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The Connection Environment - Health - Economy - Community
An Innovative Approach to Environmental Sustainability
Preserving the environment is everyone's responsibility. Preventing pollution is the best means of environmental protection. Reducing the harmful chemicals we use that make their way to our streams and rivers is essential. Responsible disposal of waste, pesticides and industrial chemicals, and the efficient management of runoff will go a long way toward a healthy environment. By preventing or minimizing pollution at its origin, the quantity and toxicity of harmful contaminants entering the environment through the air, soil, and water is reduced. Pollution prevention reduces environmental and health risks because it aims to halt the rate of pollution in the initial stages. Changing old habits is not easy. It will take education and participation by everyone in the Bay region, and it starts with those who genuinely care about the future of their communities. By utilizing our approach, local governments, businesses, and citizens can help achieve regulatory compliance. By taking steps to eliminate or minimize pollution, local governments protect their valuable local natural resources, create sustainable solutions to waste management challenges, and help protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. We Should All Pitch In By:
Protecting the Public's Health
Chesapeake Bay Regional Health Problems:
Contamination in the form of runoff from farms and shopping centers, and outdated sewer treatment plants causes serious health problems. Many studies, commissions, predictions and evaluations have served to identify the problems. We know about diseased oysters, rockfish with lesions and the depletion of game fish and crabs. The problems have been identified, the solutions are available, and now it's time to take action. FOTC engages donors, volunteers, the media, community partners, industry and policy-makers in carrying out its vision throughout the Region, promoting local involvement to better understand and solve local environmental problems. Everyone becomes part of the solution. Challenging the old "business-as-usual studies" about resource protection and replacing them with concrete actions improves the chances of success in the efforts to clean up the Bay.
The Effects of the Ecosystem and the Economy It Supports The long-term outlook for the seafood industry is in question however, as over-fishing and pollution of the Bay and rivers have caused a decrease in marine life populations and a destruction of habitat. The lure of the water also attracts tourism. Feeding the economy with day trips to Bay region attractions such as local and state parks, public beaches and recreation type organizations doing business on our streams, creeks and rivers; Maryland tourism reports show that visitors to the state spent almost 7.7 billion dollars on goods and services, generating 646 million dollars in tax revenue, and indirectly provided over 103,000 jobs. In addition, agriculture also plays an important part in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed economy. Production of broiler chickens is the leading agricultural commodity followed by milk, cattle, turkeys, tobacco, greenhouse and nursery plants, soybeans, eggs, winter wheat, and corn. In addition, cotton is making a comeback with the new demand for natural fibers. The Bay suffers from an overabundance of nutrients caused by pollution. This imbalance, along with over-fishing and other factors, has taken its toll on the Chesapeake Bay region's economy. The seafood industry remains a major factor in the economic life of the Chesapeake Bay. Modern refrigerated trucks and containers make it possible for fresh catches of oysters, fish, clams, and especially the famous Chesapeake Bay blue crab to be shipped anywhere in the world. Tourism continues to play an important part in the economy of the Chesapeake Bay region. Each year visitors come to the area from all over the U.S. and other countries. Attracted by the water, beaches and shores of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, these visitors can also take in the historic sites, museums, and family entertainment venues available in the region. Friends of the Chesapeake offers support and tools to the businesses and citizens of the Chesapeake Bay Region to secure economic prosperity. Community-based planning assistance is an important new vision for success. The 1,650 local governments, individual communities, contributors to pollution, businesses and citizens in the Bay Region must be engaged in self-determination of choices to further restore the regions economy. FOTC Aims To:
A Shared Community Vision FOTC believes it offers a better way to care for the Chesapeake Bay and each of the Bay's human and natural communities, each one of which is different from all the others. Environmental initiatives with local support and understanding will succeed. Dead Zone The Chesapeake Bay is dying. Every year it gets worse. Contamination is caused by runoff, broken and outdated sewage treatment plants, farm fields, shopping malls, and countless other sources, beginning as far north as Lake Erie and upstate New York. It causes a broad spectrum of adverse effects, from deteriorating health, which can range from simple gastrointestinal illness to serious long-term effects such as cancers and developmental problems, to economic ruin and eroding quality of life. There are too many studies, recommendations, predictions, evaluations, dialogue, coordination, and administrative expense. One FOTC founder said, "Every week another scientist or government agency discovers some horrific new finding - oysters are dying, crab harvests keep dropping, rockfish have lesions, beaches are being closed by local health departments, cancer rates are through the roof, people are dying from asthma like never before, drinking water is unsafe." Friends of the Chesapeake | 914 Bay Ridge Road, Suite 214, Annapolis, MD 21403 |
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FOTC challenges communities, businesses, and others to evaluate the processes that create pollution and seek
solutions that either minimize or eliminate the production of pollution.
We all live downstream. Almost anything that occurs in the Chesapeake Bay watershed affects
the quality of our health, from the water we drink, the fish we eat, to the streams in which we swim. What
each of us does on the land throughout the Bay watershed, even in areas where there is no Bay shoreline -
including the use of automobiles, fertilizers, pesticides, electricity, and even water - affects streams,
rivers, and ultimately, the Bay. Everything we do also affects the health and quality of the lives of all
residents, wildlife, and plants in the Bay watershed.
There have been devastating effects on both the Chesapeake Bay's ecosystem and the economy it supports.
The economic mainstays of the Bay region include tourism, agriculture and a hearty seafood industry.
Supporting community-based initiatives promotes local decision-making. It is a shared community vision that
provides the map which allows a community to control its own destiny, to conserve the region's heritage,
to tell its stories, to retain the places that are special to people, and to maintain its economic base
for present and future generations. It is an opportunity for residents, governments, civic organizations,
industry and small businesses to work together to establish actions for stewardship and management of
valued resources that affect the Chesapeake Bay and the quality of life of each citizen in the Region.