Outside is my office. That’s why I love working at Clean Water Action.
I grew up on the South Shore of Long Island--in a town called Oceanside—so I was well acquainted with the water from early on. The beach was a ten-minute drive from home. It was easy to catch a wave in an afterschool embrace without even bothering to bring a towel.
A ten-minute drive equaled a five-mile bike ride--and a weekend afternoon adventure. I had fun bike riding to the beach, stopping off on the way for a side order of surf shop and fried squid.
I spent most of the day swimming in the rollicking waves and taking long walks barefoot on the cool, damp, flat sand--sometimes with friends, sometimes alone--all along the water’s edge.
Hiking the hills of Maryland while working for Clean Water Action has been an adventure every evening.
Every time I take a step and see a creek, stream or lake emerge just beyond a house it’s like a heart-stopping homecoming.
It reminds me why I work for Clean Water Action. All waterways are connected in some way and we are all connected to the water.
Connecting with people who live near the water is a powerful way to organize communities to help protect this vital natural resource.
Even when we don’t live by the water, we all drink water. Polluted water makes treatment more expensive, which can make bills higher. Imagine if we could spend some of that money somewhere else—like on public bike-share and train service to places like the ocean!
Using clean renewable sources of energy like the sun, wind and our own muscles, can help protect our fragile and beautiful waterways.
Walking by lakes, streams and rivers, connecting with people, some who boat, fish and swim—all who drink water---the reasons why we have to protect our waterways resonate with me each time I take a step.
The breeze blowing through my hair and the sun warming my skin reminds me that the power to do that is right here---renewable, ready, within our reach.
As the sun sets slowly in fiery red clouds over Lake Montebello in Baltimore while I stand on doorstep after doorstep, I feel the strength of solar power. I feel the strength of the muscles in my legs. I know the power of people working together, as solid as the stone beneath my feet. I know that whenever I connect to nature, I am home.
