Bow River Celebration

[seanbritt]

This looks like a pretty cool celebration for the river: http://www.calgary.ca/portal/server.pt/gat...Celebration.htm.

 

I know a lot of folks will disagree, but at least it is an effort to bring attention to the importance of this river and is being done so in a nice, non-traditional fashion.

[Gil]

I wonder if there will be an attempt to pick up the lights balloons and other things they will be putting into the river?

[ladystrange]

oooo. do i get to release a coconut into the river to celebrate the river of life and it's journey to the ocean??? i love that part

[Gil]

oooo. do i get to release a coconut into the river to celebrate the river of life and it's journey to the ocean??? i love that part

Only if you dress in a peasant skirt, put some flowers in your hair and sing something from the Mammas & the Papas. I love the group by the way....

[SilverDoctor]

So...

a bunch of artists "celebrate" the Bow river by throwing hundreds of items into it, and some money is made that goes where? It helps the river how? I guess I'm just getting old, it seems that when I pick up some garbage along it's banks I end up doing more directly. Sigh... maybe it's just me.

[Jayhad]

I'm involved in the Bow celebration in a small capacity; but I can tell you the environmental concerns criteria is a tough one to measure up to. Plus these are artists doing the work, generally (generalizations may bite my ass one day) artists are leading the edge when it comes to environmental concerns. It's not like many others are bringing attention to the river, the more Calgarians are involved and understand our river, the better for everyone. I also think a 80cm lit balls will difficult to lose, especially in the section of water they are floating down.

 

Tightlines thank you for bringing this to peoples attention

[seanbritt]

No problem Jayhad. I just think its cool that folks not typically associated with the river are trying to bring attention to it. Lets face it, there are a lot of good points made here about garbage, etc. But we're preaching to the converted on this board. I would venture to say that 95% of the people we "complain" about are non-knowers. At least this is trying to bring some degree of attention to the, shall I say unconverted, regarding the importance of the watershed for various purposes.

[reevesr1]

Bringing attention to the river is a good thing. I don't think that some 80 cm lit balls are going to do any damage.

 

A short analogy:

 

In Texas, the biggest saltwater conservation association is called the CCA (Coastal Conservation Organization). Every year they hold a huge tournament as their fundraiser. It is a kill tournament (remember that saltwater species can maintain numbers without full c&r). Many, many people complain that a conservation association should not use a kill tournament as their fundraiser. CCA's reply is that as long as fish are kept within legal limits, the huge sums of money that come in via this tournament and the good it does to fund operations and raise awareness far offset a few extra fish that go into freezers. I totally agree with their stance. This seems like a similar thing to me. A few balls on the water are not going to do anything. People paying attention to this special waterway can only help. Pretty good trade.