Through his nonprofit, Living Lands & Waters, Chad Pregracke and a team of 117,000 dedicated volunteers have removed 11 million pounds of garbage from America’s rivers.

Growing up in Moline, Illinois, Pregracke spent a lot of time outdoors swimming, fishing and hunting in and around the Mississippi River. His first job was working as a clam digger, where he spent up to 10 hours a day diving the depths of the Mississippi. It was this experience that solidified a lasting connection to the river.

Pregracke told Children’s Health Defense Chairman Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on the “RFK Jr The Defender Podcast” about all the interesting things he’s found lying at the bottom of rivers, including an artillery shell shot during the Civil War, guns, grenades and plastic bags once filled with cash that were disposed of in the water after a bank robbery.

Living Lands & Waters has five barges, two towboats and six 30-foot work boats that can haul up to 5,000 pounds of trash. Once removed from the water, the nonprofit does its best to recycle as much of the garbage as possible, sorting it out into different categories of scrap metal, appliances, plastic, cans, bottles and more.

The organization also has an initiative, MillionTrees Project, through which it has planted nearly 1.5 million trees. Planting “trees is leaving a legacy,” said Pregracke. Trees will grow and create fruit for wildlife for generations to come, he said.

Listen to the full interview to hear Pregracke discuss his dream of introducing a small herd of Bison along the Mississippi as part of the nonprofit’s I-80 Restoration Project, the largest restoration project in Illinois history. The project seeks to restore the native prairie landscape which will benefit the local ecosystem and raise awareness about the endangered ecosystem.

Listen here:

The post RFK, Jr. and River Activist Chad Pregracke on Removing 11 Million Pounds of Garbage from America’s Rivers + More appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo acted in a “highly inappropriate” manner by advising his big brother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, about how to handle a string of sexual misconduct allegations, according to a prominent journalism organization.

Tom Jones of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies wrote that the “Cuomo Prime Time” host’s relationship with his politico sibling represented “a conflict of interest that has been more than a year in the making … [and] finally blew up in CNN’s face.”

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Chris Cuomo took part in strategy sessions with the governor’s lawyer and aides, a clear violation of journalistic ethics. During those sessions, the paper reported, Chris Cuomo advised his older brother not to resign from office and depicted the governor as a would-be victim of “cancel culture.” . . .

“What’s Going On,” a poignant musical masterpiece crafted in a season of unease, persists as a timely backdrop to another heated time, half a century later, when the world feels upside down.

Fifty years ago, vibrating with agitation and energy, Marvin Gaye headed down the wood steps into a Detroit studio and made his anthem for the ages.

“What’s Going On,” a poignant musical masterpiece crafted in a season of unease, persists as a timely backdrop to another heated time, half a century later, when the world feels upside down.

Racial tensions, police controversy, environmental anxieties, a globe on edge — they were the topics on the front burner when Gaye rebooted his musical career and took control of his creative vision inside Motown.

His voice — voices, actually — hit the tape the second week of July 1970.

“There’s too many of you crying … there’s far too many of you dying …”

The song with the silky, layered vocals and an emphatic protest message was topical when Gaye cut it in 1970. It was still relevant when a newly freed Nelson Mandela recited its lyrics for a packed Tiger Stadium in 1990. And it resonates in 2021, in the wake of George Floyd’s death by police.

“In these times of crisis and challenge, we still go to those lyrics for strength,” said Detroit author and historian Ken Coleman.

The making of “What’s Going On” is a pillar of Detroit music lore.

Three years after the 1967 riot and rebellion that transformed his adopted hometown, the 31-year-old Gaye was in a deep and evolving head space. Shaken by the death of singing partner Tammi Terrell, haunted by the Vietnam War stories of his younger Army vet brother, Gaye was an emotional lightning rod waiting to be zapped with creative energy when Motown’s Obie Benson and Al Cleveland brought him their new composition about troubles across the land.

His textured recording was constructed over a series of sessions in 1970: the instrumental foundation in June, the vocals in July, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s sweetener in September. “What’s Going On” then sat for several months, a hot potato for Motown Records brass who fretted it was too controversial.

When the single finally went public in January 1971, it was an instant, massive hit. A full album was quickly commissioned, and four months later, Gaye’s groundbreaking LP of the same name was out.

The “What’s Going On” single, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart, was a mainstream breakthrough for conscious soul music. Its stature remains immense — Rolling Stone ranks it No. 4 on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list — and it set the stage for themes now essential to hip-hop, resounding through artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill and Joey Badass.

“It allows someone experiencing oppression and trauma — all these tragic moments that the government is often ignoring — to just ask the questions,” said Eldric Laron, a Detroit musician and spoken-word artist. “It’s so relevant today because that’s what a lot of us are doing. We’re asking questions before acting: the whats and whys and whos and whens. Saying ‘what’s going on?’ is a good starting point for yourself.” . . .