Today is the third day of rain here in parched metro Atlanta. The rain we have received won't make much difference in the lake and reservoir levels, but perhaps it signals the end of the drought. I once read a poem in which hell was described as one sunny day after another: clear blue sky for eternity. We've had a taste of that hell here, with each lovely clear day heralding more shrinking water supplies.
The first day it rained, I collected water from downspouts, storing the water in a large plastic garbage pail for future use in watering our plants during the outdoor watering ban. The second day it rained, I was at work and unable to continue my water conservation plan. The third day of rain, today, I gaze optimistically out the window, hoping that the rain heralds a wetter season and eventual cessation of watering bans. (We are planning, however, to install rain barrels so that I won't have to get wet collecting water in tiny bathroom garbage pails to transfer to a larger container!)
The drought isn't over, of course, and even if Lake Sidney Lanier fills to its banks again, the worry of drought shouldn't be over. Atlanta continues to grow, adding "55 acres of concrete, asphalt, and rooftops" every day, according to a University of Georgia study that has been quoted recently in the media. Concrete and asphalt divert the water, preventing it from soaking into the ground. The concrete, asphalt, and rooftops absorb heat and release that heat into the atmosphere, affecting weather patterns. Unchecked growth and unregulated construction damage the environment and guarantee future catastrophes.
Scientists have been warning us about the effects of environmental degradation for years, but we haven't listened, and our governmental leaders have downplayed the danger. Even today, as wildfires destroy thousands of homes and acres of forests in California, as Central Texas recovers from massive floods, as cities in the Southeast, such as Atlanta, face severe water shortages, our government continues to muffle the clarion call for deliberate and decisive action: the Associated Press today reports that the White House "edited congressional testimony given Tuesday by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the impact of climate change on health, removing specific scientific references to potential health risks, according to two sources familiar with the documents." (emphasis mine)
And here in Georgia, our Republican governor threatens to sue the Army Corps of Engineers in order to prevent water being released from Lake Lanier for endangered species downstream. "What's more important, people or mussels"? he has sputtered.
Our esteemed leaders just don't get it--or worse, they get it and just don't care, opting for the short term, politically expedient action. We are the mussels; the mussels are us. We are part of this environment, not separated from--nor superior to--the environment. The choice here should not be an either/or, should never have come to an either/or. Our stupid decisions--in political leaders and in environmental husbandry--have put us where we are. And no governmental redaction or suppression of scientific research is going to prevent the consequences.
1 comment:
As many before have commented (including Derrick Jensen in his ENDGAME books and others), what you refer to as "unchecked growth" is implicit in our economic system and culture. There can never be enough "growth" (until we've totally used up the earth's resources), though the term has taken on mostly negative characteristics, as one speaks of a cancer growing. In the educational system, "continuous improvement or growth" is a key phrase. It's assumed that all students and schools can constantly show growth (in their test scores, that is, which are considered primary). The quality of time spent at school is made to seem irrelevant to the task of studying for tests to show "growth."
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