Ideas We Should Steal: Make our Rivers So Clean, You Can Swim in Them

posted by Kristi Wachter on October 23, 2026

Resistance is

A partnership of organizations has made Baltimore Harbor swimmable again. Could Philly do that with the Delaware and the Schuylkill?

The Philadelphia Citizen Courtney DuChene July 16, 2026

Excerpt:

When Adam Lindquist came to the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore in 2011, he thought the nonprofit business improvement district’s plan to make the harbor swimmable by 2020 was a little “crazy.”

But he was up for the challenge. He’d recently graduated from a masters program in community and watershed planning at the University of Maryland College Park. Hurricane Katrina’s decimation and flooding had motivated him to study how policy decisions impact rivers, oceans and their tributaries. Water, he knew, was powerful. The Waterfront Partnership offered him an opportunity to harness that power for good.

Read the whole thing:

Ideas We Should Steal: Make our Rivers So Clean, You Can Swim in Them

Via:

Just Good News - October 2, 2026

posted by Kristi Wachter on October 23, 2026

Want more good news?

Find more news about resistance, victories, and hopeful trends: weekly Extra! Extra! posts from Chop Wood, Carry Water; biweekly Just Good News posts from the Americans of Conscience Checklist; and Your Daily Dose of Climate Hope - plus pro-democracy protest photos every day from Today's Edition Newsletter.

October 17 - Vote Early Day

Join in a national day of voter participation on October 17 - join your neighbors in helping eligible voters understand their options and make a voting plan.

Check your voter registration
Make a plan to vote early
Help your friends and neighbors make a plan to vote early

Find events near you

Other things you can do:

Connect with Indivisible - join a local group or take action on your own or with friends
Use 5calls to call your legislators about whatever matters most to you
Check out Mobilize to find protests, postcard-writing parties, virtual events, and volunteer opportunities.

Now is a great time to take action.

Take Action

You can make a difference.

It's okay to start small.

Connect with Indivisible. They have groups all over the country and actions you can take on your own or with others.
Use 5calls to call your legislators about whatever matters most to you.
Check out Mobilize to find protests, postcard-writing parties, virtual events, and volunteer opportunities.

Action is the antidote to fear and despair.

Even doing small things - learning more about how we can strengthen our democracy, sharing what you know with others, making a phone call - can make a difference.

Right now is a great time to take action.