© BIGSTOCKPHOTO / VITALHUMAN
HOW TO OBSERVE GREAT LAKES AWARENESS DAY The Anishinabek Nation celebrates Great Lakes Day on April 22.
© ARIANA KAMINSKI UNSPLASH
Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie. Together, these Great Lakes comprise the largest body of freshwater, making up more than 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater supply, and stretch 1,200 kilometres from east to west, bringing drinking water to approximately 40 million people and providing a home to over 4,000 species of plants and wildlife.
© ISTOCKPHOTO/RANKRAMSPOTT
PLAN A LAKESIDE ADVENTURE WITH YOUR FAMILY OR SOCIAL BUBBLE!
Celebrate the beauty of the Great Lakes with a safe stroll along the water’s edge. The Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner, Autumn Peltier, reminds us that water is the Lifeblood of Mother Earth. “Our first water teaching comes from within our own mother. We literally live in water for nine months, floating in that sacred water that gives us life. We can’t live in our mother’s womb without water. As a fetus, we need that sacred water for development. The sacred significance is that my mother comes from her mother’s water, my grandmother comes from her mother’s water, and my great grandmother comes from her mother’s water.
Flowing within us is original water, Lifeblood of Mother Earth, that sustains us as we come from this land. Mother Earth’s power is in the Lifeblood of Mother Earth, which is our water. Mother Earth has the power to destroy us all, and if we keep harming her, one day she may decide to destroy everything.” LEARN ABOUT ISSUES THE GREAT LAKES FACE, AND FIND WAYS TO GET INVOLVED AND PROTECT THE LAKES.
There is a current threat to our precious freshwater being posed by the Line 5 oil pipeline running through the Straits of Mackinac that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Officials have said that properly maintained pipelines can last indefinitely, but the industry’s history of major spills in Michigan and across North America proves otherwise. Today, much of the oil flowing through the Line 5 pipelines (90 to 95 per cent of it) is coming from Canada and taking a shortcut through Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac before crossing back into Canada near Port Huron. Line 5 has spilled 33 times and at least 1.1 million gallons along its length since 1968. SAVING THE GREAT LAKES IS NOT A ONE-PERSON JOB. JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO SAVE THE GREAT LAKES!
TO LEARN MORE VISIT OILANDWATERDONTMIX.ORG 16
