Canada/U.S. International Joint Commission Invites You to Choose Your Great Lakes Future

News Advisory: ‘Great Lakes Future’ Game to Launch August 29th A News advisory from the International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Water Quality Board

Posted August 20^th, 2024 on Niagara At Large

The International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Water Quality Board will debut a new online scenario-based game, “Choosing Your Great Lakes Future,” on Thursday, August 29, 2024.

The purpose of this game is to educate and inspire people to consider how today’s actions will impact the Great Lakes in the future.  The board is hosting a one-hour public webinar on August 29 starting at 11 a.m. ET. Registration is required for this free webinar: bit.ly/wqb-horizons-webinar  or us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xDQPkdNPRUSG4L8jJ9Bt0g.   Register Now for the Webinar  
The webinar includes a presentation by Great Lakes Water Quality Board US Co-chair Jon Allan and Canadian Co-chair Chris McLaughlin, a demonstration of the game and time to answer audience questions. 

The Great Lakes, the largest source of fresh, drinkable water in the world, if we have the sense to look after them.

The board created the “Choosing Your Great Lakes Future” game to encourage people to think about the future of the Great Lakes, what they want the Great Lakes to look like, and what can be done now so that decisions and actions ensure better water quality and human and environmental health in the future. 

In the game, players pick actions that point to one of four possible scenarios for the health of the Great Lakes in 2050. The game is based on the board’s Great Lakes Horizons project detailed in the board’s 2023 report. 

The Great Lakes Water Quality Board is the principal adviser to the International Joint Commission under the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

The board assists the Commission by reviewing and assessing progress by the governments of Canada and the United States to implement the Agreement, identifying emerging issues and recommending strategies and approaches to prevent and resolve complex challenges facing the Great Lakes, and providing advice on the role of relevant jurisdictions to implement these strategies and approaches. 

The IJC was established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to help the governments of Canada and the United States prevent and resolve disputes over the use of the waters they share.
More information can be found at IJC.org  .