The Washington Nationals baseball team has a brand-new stadium to play in. Interestingly, the new digs provides a perfect backdrop for a story on the Anacostia river and watershed. I heard about the NPR Anacostia Story today and decided to look into it a bit, and that’s where I found the following story, written by David A. Fahrenthold of the Washington Post. He does an excellent job of covering the river, its tributaries, and the way it affects those living in the area. To summarize, the river is dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty! It’s plagued with trash, PCBs and sewage, the latter additive being a perfume baseball fans will have to live with, for now. The city wants to develop the area into something more commercial, with shops and I imagine dining and so forth, as has been done in other waterfront-reclamation projects. The update to the stadium project is that, while less green than desired, they did make certain that sewage from the park will not flow into the Anacostia during storms. There are a decent number of people interested in the watershed’s rehabilitation, both private and commercial, but it will be a big task, and it touches on our wrong-headed approach to managing the land around us. We must find a way to pave less in order to allow rainwater to seep into the ground the way it is supposed to, not go rushing down paved streets, blasting its way into storm systems which often cannot handle the increased capacity during heavy rains. It’s engineering of the past, and we know better now. Projects exist out there where permeable pavement exists, and where rooftop gardens are encouraged, and they need to be further developed to handle these issues. Of course, Americans need to change their relationship with their lawns, and their herbicides and pesticides. Lastly, we need to stop throwing garbage, like old tires, car bumpers, shopping carts and plastic bags in our water supplies. I mean, really, what kind of animal trashes their own territory, but knows better?

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Did your hot morning beverage kill a songbird today? It’s possible. I know, there are so many things we as consumers must be conscious of that it is easy to lose track of them all. It’s interesting to watch the cultural evolution happening over the last century in the US, where we have gone from being barely able to buy basic necessities, to having so much junk in our homes that our garages and landfills are overflowing with it. Our lives are complicated by our cultural, possibly even human need to buy more stuff. Shopping, for many in the US, isn’t simply about getting the bare necessities, but it’s also about entertainment. What to do today? Go out to a park and go for a hike? Take a walk? Naw, let’s go to the mall. Too many of us fill our spare moments with shopping, and that’s because it is built into our culture. How many trips do you make away from your house, where you don’t spend any money? It used to be easier to do so when the old bank account was modestly endowed, but now, thanks to cheap credit, you never have to stop buying stuff. Our economy is designed this way; George Bush isn’t giving you some of your tax money back for nothing. How long can this waste-blitz continue?

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What? A politician talking about something of which he is not quite learned? Well, no big surprise there, eh? Shame, though. All it takes is a little time and patience and a commitment to the truth, not pandering to a crowd that may be as uninformed about the subject as McCain himself. And the subject in question? The conservation of wildlife, bears to be more specific. Yah, it’s important, not something to belittle. Who sponsored part of the original funding to study the bears? Conrad Burns, a republican.

• McCain Unbearable

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Yes, more sad news regarding seafood. Hey, what can I say? It’s the times we live in, not my fault. I know it gets to be a drag to hear about the neglectful state of our oceans and ocean-going creatures, but, what needs to be said needs to be said. We’ve put lots of stuff off for a long time, averting our gaze, hoping that we weren’t causing too much harm, but how long can that phase last? Fishing is an industry that simply must be modernized and made sustainable. We can’t continue to harvest the oceans like it’s 1899. Some in the fishing industry even recognize this, but many don’t. Scientists, those who’ve studied the oceans for a lifetime, have seen species crash right before their very eyes. It’s not theory, it’s fact. The problem is, how do we get humanity to change its wasteful binge here on Earth, because that requires a lifestyle change, a little sacrifice, as if somehow the whole pageant of life isn’t all about us…

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It has been known for quite a while that our water is polluted with pharmaceuticals. Here is a story giving more details on the issue. The drugs pass through humans, farm animals, and even our pets and get into our sewage systems, rivers and aquifers. Yes, everything from hormones to antibiotics to cholesterol-lowering drugs to pharmaceuticals for heart and mental health, and in many places around the world, not just in the United States. Also, don’t expect your bottled water to be free from contamination, because it’s just now being lightly tested for in our water supplies, and no method has been developed to remove them yet. The quantities are small, but, scientists simply do not know the long-term effects of being exposed to these drugs on a daily basis. They do know the harmful effects of amphibians being exposed to certain feminizing hormones, the defects in the males being born to these species. We’d better get cracking!

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