06.04.10

Durbin: Shedd Aquarium to Receive Over $630,000 in Funding for Great Lakes Education

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has awarded $630,038 in federal grant funding to the Shedd Aquarium for an ongoing initiative that educates visitors about the Great Lakes and encourages better stewardship of the marine environment.

This funding will help the Shedd Aquarium’s Center for the Great Lakes to better engage citizens in making positive change to help the ecosystem and to engage decision-makers and leaders to enact large-scale change to improve the environment over the long term.  Shedd aims to position itself as the regional hub for Great Lakes education and behavior change by bringing scientists, business and government leaders, visionaries, and citizens together to formalize a strategic framework for increasing Great Lakes environmental awareness and fostering its stewardship.

The Great Lakes are the largest single source of fresh surface water in the world.  They hold 90 percent of America’s fresh surface water and 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water.  Approximately 42 million people rely on the Great Lakes for clean, safe water.