Re: [Paddlewise] ACA abandons conservation & advocacy!!!

On Thu, Mar 25, 2004 at 03:09:28PM -0500, Robert A. Glantz, Jr. wrote:
> Uggghhh! The extremism of some of the environmental members are what
> turn the rest of us off to their message.... I get so tired of it....

I hardly think it's "extremist" to do what's possible to see that
our shared waterways are preserved -- for us, for the fish, for the
ducks, for people who drink from it, for everyone.  It's due diligence.
It's shared responsbility.  It's OUR responsibility as one group of
people who wish to use those resources.

> Rolling in an oil slick? Come on! As if they are PURPOSELY trying to
> lose MILLIONS of $$$ when a tanker runs aground or spills MILLIONS of
> $$$ in crude oil... Uggghhh....

Actually, even a cursory study of the history of water pollution indicates
that a great deal WAS done on purpose.  It was done because it was cheaper
to use the public's waterways as a waste disposal facility than to pay
the costs of properly treating effluent and wastewater.  People only
stopped -- IF they stopped -- because laws were enacted and enforced to
MAKE them stop.  (I will also suggest that failure to build and use
superior -- but more expensive -- oil tanker designs was *also* done
as a cost-saving measure, with, of course, predictable consequences.)

For example, less than an hour's drive from here is the Codorus Creek,
a small stream that wanders through York, PA.  There is a fine whitewater
section, class II-III, and many miles of milder water that meander through
some very pretty central Pennsylvania countryside.  It's really quite nice.

Don't flip, though.  Because the tea color of the water is the result of
two paper mills upstream, and if it makes contact with your eyes, your
nose, your throat, or any small cuts you might have, it BURNS.  Those paper
mills are still discharging *today* because nobody has made them stop.
They're doing it because, of course, it would put a serious crimp in
their profits if they were compelled to treat their wastewater properly.

And believe me, they know EXACTLY what the impact is.  They are choosing
to keep polluting the Codorus because they like making money -- no other
reason.  They'll keep doing it until someone makes them stop.

You can repeat this exercise with the Schuylkill in Pennsylvania, or
with the beautiful, wild Cheat in West Virginia, or the North Branch
of the Potomac in Maryland, or the Kanawha in West Virginia, or the
Ocoee in Tennessee, or dozens of other streams.

I consider it my responsibility as a paddler who traverses those rivers
to preserve them, protect them, and restore them.  I also consider it
the responsibility of the US's largest paddling organization.  And I
consider it the responsibility of EVERY paddler to do their part to
do the same for the waterways they use -- river, lake and ocean.

It's really a small thing to ask of ourselves in return for the
beauty and adventure and enjoyment that we are privileged to experience.

---Rsk
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