Friday, April 24, 2009

Poisoned water; a PBS special

Over the last two days, I have in spurts and when I have time between other activities, been watching the PBS special "Poisoned Waters". This documentary just came out over the last couple days. This documentary while almost two hours long takes a hard look at the quality of two bodies of water, the Chesapeake bay and the Puget Sound, that bracket this country. 

Poisoned water shows the condition of the two bodies of water and if one were to read between the lines has a very powerful message for those of us living within the Pacific Northwest region. If we were to take the Chesapeake bay as a view of the sound as seen through a crystal ball 50 years into the future it is quite a dismal view. In its current state the bay is dying at a rapid pace due to the urban sprawl that is taking place in its watershed. Here in the Northwest we have not got to the stage where we are so over populated however looking at cities such as Seattle and Issaquah as we become more of an attraction and as the quality of life for those currently living their gets better, more and more people are going to want to get in on the action. What then and how will it affect the sound?

I cant say how the next several years will play out for these two bodies of water nor does this film attempt to do so which gives each one of us a role to play in it. Now as actors in this documentary what will we do to write the next phase, the next chapter or the next scene that future generations will be looking at? What will their reaction to our actions be? Will they say, "wow, thats the year, the month, the day when things were turned around and it started to get better". Will there be a holiday dedicated to us as the day when we took a stand to make our corner of the world be the tip of the spear in the movement to bring about a healthy world? Well I guess its time we do something about it.

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