Fifty Years Ago Today....

I remember this. I remember my Dad going to Pittsburgh for work conferences and coming home with his white dress shirts gray and stinking from the air.

I remember days in summer when Mom wouldn't let us play outside because the air was so bad.

I remember going to visit the grands in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and being shown the Grand River.... brown and filthy, stinking, with barrels and chunks floating in it as it made its way to Lake Michigan. I remember thinking that my mom must have been making it up that it used to be a nice river where they had picnics next to it.

I remember visiting Lake Michigan's beach near Holland. There were dead fish as far as your eye could see. It stunk. There was a one-legged man (Vietnam War vet?) trying to walk through the sand on crutches, and to avoid stepping on the reeking dead fish.

I remember only seeing wild geese once in my entire first 20 years -- and they were flying up so high the only way to know them was by their honking; I remember my rapture at hearing their calls. I remember that I never saw a hawk, eagle, owl, or any other raptor till I was well into adulthood.

I remember Times Beach; I got my first alcohol drink there before it was bulldozed. It was contaminated with dioxin.

I remember all these things. The act that created the EPA was passed when I was 17 years old. It was signed into law by a Republican president. In that year I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Barry Commoner and shake his hand, at Missouri Botanical Garden. I remember that there was a time when all Americans wanted to change things together. Together we cleaned the air, the water, the Earth.

I want those days again.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I remember this. I remember my Dad going to Pittsburgh for work conferences and coming home with his white dress shirts gray and stinking from the air.

I remember days in summer when Mom wouldn't let us play outside because the air was so bad.

I remember going to visit the grands in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and being shown the Grand River.... brown and filthy, stinking, with barrels and chunks floating in it as it made its way to Lake Michigan. I remember thinking that my mom must have been making it up that it used to be a nice river where they had picnics next to it.

I remember visiting Lake Michigan's beach near Holland. There were dead fish as far as your eye could see. It stunk. There was a one-legged man (Vietnam War vet?) trying to walk through the sand on crutches, and to avoid stepping on the reeking dead fish.

I remember only seeing wild geese once in my entire first 20 years -- and they were flying up so high the only way to know them was by their honking; I remember my rapture at hearing their calls. I remember that I never saw a hawk, eagle, owl, or any other raptor till I was well into adulthood.

I remember Times Beach; I got my first alcohol drink there before it was bulldozed. It was contaminated with dioxin.

I remember all these things. The act that created the EPA was passed when I was 17 years old. It was signed into law by a Republican president. In that year I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Barry Commoner and shake his hand, at Missouri Botanical Garden. I remember that there was a time when all Americans wanted to change things together. Together we cleaned the air, the water, the Earth.

I want those days again.
Click to expand...

Glad I missed those. It looks like I grew up in a relatively pristine area.
 
I remember standing on a small pier in Cam Ranh. Looking down through this crystal clear water, down to the bottom to this beautiful white sand that was rippled, and wondering how far down it was. I'd never seen anything this pure and clean before, even swimming pools had chlorine that gave it a slight 'haze'. I had a coin, 10 piastre?, that I pulled from my pocket. I flipped it into the air, watched it hit the water, then I watched as it began to slowly tumble, catching the sunlight and 'twinkling' back at me as it slowly spun it's way to the bottom. When it hit the bottom, I could see a slight 'puff' of sand jump from the landing spot. It was incredible. I guessed by the length of time it took for the coin to reach the bottom, it must have been 10 feet deep. 50 years ago. I still remember that. At one time, Mother Earth must have been so beautiful, so clean, so pure.
 
I remember when I was very young (late 70's) when no one was allowed near the Androscoggin River because it was filled with the chemicals from the paper mills upstream. It was miserable! I remember the strange, brown foam that was always floating on it along with the dead fish. Things have always reached Maine later than in other states. Today, it's far cleaner and the birds and the fish are now back. I am so glad that the EPA exists, and that we wanted our lands and waters to be clean again.

Good news? The state of Maine has just banned single-use plastic bags. I have been using cloth bags for so long now, that I won't even notice any changes from it.
 
