ESI guest post: Water pollution teach-in and cleanup
2023 Environmental Stewardship Institute (ESI) fellows Kaia Frazier, Alecia Jendro and Seri Sanches at their cleanup event
This is a guest post from Kaia Frazier, Alecia Jendro and Seri Sanches, 2023 Environmental Stewardship Institute (ESI) fellows. ESI fellows design and carry out a capstone project during a six-week summer program. These three fellows took action on water pollution by hosting a cleanup and creating educational materials. (Note: Opinions expressed in ESI projects are those of the program participant and do not necessarily represent those of FMR.)
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For our final project, we hosted a water pollution teach-in and cleanup event at Hidden Falls Regional Park.
We also designed supplemental materials including a brochure and a website to provide further education about local water pollutants.
A challenge we faced was outreach and gathering our audience, but we ended up having a great turnout at our event. Fifteen people came and we filled ten trash bags with litter. Overall our cleanup was a success!
Why we chose this project
We were all interested in water pollution and wanted to have our final project be something where the community could be involved to help make a change. We were also interested in the interconnectedness of aquatic ecosystems and were passionate about protecting local waterways.
What we hope you take away
Trash, sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus and chloride are all significant threats to the Mississippi River and other Minnesota waterways. Learning how to reduce your impact and taking action locally are important steps to combatting water pollution.
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Join us
FMR created the Environmental Stewardship Institute to address the gap between environmental education and a career path in the environmental field. We hold a summer intensive program and a school-year youth advisory council. Learn more about the 2023 ESI summer program, including other final project highlights.
FMR's Environmental Stewardship Insitute is part of our larger Stewardship & Education program. Check out our other opportunities for youth and for all ages to get involved with FMR.