"Topsoil: going fast. Rivers: dammed and fouled." -Robert Hass

As our caravan made its way through the trees and into a clearing, it was explained to us by our tour guides that Lake Hancock is one of the most polluted lakes in the state of Florida. The line that I opened this post with reminded me of this sadness. Men have destroyed this lake and most don't even think there's anything wrong with that. I don't know where I stand politically on environmental issues, but I personally feel obligated to do something about the ecological holes that we as Americans keep literally and metaphorically digging ourselves into.

At Circle-B, we learned that the ecosystem changes with very slight elevations. It is so fragile, and the air is, "As sensitive to temperature as skin is to a lover's touch," as Hass's simile describes. This means that where we tear down a tree or level a parcel of land for planting, the air as well as a whole population of plants and animals could be decimated mercilessly. It doesn't make me sad to think about small mites dying, or a couple of oak trees being cut down, but the more and more that we destroy, the more repercussions it will have on society as a whole. God designed the earth to have a chain. Each link to the chain is important and should not be tampered with, or we'll be in serious trouble for the future.

The last section of Hass's poem when he talks about the girl with, "her tendrils of wet hair," it suddenly dawned on me that she is the future. The narrator is saying that she has the capability to really do something with what she is learning. Everything can start with her. I think my generation also needs to step up and be the voice of the future. We need to say enough is enough. More people need to be exercising the three Rs- not just recycling, but reducing and reusing. We need to walk more and drive less, reuse plastic bags, frequent thrift stores, and enjoy things that others had meant for a landfill.

I guess my post is getting to be a bit of a rant, but I'm a nature lover, and I don't want to see it destroyed. I love Circle-B and I want it to be there for my grandchildren. It takes a lot of work to keep something like that up. They have to burn the fields, take out invasive non-native plants, and encourage the natural habitat to grow in a healthy way, or it will not survive for my grandchildren to see. I want them to be able to experience water flowers, lilly pads, alligators basking on the logs, and birds feasting on fish treats at the bottoms of healthy water. I don't want to take my children to a cement dammed up lake to experience "nature." I hope my generation gets the message and starts being proactive about the state of the planet.