Advocacy for Nature Preservation in Michigan

<--- This educational pamphlet explains the Young Idealistic Kids with Environmental Sensitivity (YIKES!) group initiated by the WMEAC to raise awareness, advocacy, and action toward the betterment of the environment in Michigan. This pamphlet includes the history of the group, their goals, what they have accomplished, why to join, and how to join.

This educational pamphlet written and provided by the WMEAC provides ways in which the youth of the 90’s can make better choices for the environment in a variety of situations. These situations include before school (in the kitchen and bathroom), at school, and after school (while shopping, at the beach, at home, in your car, and out to eat). It also includes an oath the youth can take to think about how their actions will affect the environment in the future. --->

• Holding an “Earth Awareness Week” across 10 schools.
• Cleanup of Belknapp Park.
• Placing in the top 10 for the President’s Environmental Youth Award program for “Earth Awareness Week.”
• Featured in a department store (Steketee’s) back-to-school advertisement.
• Wrote and submitted letters for the National Bottle Bill.
• Established a Christmas Tree Recycling Program with the City of Grand Rapids, earning them the 1991 Environmental Leadership Award.
• Written about in Sage Magazine.
• Featured in the Grand Rapid Press’ Earth Day Edition.
• Featured in Grand Rapids Parent Magazine.
• Awarded the Recycling Achievement Award.
• Mentioned in the Detroit Free Press.
• Contributed to a statewide Beach Cleanup program.

The WMEAC also created the Adopt-a-Stream Program in order to keep the water sources in Kent County clean and unpolluted. Their goal was to have 350 miles of streams “adopted” by 1996-1997. WMEAC provided multiple how-to guides and tips on how to get started.

In order for a group to “adopt” a stream, they would need to gather 10 people per mile of stream to sample stream water to investigate the conditions of the stream. If in less than desired conditions, groups could conduct cleanups twice a year, or more!

This program resulted in successful stream projects, ranging from “informal monitoring of a creek’s wildlife or water quality to long-term restoration of an entire system.”

Since then, WMEAC's passion has been "seen for 50 years since WMEAC first organized to protect our rivers and streams from pesticides like DDT, and led the efforts to push for the Environmental Protection Act." They plan to use Michigan's "communities’ hands to clean our rivers, and teach our young people about how to protect our water for the next 50 years" (West Michigan Environmental Advocacy Council, n.d.).

They have gained 14 sponsors to help them achieve these organizational goals, and have developed additional educational programs and water programs to help stop the pollution of water and environmental systems across Michigan. These programs include helping reduce the contamination of Kent County water systems from PFAS chemicals and protecting the environmental resources of Michigan's Great Lakes coastal dunes from further pollution (WMEAC, n.d.).