At 10 am on Saturday, August 27th, AP Environmental Science and AP Biology students from Warren, in addition to avid environmentally concerned community members, went to Waukegan Beach to celebrate the 4th Annual Beach Rally and Cleanup.  On behalf of the Sierra Club sponsored organization Clean Power Lake County, everyday citizens and politicians young and old united to celebrate strides made toward a cleaner greater Chicagoland area and discuss efforts to reach more desirable environmental standards.

For the first hour, acclaimed members of the society like Aaron Lowlor, Lake County Board Chairman, and Dulce Ortiz, Co-Chairwoman of Clean Power Lake County, spoke to the increasing need for Lake County to come together and adopt more environmentally friendly legislation. Given the disregard by the Presidential administration of the seriousness of climate change among other natural concerns, working at the local level has become increasingly important. The latter hour of the event involved volunteers spreading across the lakefront and fair grounds to pick up trash and other miscellaneous litter.  Luckily, there was limited garbage to be picked up, suggesting the advances made as a community to rid our nature of human contamination.  However, the efforts of the volunteers combined made a huge impact in removing the remaining litter from the beautiful sand and reinforcing our power as a community when we come together.

One of many local events by Clean Power Lake County, the grassroots campaign succeeded once again in uniting a diverse group of individuals for the common cause of ridding Waukegan of the pollution that comes from the coal plant, located right on the lakefront.