Turn off accessible linear format and redisplay the web page in it's original layout. What Can You Do To Help?
The choices we make every day affect the quality of our environment. These are decisions about where and how we build homes, factories, and offices, our transportation, the products we buy, and how we use and dispose of them. Our decisions affect air and water quality and the state of fish and wildlife. Making the right choices will lead to cleaner waters and a healthier Great Lakes ecosystem. Wise choices will reduce the risk of contaminating our drinking water and polluting the waters off our beaches, and will result in more fish that are safe to eat.
To make wise choices, we need to be well informed about our environmental impacts and the options we have to live more sustainably. As individuals, we can reduce our use of toxic substances, buy environmentally friendly products, and use them responsibly. We can also choose to dispose of them safely. We can tell elected officials what kind of environment we want to live in. Collectively, we can become involved in community programs, including those to protect the environment and clean up past damage. All of us have a role to play in keeping the Great Lakes great. The following sections contain some suggestions about what you can do to help.
AT HOME AND PLAY
Keep hazardous materials out of the water
Sometimes we pour wastes such as old paints and pesticides into our drains. Sewage treatment systems were designed to deal with human waste, not to remove toxic chemicals. They can pass through the sewage plant and into our rivers and lakes. If a product carries a hazard warning, you should not dispose of it in drains or sewers. Pesticides, fertilizers, household chemicals, and runoff from washing a car can drain directly into waterways or reach them through storm drains. These materials can harm wildlife and pollute our sources of drinking water.
• Seek out products that have and are produced in ways that have a low impact on the environment. Choose less toxic or non-toxic substitutes whenever possible.
• Take advantage of programs that dispose properly of mercury thermometers.
• Use safe disposal methods for your hazardous wastes, such as insect and weed killers, paints, solvents, used motor oil, and other auto fluids. Do not pour them into sinks, toilets, storm sewers, or drains or dump them on the ground. Take them to local household hazardous waste centers for disposal. If your community does not have such a center, ask your local government to establish one. Take used motor oil to a service station for recycling.
• Do not flush old medicines down the drain. Take them to a pharmacy for safe disposal.
• Keep litter, pet waste, leaves, and debris out of street gutters and storm drains. Pet waste can be disposed of with human waste. Avoid hosing dirt into storm sewers because it can reduce flow in them and be carried into lakes and rivers. Sweep walks instead of washing them down with water.
• Clean up spilled brake fluid, oil, grease, and antifreeze. Do not hose these materials into the street where they can drain into streams and lakes. 
• Use low-phosphate or phosphate-free detergents.
• Apply pesticides such as insecticides and herbicides carefully if you must use them. When using pesticides in or around your home, purchase only the amount needed and follow the instructions on the package carefully. Whenever possible, use natural pest-control methods rather than chemical pesticides. Reduce runoff by maintaining ample grass cover and shrubs.
• Control soil erosion by planting ground cover and stabilizing erosion-prone areas.
• Disconnect your downspouts (check municipal bylaws and instructions first) and direct rainwater into a barrel or onto your lawn or garden, not onto the pavement.
• Use separate stones and porous materials instead of concrete for walkways, driveways, and patios so that water will seep into the ground rather than draining into the sewer systems.
• If you wash your car at home, try to avoid allowing detergents to run into the storm sewers.
• Support service businesses that use environmentally friendly processes, such as car washes that treat or recycle their wastewater and dry cleaners that are using new “green” processes.
• Check septic systems every three years, and pump out tanks before they overflow.
• If you are a boater, ensure that you have waste holding tanks, go to pump-out stations regularly, and never discharge untreated wastewater overboard.
• Do not use burn barrels or burn refuse in your backyard, as doing so can release a number of air pollutants that may enter our water.
Help stop invasive species
We can avoid introducing non-native species and help control their spread, particularly to inland lakes and rivers. Many species are tiny and can cling to boats and trailers or ride in water carried in boats and motors.
• Learn how to identify non-native species, and take steps to eliminate them by hosing down your boat on land and cleaning your equipment away from open water.
• Do not dump bait species into areas where they are not native.
• Do not release non-native aquarium fish or plants into the Great Lakes or their tributaries.
Conserve water
Each of us uses about 340 liters (90 gallons) of water a day indoors. We flush 30 percent down the toilet and use another 35 percent for showers and baths. Demand goes up in the summer when half to three-quarters of municipally treated water is sprayed onto lawns. Reducing the amount of water that has to be treated, and thereby the amount of equipment needed to purify and deliver it, can save money and energy.
• Turn off taps, showers, and hoses when you do not need running water.
• Fix leaky taps or toilets.
• Install low-flush toilets.
• Install low-flow or attach flow-reducing mechanisms to faucets and showerheads. Take short showers instead of baths.
• Run washing machines and dishwashers only when full, and conserve energy too by using the coolest cycle that will do the job.
• Reduce lawn watering to a minimum. Plant native grasses and flowers that are adapted to the local climate and need less water than non-native species. Native species are also more resistant to local pests.
• Do not use a hose to sweep sidewalks, patios, and driveways.
AT WORK
You can carry many of the ideas for action at home right into the workplace. Most companies can reduce demands for energy and materials, both saving money and reducing wastes. Here are some other actions you can take:
• Handle, use, and dispose of hazardous materials safely, following guidelines from governments and industry associations. Clean up any chemical and oil spills immediately and dispose of hazardous materials safely.
• Encourage your company to adopt a green purchasing policy that favors clean and efficient equipment and processes.
• Check your company’s recycling policy to see if it can be improved. • Reduce polluted runoff. On construction sites, cover dirt to reduce erosion. On farms, keep livestock away from stream banks by providing animals with a water source away from waterways. Do not store or apply manure near water bodies
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Conserve and protect habitat
• Encourage plant growth along shorelines and riverbanks to reduce erosion.
• Avoid dredging or filling wetlands.
• Participate in and support conservation organizations involved in protecting aquatic and wildlife habitat.
Enjoy and respect the resource
• Encourage your children to enjoy and respect clean water, wild places, and wild creatures. Set an example for your children by taking personal responsibility to leave the Great Lakes just a little bit better than you found them when you were a child.
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The following websites provide more information about what you can do to help: What You Can Do Environment Canada U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