Aimée said:
I remember when I was very young (late 70's) when no one was allowed near the Androscoggin River because it was filled with the chemicals from the paper mills upstream. It was miserable! I remember the strange, brown foam that was always floating on it along with the dead fish. Things have always reached Maine later than in other states. Today, it's far cleaner and the birds and the fish are now back. I am so glad that the EPA exists, and that we wanted our lands and waters to be clean again.

Good news? The state of Maine has just banned single-use plastic bags. I have been using cloth bags for so long now, that I won't even notice any changes from it.
Click to expand...
We collect those bags and turn them in for recycling.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Jack said:
I remember standing on a small pier in Cam Ranh. Looking down through this crystal clear water, down to the bottom to this beautiful white sand that was rippled, and wondering how far down it was. I'd never seen anything this pure and clean before, even swimming pools had chlorine that gave it a slight 'haze'. I had a coin, 10 piastre?, that I pulled from my pocket. I flipped it into the air, watched it hit the water, then I watched as it began to slowly tumble, catching the sunlight and 'twinkling' back at me as it slowly spun it's way to the bottom. When it hit the bottom, I could see a slight 'puff' of sand jump from the landing spot. It was incredible. I guessed by the length of time it took for the coin to reach the bottom, it must have been 10 feet deep. 50 years ago. I still remember that. At one time, Mother Earth must have been so beautiful, so clean, so pure.
Click to expand...

LOL... good memory.

I recall the late 60's on Lake Tahoe & you could see boulders & rocks 80+ feet down-crystal clear... Now you don't see that much anymore there.

In the bay area it was much more like the others described....... Driving from San Jose to SF you had to go along the "bayshore" freeway, highway 101 & it smelt like an open sewer, because it was....

I also recall swimming a few years later out of Bilouxi, Ms, until I seen open, raw sewage floating in the hot green water.....

Much cleaner now in the bay area & you can see the foothills miles away....
 
Bill said:
LOL... good memory.

I recall the late 60's on Lake Tahoe & you could see boulders & rocks 80+ feet down-crystal clear... Now you don't see that much anymore there.

In the bay area it was much more like the others described....... Driving from San Jose to SF you had to go along the "bayshore" freeway, highway 101 & it smelt like an open sewer, because it was....

I also recall swimming a few years later out of Bilouxi, Ms, until I seen open, raw sewage floating in the hot green water.....

Much cleaner now in the bay area & you can see the foothills miles away....
Click to expand...

Yes. Industrialized countries are shitholes because of what they had to do to become 'Industrialized'.

"Water recycling is the process of taking effluent (wastewater and sewage) and treating it so that it can be reused. For potable (drinkable) use, the recycled water has to be treated to a sufficiently high level that it's suitable for human consumption."
https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/drinks/water/articles/recycled-drinking-water
 
Bill said:
LOL... good memory.

I recall the late 60's on Lake Tahoe & you could see boulders & rocks 80+ feet down-crystal clear... Now you don't see that much anymore there.

In the bay area it was much more like the others described....... Driving from San Jose to SF you had to go along the "bayshore" freeway, highway 101 & it smelt like an open sewer, because it was....

I also recall swimming a few years later out of Bilouxi, Ms, until I seen open, raw sewage floating in the hot green water.....

Much cleaner now in the bay area & you can see the foothills miles away....
Click to expand...

The parental units took us on a three-week trip out West in 1969. I remember the Truckee River, how clear and cold and beautiful it was. And Lake Tahoe, too. Nothing like the filthy brown sludge that we called the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers back home. Sometimes we would see someone pulled off on the side of the road, fly-fishing in the Truckee. Do they still do that?
 
Aimée said:
I remember when I was very young (late 70's) when no one was allowed near the Androscoggin River because it was filled with the chemicals from the paper mills upstream. It was miserable! I remember the strange, brown foam that was always floating on it along with the dead fish. Things have always reached Maine later than in other states. Today, it's far cleaner and the birds and the fish are now back. I am so glad that the EPA exists, and that we wanted our lands and waters to be clean again.

Good news? The state of Maine has just banned single-use plastic bags. I have been using cloth bags for so long now, that I won't even notice any changes from it.
Click to expand...

Good for you guys!
 
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