Rosy Fingered Dawn boat ride with my friend Murray. Murray helped me become the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper back in 2001. Always great to get together - talk water, trees, family. Eat pizza.

We're Hiring: The Next Chief Executive Officer and President of Swim Drink Fish Why this is the most exciting environmental leadership opportunity in Canada right now open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Just watching the world sail by today. Lots to write about and calls to follow up on but it will have to wait until the rain tomorrow.

Just an fyi — if the Lake Ontario Blue Jays get Bo Bichette back from Mets — I will be invested in the next 70 games like, for real. Truth is, coming home for home, is what’s it’s all about. #odyssey

As we finalize comments on the proposal to expand runway in Toronto to allow for jets and more traffic (due July 24th) … good to remember that this project will make things worse for water quality by trapping contaminated water longer in harbour. Primer here. youtu.be/PTMoJafcwlQ

Toronto Harbour isn't finished being restored. We can't give up on it now. On the Great Lakes, Billy Bishop & why we shouldn't accept a degraded baseline as the status quo open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

7 things Toronto needs before we talk about expanding into the harbour: real-time CSO monitoring, debris cleanup, swimmable access in the West End, not a Special Economic Zone that waives the rules.

That murky plume in Toronto Harbour isn’t an accident, it’s 9 sewer outfalls plus the Don River. It already struggles to flush. A new report shows a Billy Bishop runway expansion would cut harbour flow in half. Time for a public summit on this waterfront. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

New city report: expanding Billy Bishop’s runway could cut water flow through Toronto’s Inner Harbour by 50%, trapping sewage and pollutants twice as long & undo billions spent cleaning up the harbour. “It’s reckless,” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Funny way of saying swimmable drinkable fishable harbours are valuable assets to cities & business. But yes, “we know knowledge workers value urban amenities and access to nature. If our waterfront becomes less attractive, Toronto becomes less attractive to knowledge workers.”

Summers are a great time to celebrate birthdays. Happy birthday to my sister Kris who is always there for her family when it counts and when no one notices.

Over 5000 views for this substack rebuttal. Why? B/c the @globeandmail left out discussing the lake & waterfront in Billy Bishop editorial. I didn’t. Still a governing agreement that prohibits filling Lake. Public comment closing July 24. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

The Globe’s Billy Bishop editorial reduced Toronto’s harbour to “some impact on boats.” No one has published how much lake gets filled in, so I did the math & came up with 60,000 truckloads for a project currently illegal under its own governing agreement open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Second Greatest Blessing: A Note on Canada Day open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

A 2003 EA said Billy Bishop’s habitat was already degraded so new damage didn’t count. Now a runway extension into Lake Ontario & new nuclear reactors proposed on its shores. A degraded baseline is not permission. 9 million people drink this water. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

After 25 years as President of Swim Drink Fish I am moving to the board. New essay on what running a charity actually demands and why the oath is the whole thing. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Today is National Indigenous Peoples Day. Our Biinaagami work exists because of the Shared Circle of Knowledge Keepers. Grateful for these partnerships. #biinaagami

“The entire habitat is degraded, therefore none of the impacts are considered significant.”That’s the actual line from a 2003 government report on Toronto’s harbour. It’s the hidden argument behind every push to fill in more of Lake Ontario. #biilybishop open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

With today’s rain comes inevitable: sewage bypasses at treatment plants & 92 lesser-known combined sewer overflow along Toronto’s rivers & waterfront discharging untreated sewage directly into Lake. The city will notify you. They just won’t tell you what it means. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Ontario spent $9.93M on push to Protect Ontario ads hyping nuclear energy. Without independent, fact-based investigation into the real consequences, this isn't public education—it's just government propaganda. www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

“. . .five questions matter: Does it address the legacy of past pollution? Does it reduce sewage entering the lake? Does it restore habitat? Does it expand genuine public access to the shoreline? And does it treat the lake as something held in trust, a relation, not a resource? #BillyBishop #July24

Toronto is growing out of its past as an industrial port & realizing it is the freshwater capital of the world and wants a harbour that reflects that fact. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

So begins the Joe Burke Wolfe Island litfest. Dave Bidini reads from forthcoming novel: Goalies.

Going to be a nice sunny day for Joe Burke Wolfe Island litfest tomorrow. Fun. Great readers and guests. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Slow down. Some journeys matter more than the destination. Another guardian of our watersheds reminding us who we’re really working for. Clean, swimmable, fishable water — for every creature that calls it home. @SwimDrinkFish #SnappingTurtle

Water and wastewater are public goods and best run by public utilities for public benefit. Full stop. Quoted in today’s @elliotatthewhig on why Kingston’s proven model doesn’t need to be moved beyond public reach to a corporate municipal service. #SwimmableDrinkableFishable x.com/elliotatthew...

