Forty years ago today, oil soaked debris in the Cuyahoga River caught fire. This wasn’t the first fire on the river, but the timing in 1969 coincided with the environmental movement, and the incident famously helped spark the Clean Water Act. Now the river is in much better shape, having rebounded in some stretches to the point that the Environmental Protection Agency has declared it completely restored.
The resiliency of nature is amazing to witness, with some 60 fish species now living in waters that were completely devoid of life not long ago. Having grown up in an industrial paper mill town in Ohio, I recall the sights of industrial waste, the piles of coal that powered the plants in town, and dramatically reduced river flows due to water-intensive manufacturing. It’s heartening to see that things can be completely turned around in such a short period of time, given the proper attention and urgency.
Will we all be able to look back in forty years time regarding similar turning points that put a halt on climate change?
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Im totally agreed