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Community Corner

Win a Toyota Prius By Saving Water

Wyland Foundation encourages water conservation with a National Mayor's Challenge.

Save Water. Win a Prius.

That’s the slogan for the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, sponsored by the Wyland Foundation.

“Water is a common resource that we all need,” said Steve Creech, program director of the foundation which has its headquarters in Aliso Viejo. "This is a fun way of engaging the community about something that's vitally important to all of us. Anyone can participate whether their mayor participates or not.”

Mayors are encouraged to challenge their residents to visit mywaterpledge.com from March 30 to April 30. Visitors to the website enter their zip code and then make a series of online pledges to conserve water, save energy and reduce pollution.

Participants in cities with the highest percentage of residents who take the challenge will be eligible to win more than 1,000 prizes, including a Toyota Prius and water-saving home products from Waterpik, Sterling Plumbing, Rainbird, and Lowe's.

“The mayor’s challenge gives communities a way to come together for one very important reason—the future of our planet,” said famed marine artist Wyland. “We see mayors making gentlemen’s bets over who will win college football games. Here’s a way for them to take on an even more important challenge
in a friendly, competitive way.”

The Mayor’s Challenge is just one of the ways that this non-profit organization shares information about clean water.

“We do about 75 to 100 community events each year,” said Creech.

At these events, the Wyland Foundation uses art and science to raise awareness about protecting watersheds.

Activities for children and families include water quality testing, mural painting, a life-size maze about water conservation and a massive water exhibit on wheels called the Clean Water Mobile Learning Experience.

Since 2008, the Mobile Learning Experience has been visiting schools across the country, reaching more than 250,000 students. The 1,000 square foot trailer includes interactive science exhibits, computer models and a 4-D theater.

Students can spin a “Wheel of (Mis)Fortune” to learn about cause and effect in an estuary’s food web. They see how humans can reverse their actions by replanting and recycling and how man can be a cause for good or bad, or have a neutral effect.

In a giant model of an urban landscape, students press a button to create rain over a watershed.

They watch as rain disperses hundreds of pellets, which represent pollutants like cigarette butts, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals and motor oil, throughout the watershed. The students discover that most of these toxins find their way into the watershed and eventually out to sea.

In the theater, students watch a 4-D video in which Tony Hawk and other professional athletes talk about how our everyday actions can cause pollutants to wash into storm drains that lead to the ocean.

Find out what's happening in Aliso Viejowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At the end of the video, Wyland reminds viewers that “every drop counts.”

Best known for the life-size whales he began painting on the sides of buildings in the 80’s, Wyland uses his paintings, sculpture and photography to promote awareness about marine life conservation.

Wyland started the foundation in 1993, but Creech stresses, “it’s not a one-man band. We have a great team of caring, incredible, resourceful people.”

“We have a unique position,” Creech said, “Art is a gateway for further understanding for a myriad of subjects. In our case, it's a perfect way to teach people about science and our environment.”

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Find out what's happening in Aliso Viejowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To learn more about the Wyland Foundation, visit wylandfoundation.org.

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