Online Activity

For an online activity I reviewed the Waterlife documentary found at http://waterlife.nfb.ca/. It was really an eye opening in-depth look at the importance of fresh water and the great lakes. I believe it deals with some important concepts and problems with watershed areas in the United States and Canada. We need global support because our freshwater ecosystems affect everyone and can be affected by others actions, such as the pollutants, like DDT, that are banned in Canada but are traveling from China to our watersheds through the grasshopper effect. As humans we have physically altered these natural bodies of water by dredging and building canals and this has lead to more problems. The problem of most concern to me personally is the fact that our freshwater, which is required for us to survive, has chemicals in it that we don't know exactly what they are and what they can do to us. Chemicals in the water mean that we can't drink the water, swim in it, eat fish from it, and it basically ruins all the benefits of having a freshwater lake. The great lakes have become such a big issue because so many people/companies have negatively affected them and even small contributions will add to large impacts because they occur more frequently. I know that we cannot completely stop everything and try and restore the great lakes to the condition they used to be in, but we can raise awareness and try and reduce our current and future impact. Because the more people that care, the easier it will be to help our largest fresh water resource. I think that this was a very cool, interactive, and informative website that provides a vast viewpoint on our great lakes.