A Walk and a community celebration were both held Sunday, April 18 in Millbrook, Ontario to mark the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day. Millbrook is located between Peterborough and Port Hope on the northern border of the Oak Ridges Moraine. 

    Close to 120 people completed the 11 km Walk held to raise public awareness of the hazards of the plan to take water sourced from the Oak Ridges Moraine to service a proposed development between Millbrook and Peterborough.  The walk followed the proposed route of the pipeline that will take water from the Millbrook wells through a section of the Cavan Marsh to the hamlet of Fraserville.  Millbrook and the surrounding area are dependent on water from wells that tap into an unmapped groundwater source.  On the table is a proposal from developers to build residential, commercial and industrial units on vacant land a dozen kilometres northeast of the Millbrook wells, drawing up to 800% more water per day from the aquifer.  Area residents are gravely concerned about the long term effects that the taking of this volume of water will have on the quantity and the quality of water for not just residents and landowners, but also for all life supported by marshes, wetlands, and cold water streams in the area.

    For non-walkers, the local school gym was filled with participants of all ages who gathered to celebrate the riches of the natural world around them.  Children enjoyed the hands-on experience offered by the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre and laughed with the eco-antics of the Paddlin’ Puppeteers.  They made birdhouses from kits and decorated the branches of a Pledge Tree with construction paper leaves bearing a hand-written personal promise to help protect the environment, each in their own way.  First Nations singer and drummer Dorothy Taylor from CurveLake focused the crowd on the sacredness of Creation and Washboard Hank in his unique style, entertained and engaged young and old with song and story and lots of enthusiasm and noise!  Participants in the Pipeline Awareness Walk arrived just in time to share in the giant Earth Day cake, served up with ice cream, and everyone went away bearing seeds, cuttings and seedlings and renewed awareness of the vital link between each one of us and the natural world.