In 2008, Friends contracted with the National Wildlife Federation, on behalf of The Healing Our Waters® - Great Lakes Coalition, to help coordinate and conduct a tour of the Great Lakes for the Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives Campaign. The Tour’s purpose was to highlight the need to fund the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy; a strategy that calls for $26 billion in federal funds to restore and protect the Great Lakes. As part of this campaign, the tour also highlighted the Brookings Institution report Healthy Waters, Strong Economy Report , which details the economic, social and environmental benefits that this federal investment would produce.
The Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland OH, the location of a very successful media event

That summer Friends, the National Wildlife Federation, and hundreds of volunteers organized press conferences and a variety of public events in 13 different Great Lakes cities. Earth Voyager traveled over 4,500 miles to be the centerpiece of these events and proved to be a very successful tool for attracting media attention and uniting cities behind the same Great Lakes message. It is estimated that the tour generated 2 million media impressions and a total media value of $250,000. Today, the boat is well known throughout the Great Lakes as a champion of sailing and water quality protection.


Please see Earth Voyager Healthy Lakes promotional video