People who are blase about the risks to the Great Lakes only need look at the continuing trashing of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The Bay and its signature blue crabs are dying.
I grew up not far from the Maryland Eastern shore, and I can tell you, what's happened to the Bay is criminal.
I too grew up in the Chesapeake region in Anne Arundel County, about 5 miles from the Bay, in the 1970s and 80's, and witnessed the first part of the bay ecosystem crash related to the striped bass and other fisheries. Irresponsible development was fingered as the culprit even then. Do we never learn? Sustainable development techniques such as green building, emphasizing rail over pavement, mixed use residential/commercial/retaill developments in walkable communities, bioswales, naturalized storm water basins, infiltration swales, green roofs, and emphasizing native plants over turf grass can do a lot to mitigate the ill effects of development. However, the bottom-line, inside the box thinking road and oil focused development community has pooh-poohed such innovations as "too expensive" and "pie in the sky". They still persit in mow/herbicide down to the water's edge and cover over 10% of the watershed in impervious, salt and chemical blasted roof and road surfaces, which leads to irreversable decline of the natural environment and water quality of the resource. It's criminal indeed.
ReplyDelete