Forty-Five Years Ago…

Ohio. It’s a land of agricultural fields, manufacturing plants, and deteriorating steel mills. Ohio exports soybeans by the megaton. Aircraft, spacecraft, automobiles and industrial machinery also rank high on exported goods flowing out of Ohio. Unfortunately, Ohio is also known for a less desirable flow of a different kind.

Polluted rivers and waterways here in Ohio have, in the past, become infamous. While great strides have been made toward cleaning up the shores and waters of Ohio, I still find it difficult to connect these lakes, rivers, streams, creeks and ponds to the ocean in the minds of its residents. Where does one start?

The nearest ocean shore being just shy of 500 miles away, I began at the Cleveland Aquarium. Last spring, after attaining my advanced open water certification, I was amazed to find out that I could swim with the sharks! What a dream come true for a gal whose lifelong hero is Jacques Cousteau! And this, I was able to do in…OHIO! Thrilling as this was for me, I was delighted to see the awe on the faces of the small children on the other side of the Plexiglas tank walls, looking in. Being able to show these young ones that people and sharks can be in close proximity and not disturb or hurt each other was a pleasure I had not anticipated. When the large sand tigers swam overhead, displaying rows of sharp pointy teeth, I could watch the children point and look to their parents with excitement and wonder instead of fear. What a joy to witness! All of this I shared with my daughter. When I handed her a shark tooth I picked up from the sand at the bottom of the tank during my dive, she told me that she wants to become a scuba diver.

More recently, on September 16th, Ocean Conservancy held their annual International Coastal Cleanup. It was important, for me, that I participate. But what surprised me was how much my daughter was looking forward to picking up trash! She was so excited that she told her teachers and all her friends! We spent 3 hours walking in the Nimishillen Creek bed, water up to our knees, picking up garbage off the bottom and along the shores. The most rewarding part of this was watching my daughter enthusiastically tell her friends about the experience, stating proudly that she wants to pick up trash wherever she goes!

Being able to share with my daughter such a rare underwater adventure as diving among the sharks was amazing! As her young mind more fully grasps the far reaching affect of her actions, many miles from the ocean, she is forming lifelong habits that will help protect our oceans and the wildlife that lives in them. The more often I hear her talk to her friends and get them involved, the more I know that today’s youth is the key to conservation. They ask her questions. They make posters together. They want to know how to help. Already she is showing them, in her own way, how everything is interconnected and that the choices they make on a daily basis matter.

Today, we celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the Clean Water Act. My ten year old daughter is already an avid recycler, environmental activist and active conservationist. And she is having FUN! I am very proud to be a part of this process!

Photo taken by Sarah Archer.