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Save The River! Thousand Islands - Clayton NY on the St. Lawrence River

Save The River! is a non-profit, member-based environmental organization whose mission is to preserve and protect the ecological integrity of the Upper St. Lawrence River through advocacy, education and research.

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From The Riverkeeper:

Fifty years ago Earth Day was a call to action by environmental activists who were so alarmed at the pollution of the environment that they knew an awakening of awareness about the situation had to start with demonstrations. People gathered at colleges, town and city squares, in capitals – and a movement was born.

My personal awakening to the pollution that was crippling the environment started with a mid 1960’s reading of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. Letter writing and lobbying for passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 was another key moment for me in the environmental movement. It’s hard to believe that was also almost 50 years ago.

As the world struggles to pull through the current Covid19 health and economic crisis, we should not lose sight of the gains we have made against pollution over the past five decades. We need to remain vigilant against political maneuvers to roll back significant environmental regulation – and take action when we see that happen.

Save The River is continuing to inform legislators when we learn or hear of rollbacks in important environmental legislation that affects the water quality of the River and Great Lakes. Your support of our mission to restore, preserve and protect the Upper St. Lawrence River now and for generations to come through advocacy, education and research is critical. Please consider renewing your membership now.

View NYS Earth Day Letter to Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Heastie

Thank you for your many years of support of Save The River – and The River.

Keep Our Waterways Clean

Your individual actions can make a difference. Even with social distancing, we can still unite—over social media, text, video chat—to work for a healthier planet.
One area where you can take action: Plastic pollution.
  • Pledge to reduce your own plastic consumption.
  • Clean up your home and property and recycle plastic waste.
  • Ask your Members of Congress to support new legislation that will address many critical issues related to plastic pollution.
  • Calculate your personal plastic consumption.
Once you’ve taken one—or more—of these actions, share it on social media using #EarthDay2020. Don’t forget to tag Save The River in your pic!

Earth Day at 50: Local environmental groups eye goals to continue progress

See how local organizations are celebrating Earth Day’s 50 year history with this feature from the Watertown Daily Times.
“Fifty years ago, on the first Earth Day celebration, which the New York Times dubbed “an interlude of national contemplation of problems and man’s deteriorating environment,” this paper took note of some of the hot spots of pollution around the area….
Northern New York is blessed with a bounty of fresh water, from a Great Lake to the smallest of the Indian Lakes. Two years after the first Earth Day, the Clean Water Act was passed. The act regulates the discharge of pollutants into the nation’s surface waters, including lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and coastal areas.
‘The Clean Water Act was huge,’ said John Peach, executive director of Save the River. “I think it was the most important act that was ever passed as far as our waters, lakes and rivers go.'”

 

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day, more than 30 students from Indian River Central School in Philadelphia rode their bicycles to Jefferson Community College and presented a plaque to John A. Cecil, assistant professor of geology and chairman of the Committee on Environmental Problems.
Photo Credit: Watertown Daily Times