 The Need for Increased Awareness and Activism
In 2002, Biodiversity Project and the Joyce Foundation released results of their public opinion research in the Great Lakes states. The report, Protecting the Great Lakes: Responsibility to Awareness to Action  , yielded both good and bad news about the public sense of the Lakes.
On the positive side, they learned that residents of Illinois and the other states have a strong connection to the Great Lakes and feel a sense of personal responsibility for the Lakes' future.
Unfortunately, they also learned that the public is not aware of many threats to the Great Lakes as well as personal actions that they can take in their own lives to help protect the Lakes. Compounding these difficulties is a lack of urgency among the public about protecting the Great Lakes .
Creating Great Lakes Forever
In response to the need for increased public awareness and involvement in the protecting the Great Lakes Biodiversity Project - working with U.S. and Canadian advisors - designed Great Lakes Forever.
The aims of the Great Lakes Forever campaign and website are:
- To make the public's personal connections with the Great Lakes clear, obvious, and strong,
- To increase the public's ability to identify, understand, and act upon the challenges the Great Lakes face,
- To help facilitate our fellow Great Lakes environmental groups' ability to effectively and stregeically communicate their messages.
With funding from the Joyce Foundation and Wisconsin 's Coastal Management Program Great Lakes Forever launched a successful pilot project in Wisconsin in 2004. During the summer of 2005, Chicago 's John G. Shedd Aquarium  took a leading role in Great Lakes Forever, working with Biodiversity Project and their regional partners to increase public awareness of the Great Lakes ' value and vulnerabilities.
Biodiversity Project conducted an evaluation of the Wisconsin Great Lakes Forever pilot-project in 2004. The evaluation includes a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collected on each of the products in the campaign. You can download the full report , which includes discussion of theory, strategy and first-year outcomes.
Since then.
Since its creation in 2004, Great Lakes Forever has undergone a number of projects, including:
- Educational Beer Coasters (which Anheuser-Busch has partnered with since 2005 and has evolved to include a Great Lakes photography contest);
- Joining Wisconsin Public Television to help create and promote a series on Wisconsin 's connections to the Great Lakes.
- Radio Spots that highlight the importance and vulnerability of the Great Lakes;
- Road Signs to expose park visitors to the challenges the Great Lakes face, as well as what they can do to help;
- Hosting meetings for Great Lakes decision-makers and constituents to help raise awareness of issues and policies that would facilitate the Lakes' protection.
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