Great Lakes Forever

2004- Ongoing
Great Lakes Forever is a public education initiative involving media outreach, educational advertising (print and radio), point-of-experience signs at lakefront areas, and web-based outreach that inform and hopefully inspire a broader constituency to take action to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Great Lakes Forever frames the discussion of the Lakes around four key issues: water quality, water quantity, habitat protection and invasive species control.

Great Lakes Forever exhibits Biodiversity Project’s dedication to promoting a more informed and active public that makes connections to the environment and their daily lives. The ongoing program, initially launched in 2004 by Biodiversity Project, was expanded to Chicago in 2005 with the support of the John G. Shedd Aquarium and other Chicago and regional partners.

Great Lakes Forever and Budweiser have been partners since 2005 to produce the annual Great Lakes photo contest in an effort to raise awareness of the Great Lakes and engage people in their protection. Each year we ask professional and amateur photographers to submit their favorite Great Lakes photos that reveal the unique and treasured landscape of the region. Winners are chosen in each category and are awarded with prizes from Budweiser. Grand prize winners have their photos printed on beer coasters to be distributed to restaurants and bars in the Great Lakes region.

Mississippi River Network

2005-Ongoing
The Mississippi River provides drinking water to 18 million people, but its integrity is being compromised by pollution and human interference. In 2007, Biodiversity Project was hired by the Mississippi River Network, comprised of 35 member organizations, to manage public opinion research on the Mississippi River. By developing a communications campaign in the ten Mississippi River states, Biodiversity Project hopes to inspire policy-makers, the agricultural community and engaged citizens to take action to restore and protect the Mississippi River and the Gulf. The 1 Mississippi campaign represents Biodiversity Project’s commitment to creating coalitions with other organizations to achieve a common goal.

Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly

2008- Ongoing
The Hines Emerald Dragonfly Habitat Conservation Plan is a collaboration between Biodiversity Project and a diverse team that includes private companies, municipalities and the federal government to design and implement a stormwater education and outreach program throughout the Illinois range of the endangered Hines Emerald Dragonfly. The project will provide homeowners, business owners and developers with useful information on how to control the quantity and quality of stormwater leaving their property and entering into local waterways.

The project began in 2008 and will continue to grow as Biodiversity Project makes important connections with residents in the region through our unique outreach campaigns. The Hines Emerald Dragonfly project highlights Biodiversity Project’s ability to define audiences, create a communication strategy that will be effective at reaching those audiences and identify outcomes for desired audiences.

Rock River Stormwater Group

2009-Ongoing
The Rock River Stormwater Group is an outreach campaign to promote public behavior change. A coalition of nine municipalities in Wisconsin has hired Biodiversity Project to devise a public information campaign, called Clean water. Bright future., to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff in their communities. The campaign, a requirement of their state stormwater permit, engages citizens using a variety of proven outreach techniques. Biodiversity Project has combined public opinion polls, leadership training and public information pathways, such as door hangings and radio, to reach audiences and motivate them to take action.

Projects like the Rock River Stormwater Group highlight Biodiversity Project’s ability to identify target audiences and develop values-based messages that inspire people to take action.

Chicago Wilderness

2009-Ongoing
Biodiversity Project was hired by Chicago Wilderness to create a communications campaign to reach more people and meet their goal of natural area protection and restoration. Chicago Wilderness is a regional alliance of organizations interested in protecting the unique Midwestern landscape spanning from Milwaukee to southwestern Michigan.

Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives

This campaign, developed by the Healing Our Waters Coalition, was meant to generate support for federal legislation for Great Lakes Restoration. Biodiversity Project commissioned and managed public opinion research to identify target audiences, develop unified values-based messages and determine effective messengers and pathways to reach those audiences.

Great Lakes Town Hall

2005 – 2010
Great Lakes Town Hall is an online community where the 37 million residents in the Great Lakes drainage basin can come together to identify common concerns, set the political agenda, share and develop collective solutions, and demand – as a public – that the Lakes are clean, abundant and natural for generations to come.

The Great Lakes Town Hall represents Biodiversity Project’s commitment to fostering communication and understanding to protect our Earth’s vital assets. Participants can respond to essays written by moderators and guest speakers, vote in the opinion polls, post questions and announcements and start their own discussions. The Great Lakes Town Hall’s six hundred members represent a community of concerned citizens who are taking a stake in their great lakes.

The online forum is edited by three Great Lakes experts who post daily bulletins, write weekly editorials, develop polls for members to consider and compose monthly feature articles about Great Lakes issues.