Gord Downie is a singer, songwriter, and trustee of the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper (LOW). Gord’s partnership with LOW, which helped put a halt to the actions of a polluting cement company, underscores the importance of preserving and conserving our limited freshwater resources. Nearly 70% of the world’s freshwater is locked in ice, and most of the rest is in aquifers that we are draining much more quickly than the natural recharge rate. Water scarcity affects one in three people on every continent of the globe. Gord is helping to protect water in his community. Take action now to protect your water.

"I have a vision of the lake where the water is clean enough to swim in, pure enough to quench your thirst and safe enough, wild enough, to toss in a line and pull out a fish to feed your family." – Mark Mattson, LOW President

Take Action

1. Sharing Responsibility / Water Protection

• Organize a group of friends for a Shoreline Clean Up this September, to help keep our waterways clean and healthy for drinking and fishing.
• Coordinate a Think Outside the Bottle campaign in your local community to challenge corporate control of our water.
• Host a party, ask each guest for $20, and donate to Charity:Water to minimize the impacts of water scarcity in developing countries.
• Establish a Water Watch Committee with Blue Communities, as a first line of defence against water privatization.
• Participate in decisions on your communities’ water. If you live in Ontario, take part in Source Water Protection committees.

2. Social Media

• Follow Lake Ontario Waterkeeper on Twitter
• Become a Lake Ontario Waterkeeper fan on Facebook
• Twitter Contest Alert: We want to hear your most creative Water Conservation Measures! The tweet with the most creative tactics, as judged by our Green Heroes team, wins 1 of 5 memberships to LOW’s Swim, Drink, Fish Club. Be sure to include @greenheroestv in the body of your tweet! Contest closes on August 18, 2011.

3. Sign on

• Pledge to put down the bottle and drink tap water from our healthy waterways.
• Ask Prime Minister Harper for a National Water Policy.
• Donate to LOW before October 15, 2010, and the Jack Johnson Ohana Foundation will match your contribution.

4. Spread the word

• Tell 10 friends that all over the world, 1 billion people lack access to safe water. In North America, tap water is clean and drinkable, and costs 2,000-3,000x less than what is sold back to us in bottles.

• Share Gord Downie’s webisode using our neat Sharelizer. You can share GreenHeroes.tv videos on your blog or website by simply following the directions on our site.

Remember – in the battle to save the planet, responsibility is key. Show us how you conserve water through video and photos by entering our contest, and you’ll be eligible to win a prize! Contest details and more information can be found here.