The future of Toronto Harbour is being decided right now. Federal consultation closes July 24. Takes 8 minutes. The lake can’t speak for itself. You can. #Toronto @SwimDrinkFish open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

The Joe Burke Wolfe Island LitFest turns 21 this weekend. Will be a beautiful afternoon of words by the water at Brophy’s Point, featuring Bill Gaston, Liz Howard, Dave Bidini, and Emer O’Toole. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Important Federal Government notice to residents of Toronto to get opinion of expanding airport service and runway in Toronto Harbour. tc.canada.ca/en/corporate...

The debate over Billy Bishop Airport isn't just about jets vs. noise, it's about future of Toronto’s waterfront. For many, the harbour is cottage country. Do we take that away for increased flights? Or continue to restore the connection to Lake Ontario? open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Looking forward to first week of June.

Fantastic Canadian voices (and one brilliant Irish one!) are heading to the 21st Annual Joe Burke Wolfe Island Literary Festival on Brophy’s Point. An afternoon of storytelling, fiction, and award-winning poetry right by the river. It’s a Great Lakes classic

20% of world’s surface fresh water is flowing by the Island but taking water for granted turned this privilege into a crisis. Lack of investment in proper sewage treatment was a red flag. Montreal warning residents of water shortages this summer. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Thank everyone who came out and supported Swimmable Drinkable Fishable water last night. Means the world to our work.

Great night for water.

Today is the Swim Drink Fish Gala, supporting the Waterkeeper mission to get people back to the water’s edge. With projects like the Wave Prize & the Binnagami project, we are getting people off screens & back to the water that makes swimmable drinkable fishable water possible

Back in 2009, the Watershed Sentinel (Friends of the Watershed Sentinel on FB) published an in-depth series on Canada’s uranium reality. Here is the Yellowcake Trail series: watershedsentinel.ca/article/nucl...

In 2006, colleague shared this word cloud from my speech. It helped me see my work differently. From self correcting type writers, to word processors, wordstar, word perfect, Google Docs, Grammerly etc …tools change but only useful when furthering a mission. What’s yours?

Toronto Hydro says affected 1300 customers? That includes customers with tens of thousands of people working in buildings with elevators. Wierd? www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...

Toronto's aging infrastructure means a heavy downpour quickly triggers sewer overflows. Engineering fixes take decades, but honest communication shouldn't. Why the City needs to ditch the PR spin and tell the truth about our water quality open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

When Elon Musk chose Queen’s, he famously said he did it just because it looked more fun than Waterloo. But Queen's has a different legacy now, shaped by Gord Edgar Downie Pier & a swimmable lake. How a pier, a poet & a swim changed the soul of a campus. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

While historic schools like Yale fiercely document and preserve their history in brick and stone, Queen's is defining its legacy by how it choosing to reconnect with and restore a living ecosystem. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee... #yale #queens @swimdrinkfish

These little guys are always unfazed by my runs. Just soaking up the sunlight, making the most of a perfect, lazy afternoon on the Island.

The US EPA is awarding nearly $10 million in grants to states to monitor beach water quality. Ensuring safe public access to our beaches is a critical step in promoting long-term water sustainability. Use @swimguide to share results. content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USE...

Great to see my sister receive an Honorarey Doctorate from Yale last weekend. Well deserved. Awesome yale2026.yale.edu/hd-recipient...

That time of year, the turtles are out of the water and on the move to lay their eggs. An ancient ritual that’s been going on since long before us. Watch out for them on the roads! 🐢🥚 @swimdrinkfish

Every time it rains in Toronto our sewers overflow into Lake Ontario. We are drifting toward a dangerous future, but art might just be the thing that saves us. Here is why the Swim Drink Fish Art for Water gala matters now more than ever: open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...

Such a beautiful day here on Wolfe Island. The ground is warming up, the trees are jumping and everyone is happy. Spring is great.

Polluters pay. ArcelorMittal Exploitation Minière Canada hit with a record-breaking $100 MILLION fine for illegally dumping toxic, acidic & high-metal effluents into Quebec waterways. The historic fine will help fund environmental restoration projects. www.canada.ca/en/environme...

Swimmable water isn't a "nice-to-have" luxury; it’s the democratic baseline for a functioning society. It’s time we stop treating clean water as an optional perk. open.substack.com/pub/waterkee...