July 7, 2023
By reading this, you’ve already completed the first step! One of the most important things to do is to learn about lakes from people who are passionate about them.
Learning can be done in a variety of ways, like by asking a lake scientist why they do what they do, talking to an Indigenous leader or member of a local First Nation about the importance of water in their culture, or watching videos about what is being done to help lakes. The best thing about learning is that you can always learn new things.
Another great thing to do is to connect with the scientific research community as a citizen. Members of the public play an important role in observing and contributing to what we know about lakes and water. There are some specific things you can try, including volunteering with organizations like the Lake Winnipeg Foundation or contributing to citizen science efforts with The Gordon Foundation’s DataStream project.
Finally, you can be aware of lake-friendly policies in your area and around the world.
Some things to think about include thoroughly cleaning water items before transferring to another water body to prevent invasive species movement, remembering that any wastewater you dispose of will return to our lakes and streams along with anything you put in it, and reading up on your local government’s environmental policies on air and water pollution. You can participate by educating yourself on the health of lakes and then trying to encourage local politicians to also adopt lake-friendly policies.
Water is a precious resource, and we can all do our part to be stewards of our lakes.