Hero of the Year - Sailors for the Sea

Hero of the Year

 November 21, 2013  | By: Oceana

We are very excited to see that the CNN Hero of the Year aware was won by someone who is dedicated to marine debris removal! Chad Pregracke has dedicated his life’s work to cleaning up U.S. rivers.

Chad started a non-profit called Living Lands & Waters where approximately 70,000 volunteers have pitched in, helping collect more than 7 million pounds of trash in the past 15 years.

“The garbage got into the water one piece at a time,” Pregracke said earlier this year. “And that’s the only way it’s going to come out.”

This “Industrial Strength” river clean up is like no other in the in the world. The core team travels up and down rivers by barge stopping to host cleanups, watershed conservation initiatives, workshops, tree plantings and other key conservation efforts.

As we all know, rivers connect to our oceans, and much of this waste would have eventually made it into the gyres without the efforts of Chad Pregracke!