Many people have been feeling rather discouraged and pessimistic about the future of our water resources lately, and for good reason.
Our St. Johns River is sick. The river is threatened with further degradation from shortsighted plans to withdraw millions of gallons of water a day from its flow. Also, we are reaching the limits of our aquifer.
Fortunately, I have recently been involved in a project that gives us good reason to remain hopeful and to keep fighting for a more sustainable future.
St. Johns Riverkeeper sponsored a public service announcement video contest for high school students titled “Conserving Water to Save Our Rivers.”
The contest was organized as a way to get kids involved in the effort to raise awareness about the importance of protecting both our St. Johns River and our groundwater resources.
We were overwhelmed by the number of quality entries received from students. The outstanding effort put forth by all of these high school students should be commended and serve as an inspiration to all of us.
I hope that their efforts will motivate us all to get more involved, as they have done.
I hope that their work will remind us of our obligation to leave a clean and healthy river and aquifer system to our children and future generations.
These talented students have demonstrated that they do have a critical role and substantial stake in the decisions that impact our rivers and our water supply.
We must make sure that their voices are heard and make sure that our decisions don’t jeopardize their future quality of life.
To view the top student public service announcement entries, visit www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org.
JIMMY ORTH,
executive director,
St. Johns Riverkeeper,
From Staff and Wire Reports
BassOnline.com