Will Great Rivers Die?

Will Great Rivers Die?


I was asked this question about our rivers in a philosophical debate with my peers a couple of weeks ago and when I ponder the subject of our many great rivers, I think of a Cree Indian Prophecy;

                   "Only after the Last Tree has been cut down,
                   Only after the Last River has been poisoned,
                   Only after the Last Fish has been caught,
                   Only then will you find that
                   Money Cannot Be Eaten."

The Headlines Read--

Patagonia's Pascua River Threatened by Massive Dam Project

B. Witte in Toward Freedom a periodical based in Chile reports that the humans who live there have a thirst' for energy and electricity to the extent of devouring the Patagonia's Pascua River. This river is home to the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the largest in the world outside of Antarctica and Greenland, the region is one of Chile's most powerful rivers, which flows from a hidden corner of Lago O'Higgins, South America's deepest lake (more than 830 meters).

The hydroelectric project being planned by Endesa, a Spanish-Italian enterprise, and Colbn, a Chilean energy company owned by the influential Matte family, are charging full speed ahead to rid this country of its natural resources. Joining them is company called HidroAysn and they are planning to build five massive dams in Aysn that would generate some 2,750 MW of electricity. That is roughly equivalent to 20 percent of Chile's current overall generating capacity. Three dams are slated for the Pascua. The other two would be built along the Baker River, Chile's most voluminous, which is located farther north.

They take, but they do not give back, it is all a matter of profit but not for the river, nor the eco-systems and ecologies that they destroy in the process. Our lifeline to existence is being destroyed, all in the name of the all mighty dollar. What is the value of profit and loss columns when compared to our survival as a species and the abundant life force producing planet that is being slowly drained of all life all around us?

Dead Zone Off Texas Coast Existed Since 1985

The Scientific Daily reports that researchers at Texas A&M University have confirmed for the first time that a ‘dead zone' exists. The dead zone area off the Texas coast extends from the Texas-Louisiana border area to Brownsville. A dead zone occurs when there is hypoxia, or oxygen-depleted water.

Such low levels of oxygen are caused by pollution from farm fertilizers as they empty into rivers and eventually the Gulf or by soil erosion or discharge from sewage treatment plants. This dead zone has existed off the Texas coast for at least the past 23 years and will likely remain there, causing potential harmful effects to marine life in the area.

I daresay this will cause harmful and fatal effects to the human population in general. Dead water means stagnant, undrinkable water by any mammal. It also cultivates bacteria that we have no anti-biotic to combat, as it is a super bacterial virus that has already survived the nuclear wastes, oil drills and its backlash of pollution. I do not even want to visualize the larva that will be laid and the insects born, spreading a super flu virus that would look like it came right out of a Stephen King novel.

Is Lake Mead Disappearing?

The water supply crisis is not just a third world issue. ENN reports that Nevada's Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the U.S., could go dry by 2021, (that is 13 years from 2008) claim scientists at the Scripp's Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California. With human-induced climate change and water usage continuing at the present rate of 1.3 million people depending on electricity from the Lake and 8 million people drinking its water, there is a 50% chance the lake will go dry in the very near future. The Colorado River's Water is also being consumed far beyond a sustainable level.

If we hit an all time high of drought with the current global warming conditions, matters will worsen quickly and will result in fatality of humans and other species that depend on this water for survival. I personally do not like the percentage ratios of losing our largest reservoir. You have better odds at a Vegas casino. What about the other eco-systems that we know absolutely nothing about that will die with our reservoir? Do we know where it falls in the order of the food chain and what it eats or consumes to survive and when this food no longer has a predator to keep its species in balance, what will it do?


Coral Reefs Are Dying Out

Because of changes to the microbes that live in them just as much as from the direct rise in temperature caused by global warming. Changes in sea temperature caused by climate change and global warming affect corals, but they also affect the types of bacteria and other micro-flora that live with them. When the water warms up, disease-causing bacteria are more successful and can attack the corals. The corals themselves suffer from heat. The friendly bacteria that normally live in the corals' guts become weakened, allowing other harmful bacteria to multiply and cause diseases.

