FairPlanet.Support
| tags: | #clean water, #Great Lakes, #USA, #NGO, #advocacy |
|---|---|
| located: | USA |
| by: | Yair Oded |
The battle to preserve clean bodies of water across the United States is a long and difficult one. The administration's recent roll-back of Obama era protections for clean water sources places both nature and humans under grave risks.
Among those under immediate threat of losing access to clean water are residents of Great Lakes states, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is a nonprofit organisation working to achieve a sustainable Great Lakes restoration plan and secure the required federal funds to finance it.
The organisation endeavors to ensure that people and communities surrounding the Great Lakes will have access to clean water and lead healthy lives free of pollution, while focusing on communities that have thus far been excluded and discriminated against, such as people of color and low income individuals and families.
The organisation maintains a vibrant presence in Washington, DC, as it engages in education and advocacy efforts, pressuring lawmakers and politicians to support their cause of restoring and protecting the clean water of the Great Lakes (which provide drinking water to over 30 million people in the U.S.).
Just this week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to increase funding to the protection and restoration efforts in the Great Lakes - a move that has been advocated for by Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.
The organisation also maintains a presence in each of the Great Lakes states, organising communities and mobilising advocacy efforts with the aim of educating and encouraging state leaders to do all they can to protect the Great Lakes.
Commenting on the administration’s clean water repeal, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition director Laura Rubin stated, “We strongly oppose the Trump Administration’s attempt to weaken clean water protections…With many of our cities and towns living with unsafe drinking water, now is not the time to cut back on clean water enforcement. We need more – not less – protection for clean water. The federal government needs to step up its efforts to protect our drinking water, not scale back the rules for polluters. This move undermines efforts to restore the Great Lakes, threatens our drinking water, jeopardizes our public health, harms our outdoor recreation economy, and diminishes our quality of life.”
Please visit their website to learn about upcoming events and ways in which you could support Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition in your state.
Image: Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.
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