Learning from our history?

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Sir Winston Churchill

Forty-six years ago today the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1972 were enacted by the House over the veto of then President Nixon. We have been part of a pilot effort in Massachusetts working on the implications of Section 208, Areawide Water Quality Management Planning, while the Amendments were still known as the Muskie-Blatnik bill. We believe the nation's waters are cleaner than they would have been without the 1972, and subsequent, amendments. We also believe there are some critically important cautionary lessons to be learned, especially when we look at milestones that must be reached to minimize the negative effects of climate change on human beings.

does the St. Louis River meet standards as it enters Lake Superior?

Photo by J. Harrington

Here is the objective and the goals of Public Law 92-500 as enacted:

The objective of this Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. In order  to  achieve this objective  it  is hereby declared  that,  consistent with the provisions of this Act—

"(1)  it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985;

"(2)  it is the national goal that wherever attainable, an interim goal of water quality which provides for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for recreation in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983;..."

does the Mississippi River meet standards as it flows through Minneapolis?

Photo by J. Harrington

As far as we know, we have not come close to meeting either the 1983 goal nor the 1985 goal, and even less so the Act's objective. In fact, in Minnesota about 40% of the waters fail to meet standards. (We can no longer find any data on the EPA web site that provides comparable information at a nation scale.)

It's been 33 years since 1985 and 35 years since 1983. If we make progress toward keeping our green house gases at a level that keeps temperature increases at or below 1.5 ℃ with the same level of success we've met the water quality goals, our descendants will deservedly curse us.

We have seen little, if any, evidence that reaching the water quality or the climate change goals is technologically or economically unfeasible. It's not that we can't do it, it's that we won't do it. We're like the toddler who throws a tantrum when told NO! In reality, we find our approach to protecting the environment has about as much credibility as Senator McConnell's assertion that Social Security and Medicare, not tax cuts for the 1%, are to blame for the growing deficit. Greed is not only unseemly, it is hazardous to our health.

There It Is

By Jayne Cortez

My friend

they don't care

if you're an individualist

a leftist  a rightist

a shithead or a snake

They will try to exploit you

absorb you  confine you

disconnect you  isolate you

or kill you

And you will disappear into your own rage

into your own insanity

into your own poverty

into a word a phrase a slogan a cartoon

and then ashes

The ruling class will tell you that

there is no ruling class

as they organize their liberal supporters into

white supremacist lynch mobs

organize their children into

ku klux klan gangs

organize their police into

killer cops

organize their propaganda into

a device to ossify us with angel dust

preoccupy us with western symbols in

african hair styles

inoculate us with hate

institutionalize us with ignorance

hypnotize us with a monotonous sound designed

to make us evade reality and stomp our lives away

And we are programmed to self-destruct

to fragment

to get buried under covert intelligence operations of

unintelligent committees impulsed toward death

And there it is

The enemies polishing their penises between

oil wells at the pentagon

the bulldozers leaping into demolition dances

the old folks dying of starvation

the informers wearing out shoes looking for crumbs

the life blood of the earth almost dead in

the greedy mouth of imperialism

And my friend

they don't care

if you're an individualist

a leftist  a rightist

a shithead or a snake

They will spray you with

a virus of legionnaire's disease

fill your nostrils with

the swine flu of their arrogance

stuff your body into a tampon of

toxic shock syndrome

try to pump all the resources of the world

into their own veins

and fly off into the wild blue yonder to

pollute another planet

And if we don't fight

if we don't resist

if we don't organize and unify and

get the power to control our own lives

Then we will wear

the exaggerated look of captivity

the stylized look of submission

the bizarre look of suicide

the dehumanized look of fear

and the decomposed look of repression

forever and ever and ever

And there it is

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.