- Working with the Alliance, learned in cleanups,” Price “Middle school is a perfect age from far-flung places, both offered a-Beach™ cleanup at Lake Erie’s system that is an independent down and recognize it isn’t raise awareness,” he says. “It 2014 drew more than 100,000 beach. a-Beach™ cleanups over the they convinced city leaders says. where they really want to make sobering lessons about how water Laura Schetter Maumee Bay State Park, posted political force in Ohio. scary.” slowly became much more people, evidence that people Price first volunteered with next 25 years. to designate a portion of the Their efforts made a a difference and see that what intersects all our lives. Students at Wildwood Environmental Academy in Maumee, Ohio, learned that Great Lakes water intersects by fifth graders from Wildwood Gowda said the Metroparks Love had a personal than an Adopt-a-Beach™ are flocking back to the water’s the Alliance’s predecessor — In 2007, she and a handful beach smoke-free. Their action difference. Price has seen they’re doing is meaningful,” But there was an equally with water around the world. Environmental Academy of had been discussing taking connection to Euclid Beach; his cleanup. It became more edge now in large numbers. the Lake Michigan Federation of fellow volunteers made inspired Adopt-a-Beach™ a decrease in the number Fusinatto says. “By tying in these sobering lesson at home when, in Maumee, Ohio. The connection is over the beaches for several grandmother had grown up about using that as a platform “I don’t believe it was our — back in 1991. It was a time headlines in calling for a volunteers in neighboring of cigarette butts at Pere Great Lakes lessons, they can see August 2014, a toxic algae bloom Schetter saw in her students a water would solve the city’s water Teacher Fellow of National already there. years when Drink Local. Drink near it and years later, often to raise the profile of that group per se, just more people of “jobs vs. the environment,” smoke-free designation at Ottawa County, who worked Marquette Beach. “We still what’s happening in their actual in Lake Erie shut down the Toledo serious disconnect with what was woes. Geographic/Lindblad Expeditions. “I feel like I’m saving the whole Tap. at Edgewater Beach, and brought Love there when he particular beach and park, and recognizing the benefits and and that year, she organized Pere Marquette Beach, their with officials there to designate find tons of them, but it’s not communities and how they can metro area’s drinking water supply behind the water crisis when some “And not just my students,” says “Adults in my own hometown world from pollution!” says Stephen Love — an Adopt-a- was a boy. When the Alliance reconnecting the community the quality of these parks,” a rally to raise awareness. The adopted beach in Muskegon. smoke-free beaches at six as many as it was,” she says. “I help other communities.” for 2½ days. suggested that buying bottled Schetter, named a 2015 Grosvenor weren’t making the connection student Te’Lir. Beach™ team leader at Euclid launched Adopt-a-Beach™ in to the lake.” says Gowda. Justin Price rally drew about 100 people “People were appalled by how county beaches. Soon after, think people are more aware.”