The power of one: Chad Pregracke is an example of how one person’s actions can have a ripple effect on the planet. “I remove tires, barrels, and billions of plastic bottles among many other garbage items from America’s rivers,” he says.
Make that 7 million pounds of trash to date with help from 70,000 volunteers. Pregracke is founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, a 501(c)(3) organization based in East Moline, IL. His efforts began on the Mississippi River, from which more than 18 million people get their drinking water. Pregracke lives on a barge with members of his 12-person crew for nine months each year as they travel about in their efforts to clean up the Mississippi, Illinois, and Ohio rivers and their tributaries and host watershed conservation initiatives, tree plantings, and other conservation measures. The organization also hosts educational workshops for students and educators aboard the floating headquarters/classroom. Most of the trash removed from the rivers is recycled, and what is not gets a proper disposal.
To date, Living Lands & Waters staff and volunteers have been engaged in more than 760 cleanups of 23 rivers in 19 states. Pregracke–whom some have dubbed “the rivers’ garbage man”–has drawn national attention: In 2013, he was named the CNN Hero of the Year, an award that honors the efforts of everyday people changing the world. “It has been a true honor, the highest I ever received,” notes Pregracke.
It’s one in a string of many, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service in June 2002, which Pregracke accepted in the United States Supreme Court in Washington DC along with other award recipients such as Rudolph Giuliani, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Lilly Tartikoff. Pregracke also writes: his latest book is titled From the Bottom Up: One Man’s Crusade to Clean America’s Rivers.
What He Does Day to Day
As head of the organization, Pregracke says he does “anything and everything it takes: cleanups, tree plantings, speaking engagements, fundraising, human resource stuff, and lots of traveling and events.”
What Led Him to This Line of Work
“Growing up, the Mississippi River was my backyard,” says Pregracke, who grew up near East Moline. He and his brother Brent spent much of their time on the Mississippi as well as the Illinois River, often joined by their parents, both educators and river enthusiasts. Pregracke not only played on the river–he also worked on it as a commercial shell diver for the cultured pearl industry, a commercial fisherman, and barge hand. To save money and fuel, he camped on the Illinois and Mississippi rivers’ shorelines when jobs took him far from home. He was struck by the amount of trash he witnessed along the riverbanks. “Seeing the barrels and other garbage floating by inspired me to make a change,” he notes.
At the age of 17, Pregracke pressed for government agencies to take care of the problem. Seeing the problem only worsen, he took matters into his own hands, and, in 1998 at the age of 23, he founded Living Lands & Waters. The organization grew to include a full staff and fleet of equipment that includes five barges, two towboats, six workboats, two skid steers, five work trucks, a crane, and a large box truck. Pregracke recently expanded the organization’s efforts to include Big River Educational Outreach, The Million Trees Project, and the Adopt-a-River Mile programs.
What He Likes Best About His Work
Pregracke’s satisfaction is drawn from the team’s collective effort. Seeing daily results and “working side by side with so many great people is a huge part of what makes what we do so great,” he says.
His Biggest Challenge
Pregracke, who has pledged to keep up his efforts as long as he can, says his biggest challenge is to “continue to do the most we can with the resources we have.” Along with the CNN Hero of the Year award came $250,000 for his organization. He felt so honored to stand among many other everyday people whose work also is making a difference that he pledged to give $10,000 to the other top 10 heroes “because they’re awesome,” he notes.
