The Anthony Celebrezze put out the Cuyahoga River when it caught fire 50+ years ago. It was not the only River to catch fire, industrial discharge created oil slick on the water, the oil was what caught fire. Discharging oil was illegal at that time, but the law was seldom enforced, and the fine was $50. Even adjusted for inflation, it was cheaper to pump / dump in the River than to pay for disposal. And the laws changed, and enforcement increased, and the fines went up. And the River came back to life. The Environment is robust, it recovers, when we don't abuse it. Treat the world well, or it will kill us off, so it can heal.
Even today, industry including industrial agriculture are the largest source of chemical discharge. Skipping showers, and recycling your aluminum cans for a lifetime, won't stop as much damage as a single coal fired power plant in one day.
Still there are things we can do.
I can remember when plastic shopping bags were introduced as a way to "save the trees." Really it was a way to reduce the grocers cost by a few pennies per bag. Trees regrow in a few years - tree farms are environmentally helpful- most plastic bags are made from petrochemicals that take millions of year to regenerate. And let's face it plastic bags don't work well, for the most part we use them once and toss them away.
A simple alternative, carry reusable shopping bags. There is a stack of them in each of our cars, we use them, empty them, and return them to the cars. They are always there when we need them. They last - sometimes for years. They are stronger, hold more, are easier on the hands, and on the earth.
I was at the farmers market last weekend, buying dill and white turnips from my favorite organic farmer, and before I could say "no, please don't" my purchase was stuffed in a plastic bag. Granted it is a plant based plastic that will biodegrade, but I was standing there with two canvas bags. I tossed the plastic bag as soon as I was home. What a waste. It probably cost Giovani 2-3-cents, I didn't want it, I didn't need it. Simply ask, do you want that in a bag? Next time I will speak up faster and say, thank you, I don't need a bag.
Limiting a shower head to 2 or 3 gallons per minute, is essential in the Colorado River watershed, here on the east coast, not really. The water that I would enjoy in my shower, flows out into the Atlantic, at a rate of millions of gallons every hour. People living around the shores of the great lakes, will never lack fresh water. But Congress can't legislate different standards based on actual need, or at least they don't think they can. If I could send a spare thousand gallons to friends in Phoenix I would. But it seems to go there 750ml at a time, via Kentucky. And the good stuff has doubled in price in the past decade.
Oh well, I do my little part.
