Put your love of the environment into action
Eco-volunteer to help keep your corner of Ontario's Great Lakes clean.
Want to see healthy, resilient Great Lakes? You can make a difference by getting involved with a community group working to protect the Lakes.
The Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund is supporting not-for-profit community groups and organizations that are taking action to protect and restore their corner of the Great Lakes. Grants are available for projects that take place in Ontario within the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. This includes: Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, the St. Lawrence River, the Ottawa River, and the rivers that flow into them.
The Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund will be offer modest grants of up to a maximum of $25,000 to grassroots community groups. Applications are available now here. The deadline for the first round of funding is Friday, October 12, 2012. A total of $1.5 million a year is available.
Examples of eligible projects include:
- restoring shoreline and cleaning beaches
- helping to promote and develop coastal and riverside trails, and participating in protecting and restoring wetlands; and
- raising awareness or promoting individual stewardship practices, such as restoring or protecting habitat
Here are some other great ideas for eco-volunteering:
Planting and gardening: Volunteer to plant trees with Trees Ontario or your local conservation authority. Get involved with a local community gardening project or an organic/sustainable farm project.
Keeping local areas and habitats green: Nature or wildlife conservancies sometimes need help monitoring and reporting on conditions and on restoring natural spaces. Contact your local or regional conservation authority for more information.
Volunteering at eco-friendly events: Eco-friendly organizations often have one-off events such as garage sales, farmers' markets and green festivals. Look for information on the Ontario Environment Network's job listings. Local volunteering organizations may also have information on short-term opportunities.
Vacationing the eco-volunteer way: See the world by doing conservation and wildlife work in other countries. Find opportunities through the Canadian Environment Network and GoEco.org.
Check out the proposed Great Lakes Protection Act along with a draft Great Lakes Strategy to help keep the Lakes drinkable, swimmable and fishable. Read the strategy and let us know what you think of our plans.
