The city we live in—Fort McMurray, Alberta—surrounds a portion of the Athabasca River. This river travels across four major geographic regions in Alberta (Rocky Mountains, Foothills, Grasslands, and the Boreal Forest; the headwaters are located in the Rocky Mountains and end up in the Arctic Ocean. If this river were to be polluted with plastic bags, wrappers or Soda Pop holders, it can be hypothesized the plastic would stretch from our homes all the way to the animals of the north (Arctic Ocean). It is not a new discovery that animals —especially small ones, at the bottom of the food chain— can get caught in these pieces of plastic with no way out. This will later come back up in the food chain and affect humans too through biomagnification. For example, if a small animal such as a ray gets caught in plastic, and a bigger animal such as a killer whale preys on the ray, then the plastic will be consumed by the whale, this means toxins such as PCB will be consumed in the whale. Furthermore, if the whale is consumed by a human, the PCB will have a stronger effect and will harm the human. The Athabasca also has many man-made environmental stressors along the way—including forestry, agriculture, pulp mills, and most importantly, the oil sands. Pollutants, toxins, and chemicals including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mercury, methylmercury are all released by the mining and processing of bitumen. Plastics in the ocean attract and absorb heavy metal contamination, which can be transferred from the waste to the fish/wildlife. To better help the environment, wildlife, and to better help our world, we must keep our streams and rivers pollution free; we must come together be a great, big eco-machine.

The Bow River is very important to Calgary. It runs through our city and provides a massive amount of power through hydroelectricity. The Bow flows down the east and turns into the Southern Saskatchewan river, and finally ends up in the Hudsons Bay.

The Fraser River is a predominant river in BC that runs from Metro Vancouver, up north towards Garibaldi Lake. This river has had a major impact on Vancouver's economic and industrial growth, and yet mistreatment throughout the decades has left it as a sore spot in the BC Identity. Poor waste management from paper mills specifically has been very damaging, along with urban runoff, overfishing, and other human impacts. My dad tells me stories about fishing on the Fraser River, about the salmon runs that used to occur every year, and it is hard to believe we are speaking about the same body of water. It seems in the industrial growth of the city the natural resources were overlooked and even abused. I wonder how we can solve the world's problems if we cannot take care of our own backyard. The Fraser River is a good example, in my mind, of how saving local environments will have a positive impact on the global problem. 

I live right on the Saint John River. This river connects to the Bay of Fundy and then goes into the Atlantic Ocean. If I were to pollute this beautiful river, I'm assuming that the plastic would flow right down the river and eventually end up in the Ocean. This river not only is the place I call home, but it also holds that very title for many, many more people. These are all people that like to enjoy the river and use it as much as they can in the summertime for boating and also a good spot for playing hockey on in the winter. No matter the time, this area is the town's main attraction and if we want to keep it this beautiful, we need to be aware of what we're using it for. Many of our boats pollute the river, and things that you would think to be harmless on a nice hot summers day like a freezie wrapper or a simple water bottle can add up over time. We live in the moment too often and we need to look at the longterm effects that we have on what we cherish the most.

The Athabasca River is the longest river in Alberta (1,538 km). The first 168 km (located in Jasper National Park) are designated as a Canadian Heritage River. Athabasca flows into the Slave River and joins the McKenzie River, which eventually flows to the Arctic Ocean. River flow is highest during the summer and lowest during winter, and it is ice-covered from mid-November to mid-April. If we placed a plastic bag in a Athabasca River then it will flow to the Arctic Ocean. Plastics in the river of athabasca can kill water animals like fishes, ground animals like bears and humans. 

I live in Kamloops where the South Thompson River and the North Thompson River join to become the Thompson River. To get to the ocean it passes through Kamloops Lake then heads down where it eventually meets up and ends at the Fraser River near Lytton. The Thompson is the largest river that leads into the Fraser. The conditions in the river would probably alternate between slow moving waters and rapids as it moved towards the coast. In this river there are many different kinds of fish like salmon and trout. It has one of the largest Salmon Runs in the world that takes place in it. Plastic placed into this river would probably have a big impact because even if the plastic did not manage to get to the ocean it would still have a large impact on the marine life especially for the salmon.