Spring Break
Environmentalist cleans up the trash (6/11/08)
Issue date: 6/18/08 Section: News
Chad Pregracke, founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, will share his compelling story at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 17 in Stipes Hall 501 on the Western Illinois University campus. The presentation is open free to the public.
Pregracke grew up just a few feet from the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities. During his presentation, he will share how his experiences growing up led to his unique vision to clean up the river.
While working as a commercial shell diver, commercial fisherman and barge-hand during the summers, Pregracke noticed that the accumulation of trash on the shorelines was worsening the condition of the rivers.
In the Spring of 1997, he decided to make a difference one river at a time, one piece of garbage at a time. Founding America's only "industrial strength" river clean-up organization, Pregracke is proof that one person can make a difference.
Committed to the beautification and restoration of the nation's rivers, Living Lands & Waters is a nonprofit environmental organization based in East Moline.
Thousands of volunteers help annually with the community river cleanups, river bottom forest restoration and the Adopt-a-Mississippi River Mile program.
Pregracke has been the recipient of more than 40 awards including the Jefferson Award for Public Service presented to him in June 2002 in the United States Supreme Court, Washington, DC.
In August 2002 he was invited by the Coca-Cola Company to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Environments in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he met and shared information about his river cleanup projects with people from all over the world.
Since then, Pregracke's projects have been filmed by many of the major networks, including CNN, Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning Show, NBC Nightly News, MTV and PBS. Time, People Magazine, Readers' Digest, Life, Outside, Smithsonian and National Geographic are among the numerous publications featuring Pregracke.
Released in April 2007, "From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's River" (National Geographic Books) chronicles his journey cleaning up America's rivers one tire at a time.
Pregracke's presentation is sponsored by the Western Illinois Entrepreneurship Center and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western. For more information call 309/836-2700 or e-mail wiec@wiu.edu.
-University Relations
Pregracke grew up just a few feet from the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities. During his presentation, he will share how his experiences growing up led to his unique vision to clean up the river.
While working as a commercial shell diver, commercial fisherman and barge-hand during the summers, Pregracke noticed that the accumulation of trash on the shorelines was worsening the condition of the rivers.
In the Spring of 1997, he decided to make a difference one river at a time, one piece of garbage at a time. Founding America's only "industrial strength" river clean-up organization, Pregracke is proof that one person can make a difference.
Committed to the beautification and restoration of the nation's rivers, Living Lands & Waters is a nonprofit environmental organization based in East Moline.
Thousands of volunteers help annually with the community river cleanups, river bottom forest restoration and the Adopt-a-Mississippi River Mile program.
Pregracke has been the recipient of more than 40 awards including the Jefferson Award for Public Service presented to him in June 2002 in the United States Supreme Court, Washington, DC.
In August 2002 he was invited by the Coca-Cola Company to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Environments in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he met and shared information about his river cleanup projects with people from all over the world.
Since then, Pregracke's projects have been filmed by many of the major networks, including CNN, Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning Show, NBC Nightly News, MTV and PBS. Time, People Magazine, Readers' Digest, Life, Outside, Smithsonian and National Geographic are among the numerous publications featuring Pregracke.
Released in April 2007, "From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's River" (National Geographic Books) chronicles his journey cleaning up America's rivers one tire at a time.
Pregracke's presentation is sponsored by the Western Illinois Entrepreneurship Center and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western. For more information call 309/836-2700 or e-mail wiec@wiu.edu.
-University Relations
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