Metro The Power Of One Ellie Moskowitz, 11, personally tackles the Great Lakes' Asian Carp problem. Ellie Moskowitz Special to the Jewish News I t all began with a fifth-grade class project this last school year. In "leader- ship and philosophy,' my teacher at the Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills challenged us to find an area in which we could make a difference and a project we would actu- ally do. My school isn't a Jewish school, but I believe we live Jewish values everyday in everything we do. The Roeper School teaches and lives openness, diversity, equality, justice, com- munity and the belief that we can make a difference. Similarly, at Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield, every time we gather to learn we sing a prayer reminding us that we have the privilege and responsibility to fix our world. We learn that just as God gave us our natural world, it is ours to care for and protect. At Roeper, we have "no waste" lunch. We compost and recycle. In both of these homes where I learn, these values have been given to me. So when my teacher assigned this proj- ect, I immediately thought of the Asian Carp. Why are the Asian Carp a problem in Michigan? It's pretty simple: They are big and they don't belong here. They were brought to fish farms in the South in the 1970s to clean catfish ponds of algae. But in the 1990s, floods released these carp into other natural waterways. Next thing you know, they are taking over everything. They are already in the Illinois River and, if we don't stop them, they will make their way into the Great Lakes. They are an invasive species that has the potential to devastate the fish in our Great Lakes. Not only will this damage our ecosystem, it will hurt our economy. This problem requires action and I was ready to do something about it. I've always enjoyed political activism and getting involved. When I was 6, my dad went to Washington to attend the Save Darfur rally. When he told me what was going on there, I knew we had to do more. So I took postcards and put stamps on them and addressed them to President Bush — and then I gave them to each of my teachers to send. I realized then that I liked the feeling that our actions could affect change. So I shared the story of the Asian Carp and the need to take action with my class — and I thought of starting a petition to send 18 August 5 • 2010 Ellie Moskowitz, 11, of Bloomfield Hills tells campers at the Roeper School about her petition to stop Asian Carp from entering the Great Lakes. to government officials. I went from class to class and presented and collected signatures, which took a lot of work, but was interesting and educational. And I thought that I had done my part and the project was over. But then the Detroit News heard about what I was doing and wrote a story (July 20). Next thing you know, environmental lobbying groups are calling school asking if they can help get the word out. I realized that there had to be another way to get sig- natures; and then my friend told me about www.change.org . That night, we set up an online petition to collect even more signa- tures from people across our community, the region and the country. At 6:30 the next morning (July 21), a producer from a National Public Radio show, The Takeaway, called to interview me. Now, even more people know about this real problem. Since then, more newspapers have called and another lobbying group from Lake Michigan has sent out the petition to their entire group. I've watched this project grow in such a short amount of time; and I'm so encouraged by how eager people are to learn about the issue and get involved. Here's my hope: With the support of all those who signed the petition, I will soon travel to Washington, D.C., to personally bring this problem to our president and to our Congress. Here's my goal: that the Asian Carp don't make it past the Illinois River and our beautiful and historic Great Lakes stay safe. I know the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is already working to solve this problem; but more can, and must, be done. And that is why I will keep working on this issue even after my school project is long complete. You can help by learning about this issue and the problem of invasive species — and by speaking up by signing the petition. Because all of our voices count! ❑ Ellie Moskowitz, 11, lives in Bloomfield Hills. She will be a sixth-grader at Roeper this fall. This blog entry was co-written with her father, Rabbi Michael Moskowitz of Temple Shir Shalom. To sign her petition, go to the website environmentchange.org/petitionsiview/asking_ for action_to_stopthe_spread of asian_carp. Facts About Asian Carp The purpose of Ellie's petition project is to get the people of Illinois to close their canals so the carp will not get into the Great Lakes and devastate the fish population, ruin the ecosystem and hurt the economy. • Of the seven types of Asian Carp, it's the big head and silver carp that are threatening our waters. • Asian Carp can grow to more than 100 pounds. • The carp must eat 40 percent of their body weight each day. • Asian Carp eat plankton and other smaller fish, thus hurting the food supply of anything else in these waters. • These fish can jump 8-10 feet high and they do when they are frightened.