Society for General Microbiology has stated that for many communities in developing countries, which rely on coral reefs for their fisheries and tourism income, the loss of coral reefs has major impacts on their economies.

They also lose valuable coastal land to coastal erosion, affecting human welfare in the communities. How many of these bacteria are we as humans immune to? Do we even consider that these bacteria could be air borne and could contaminate entire continents as they multiply and feed off human flesh? Moreover, if not flesh eating hosts, what about our trees and floral that provide oxygen and humidity that in effect produces water? Coral reefs are believed by many to be the beginnings of all intelligent life on this planet. Our oceans are warning us that we need to stop destroying the source of our own life-line as we do need water to sustain any life form.


Will Great Rivers Die?

These scientists are not trying to scare us into believing we have a drinkable water shortage, they are reporting the facts of the current human consumption. Global warming is not a debate or a fairy tale it is a fact. We as humans, have ZERO percent chance of survival without water. We need to seriously consider and demand that serious conservation programs and restrictions be put in place. Let us take this to a more personal level. Get involved in your own local elections and write your senators, house representatives and your governors. We, the people do elect our leaders with our votes, and if they represent us in policies and statutes passed for conservation then they need to listen. Alas, we need to make our voices heard about our concerns and demand that they put into effect conservation laws. It is necessary to follow through with checking to make sure that our current leaders are doing everything they can humanly do to make sure that these policies are created, presented, passed and adhered to, by enforcing these laws to the fullest extent of said law.

We need to take personal responsibility for our own actions and conserve at home, at work and at play, and raise our children to conserve water and energy in the same light. We need to have enough integrity to refuse to work for a company that does not follow environmentally safe procedures. We need to buy products that are locally produced instead of going the cheap and easy route of environmentally unsafe imports. You personally can make a difference by starting a recycle campaign at your place of employment for paper as they have companies that will supply the cans, and actually pick up your recycled paper items. Plant a tree on Arbor day, making it a community or family affair to do so. Be the planet Earth's hero and speak for Her, as she cannot in our current world speak for Herself.

Recycling all paper, aluminum, high-density retail bags, using our water with prudence and good sense, and getting our communities involved in these kinds of actions will pay off. But we must be the example and take the initiative to start our own caring actions.

Some tips for conserving water:
1) Turn the facet off when brushing your teeth or when not rinsing when you
shower.
2) If you water your lawn or maintain your own landscaping, only water 3 times a week, ILO every day.
3) Only, wash full loads of laundry and dishes in the machines designed for this. (This also saves on carbon dioxide emissions.)
4) Fill a tub, rather than leaving the water running in a shower or while rinsing/washing household items.
5) Use your water conservatively as if you live in a desert.

Some tips on recycling:
1) Acquire a separate can for paper and aluminum recycling.
2) Store or prepare for recycling as you use the items. i.e. a can crusher for aluminum.
3) Store your plastic bags in a plastic bag and take them to the store with you every time you shop.
4) Scrap paper is very effective for craft items or can be used for projects needing fill, ILO of using Styrofoam products, (styrofoam damages more than our environment) which pollute the air to manufacture and take 3 times as long to bio-degrade.
5) Read your ingredient labels for cleaning supplies, and only buy those that do not contain toxins that are harmful to your water supply.
6) Re-use your shampoo and soap containers by buying them in large bulk packaging ILO small containers.
7) Be aware of the products you buy, how they are manufactured, and how you can recycle them.

As the consumer, you decide which products are sold in the stores. As the educated consumer, you can choose not to buy a product, and ban together with your community not to purchase certain products due to their earth harming procedures for manufacture, toxic ingredients and by-products. If products are not bought by you, the consumer; then the retail outlets will no longer buy and sale these said same products.

