Polluted Water

Leschi Park, 1940, originally uploaded by Seattle Municipal Archives.

For those who think that humanity is a virus on the Earth, look long and hard at this photo from 70 years ago and realize that we have made strides in the right direction. Not many people around here know this: even as late as the 1960s, Lake Washington was like an open sewer. Now it's clean and stands in testament to the hard work of Metro - who handled the cleanup - and ultimately to a community-wide desire for a cleaner world. Think Globally, Act Locally.

Sometimes I struggle with the efforts of environmentalists who tend to favor the rights of what is not human, instead of embracing a balance between us and nature. I see now that most have their hearts in the right place, and are avoiding what we see in this picture. If that is their motivation, Good on them.