Annual Tennessee River Rescue
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011
Each year volunteers help protect our source of drinking water during Tennessee River Rescue. Hundreds of people fan out across 20 zones in Bradley, Hamilton and Marion counties to clean up the banks of the Tennessee River and some tributaries. Tons of tires, plastic bottles and other trash have been removed by these eco-warriors over the years. This grass roots effort is starting to pay dividends, but there will always be a need for this effort. “We have noticed significant declines in the amounts of garbage we are removing from some of the zones,” said event coordinator Christine Bock. “It would be nice to find ourselves out of business one day, but right now that seems like wishful thinking.” Organize a group or join the effort individually by logging on at: www.tennesseeriverrescue.com. |
Message in a Milk Jug Tennessee Aquarium senior educator Julia Gregory collected 1,000 milk jugs for an eye-opening freshwater conservation lesson. They were temporarily displayed on the Aquarium Plaza for two reasons. This striking photo-op will be used by educators to illustrate the volume of water in exhibits by using a household item. “I can hold up this picture in front of the Lake Nickajack exhibit and say this is one thousand gallons. And in this exhibit there are 138 of these one thousand gallons,” said Gregory. She also wants everyone to understand that even a tiny amount of pollutant can make a large volume of water unsuitable for drinking. What’s the message in these milk jugs? “That it's vitally important for everyone to protect watersheds from sources of pollution.” (Go to the Aquarium’s YouTube channel to see the complete program.) At the end of this demonstration, the milk jugs were stomped flat and taken to a local recycling center. |