Earth Day with Living Lands & Waters

Celebrate Earth Day with Living Lands & Waters (LL&W) by volunteering to help cleanup one of the greatest natural resources in our nation--the Ohio River. LL&W, the world’s only “industrial strength” river cleanup operation has been working in the Louisville Metro area since the beginning of March. In that time, they have filled two barges with an estimated 200,000 pounds of garbage including 61 refrigerators, 3,000 tires, a dozen water heaters and tons more—all collected within a 15-mile stretch of the Ohio River, near downtown.

Original plans for LL&W were to leave Louisville and head to New Orleans for the months of April and May. But the heavy rains are causing high water levels down south, making it unsafe and necessary for LL&W to switch gears, ultimately deciding to stay on the Ohio River near Louisville till the end of April because there is a lot of work that needs to be done here.

Volunteers of all ages are needed to assist with the cleanup efforts, occurring both in the evenings and on weekends. Dates and times are as follows:

Tuesday, April 15th, 5:00pm-7:30pm
Thursday, April 17th, 5:00pm-7:30pm
Saturday, April 19th, 9:00am-1:00pm
Tuesday, April 22nd, 5:00pm-7:30pm
Thursday, April 24th, 5:00pm -7:30pm
Saturday, April 26th, 9:00am -1:00pm

Interested in volunteering? Please contact Tammy Becker, Project Coordinator at 309.236.0725 or at tammy@livinglandsandwaters.org for more information as meeting sites may vary.

This year, 2008, has marked the third consecutive year that LL&W has worked in the Louisville area. In March, LL&W spearheaded the XStream Cleanup and an Alternative Spring Break program for over 65 college students from New York, Illinois, Maine, Japan, France, and Costa Rica. LL&W’s efforts are sponsored by the Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District, American Commercial Lines, and Anheuser-Busch Companies.

ABOUT LIVING LANDS & WATERS: Living Lands & Waters, a non-profit organization based in East Moline, Illinois, is dedicated to the beautification and restoration of America’s major rivers and to educating people about environmental issues. LL&W was founded by 33 year-old Chad Pregracke, East Moline, IL, in 1997. Since then, Pregracke, his crew and thousands of volunteers have removed an estimated four million pounds of garbage from the shorelines of the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, Potomac, Missouri and Anacostia Rivers. He and his crew of 6 live on a barge and travel around the nation’s rivers nine to ten months of the year. For more information about LL&W, please visit their website at: www.livinglandsandwaters.org