Some tips for energy conservation:
1) Turn off the lights and any electrical appliance when you are not using them.
2) Do not run your dishwasher, your washer, your dryer, two televisions you cannot hear and cook at the same time.
3) Keep your thermostat at a constant temperature because your heater or air conditioner must use more energy to fluctuate between heat and cold than it does to maintain a constant temperature. Only adjust it 2 degrees either direction in the winter or summer. (change your clothes not the thermostat)
4) Ride your bicycle or walk when you are close enough to your destination to do so. Not only does it save energy and fuel, it does not pollute the air with fossil fuel emissions.
5) Maintain your HVAC system. You could save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, not to mention the money your own pocketbook will save.
6) Replace frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. They last longer, use less energy, which means less pollution from power plants.

Another thing we can do as a human for our earth is to demand that our world leaders ensure that our current environmental pollution laws are enforced instead of shrugging our shoulders and pointing the finger to someone or something else, let us make them do something about it, or lose the next election. Find out what environmental laws are in effect in your state or region and then investigate those responsible for polluting our rivers, oceans, air and earth and see if they have followed through on federal and state legislated clean up they have been ordered to take care of.

The US Clean Water Act in the 1970's did improve water quality, but it also called for zero discharge of pollutants into navigable water by 1985 and fishable waters by 1983. Most of our lakes and rivers in the US still suffer some level of pollution, discharges are still permitted, the EPA calculates that 40% of our lakes, streams and rivers are unsafe for fishing or swimming. The number of US river miles on which people have been restricted from eating the fish has risen sharply since the early 1990's.

Encourage and use smart agricultural practices including your own fertilizer for your flowers and personal gardens. Stop relying on chemicals and learn about what it takes to really make your garden grow, so to speak with natural solutions that don't pollute and rape your soil of nutrients and don't pollute the water. The Grinning Planet reports one thing that works well to help control backyard and neighborhood pollution is to implement urban and suburban storm water management strategies, including:
• preserving undeveloped land to help soak up rains; and
• constructing wetlands, stream buffer zones, and settlement ponds to allow contaminated runoff to undergo natural biological remediation before it gets into the watershed.

Stop the deforestation. You can support healthy forests by supporting efforts to ban clear cutting, supporting road-less rules that keep logging roads out of pristine national forests, and again on a more personal level, make smarter lumber and paper choices for yourself by implementing methods to save paper. We can also clean up our current mining practices in the US. Coal, metals and other products produced by mining are part of what built modern society, but techniques exist for doing these operations that are much cleaner, more efficient and effective. We need to insure that profit margins are not the priority and our water supply is, for the consumers need to insist that regulatory agencies force these industries to clean up long abandoned but still polluting mines and demand that the mining industry stop the highly destructive coal mining practice of mountaintop removal mining, which often buries streams altogether.

Yes, this is going to take a lot of work, a lot of energy and a lot of our own time to enforce all the pollution laws already in place. It will require even more of the same to put into effect demands of environmental clean up by corporations and industries that have been allowed to murder entire species with their careless policies of bottom line hysteria. But if we want to be around in the next twenty years and leave our children a legacy worth inheriting, then we need to re-order our priorities. We need to decide that we value clean water and air, nutrient and abundant earth without chemicals for our food and the natural cycle of earths systems more than a corporation's gross margin being 15% higher than it was the year before. It is essential to our survival as the human race, not just a great idea or a nice thing to do for the planet.

I cannot reiterate enough the importance of taking personal responsibility for our own consummation of environment and health damaging products that we can change without an act of congress, or an act of God for that matter. We the people do have the power to change how we live, what we eat, drink, use and consume and how we treat our planet by being the change we wish to see.

Earth, our blue planet of life, is the only home we have, and as such, we should love, honor and cherish Her. On that note, I come back to my original thought and I quote from a wise one that I, for one, hope this prophecy never comes into being:

                   A Cree Indian Prophecy

                   "Only after the Last Tree has been cut down,
                   Only after the Last River has been poisoned,
                   Only after the Last Fish has been caught,
                   Only then will you find that
                   Money Cannot Be Eaten."