Living Lands and Waters
73,374 tires, 981 refrigerators and 1,501 propane tanks, among a countless list of other trash items were found dumped into the Mississippi and its tributaries. These items were collected by Chad Pregracke, and his non-profit organization called Living Lands and Waters (livinglandsandwaters.org, 2015). This organization is dedicated to restore America’s once pristine rivers and waterways. This organization deserves support for not only restoring the rivers for recreation use and drinking water but to restore a once vibrant eco-system, while creating a stronger community through education and volunteering.
Chad Pregracke was born in East Moline, Illinois on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi. Chad spent a lot of time on the river; he was a commercial shell diver, fisherman and barge hand, during those excursions is when he realized how polluted the river actually was. Chad explains why the need to pick up trash is so important, “All that trash is even more appalling, Pregracke says, when you realize 18 million people drink Mississippi River water. Garbage thrown in a storm drain in Minnesota can make its way into the river and travel all the way out to the Gulf of Mexico” (as cited Living Lands …show more content…
CNN writer Kyle Almond (2013) writes how Pregracke, “the river’s garbage man” won the CNN 2013 Hero of the Year award. Over a five-week voting period by the viewers, ten hero nominees were spotlighted. Pregracke was voted the hero of the year, and this is what he had to say, “I 've met so many great people today, the other Heroes, and I 'm really moved by all their stories and all the things they do around the world. ... I 'm going to give 10 grand to each of them, because they 're awesome” (as cited Almond, K 2013). The Hero of the year receives 250,000 dollars to help fund their non-profit organization, and he gladly gave away 100,000 dollars because he thinks they were worth
73,374 tires, 981 refrigerators and 1,501 propane tanks, among a countless list of other trash items were found dumped into the Mississippi and its tributaries. These items were collected by Chad Pregracke, and his non-profit organization called Living Lands and Waters (livinglandsandwaters.org, 2015). This organization is dedicated to restore America’s once pristine rivers and waterways. This organization deserves support for not only restoring the rivers for recreation use and drinking water but to restore a once vibrant eco-system, while creating a stronger community through education and volunteering.
Chad Pregracke was born in East Moline, Illinois on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi. Chad spent a lot of time on the river; he was a commercial shell diver, fisherman and barge hand, during those excursions is when he realized how polluted the river actually was. Chad explains why the need to pick up trash is so important, “All that trash is even more appalling, Pregracke says, when you realize 18 million people drink Mississippi River water. Garbage thrown in a storm drain in Minnesota can make its way into the river and travel all the way out to the Gulf of Mexico” (as cited Living Lands …show more content…
CNN writer Kyle Almond (2013) writes how Pregracke, “the river’s garbage man” won the CNN 2013 Hero of the Year award. Over a five-week voting period by the viewers, ten hero nominees were spotlighted. Pregracke was voted the hero of the year, and this is what he had to say, “I 've met so many great people today, the other Heroes, and I 'm really moved by all their stories and all the things they do around the world. ... I 'm going to give 10 grand to each of them, because they 're awesome” (as cited Almond, K 2013). The Hero of the year receives 250,000 dollars to help fund their non-profit organization, and he gladly gave away 100,000 dollars because he thinks they were worth