Relevant News About the Great Lakes + Plastic Pollution

Three Waters Foundation Executive Director and founder Scott Parent is the recipient of the 2024 Trebek Initiative in support of his upcoming film about aquatic birds and plastic pollution. The National Geographic Society and The Royal Canadian Geographical Society launched this grant-making partnership for storytellers, researchers, conservationists and educators in 2021, reinvigorating their long-standing collaborative efforts. 

Two years ago, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) decided on a mandate to create the world’s first Plastics Treaty, a legally binding international law aimed at reducing plastic pollution worldwide, and covering the full life-cycle of plastic. Plastic is a growing crisis with devastating impact on the environment, human health, human rights, environmental justice, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, biodiversity, and climate. 

The Great Lakes Plastic Cleaup is a first-of-its-kind initiative using innovative technology to quickly remove plastics at marinas from Lake Ontario to Lake Superior and everywhere in between. Recently, plastic-collecting sea bins were installed at additional Georgian Bay marinas.

A new study in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences has found plastic is making its way into double-crested cormorants in the Great Lakes.