Despite snow and numbing cold, hundreds of activists for clean water rallied in Richmond, Va., and marched on the state capitol building yesterday. They chanted ‘Clean Water Now!’ waved signs, wore fish hats and blue-colored scarves to symbolize their devotion to a clean blue Chesapeake Bay.
The event, organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), was designed in part to convince Virginia lawmakers not to cut $20 million for agricultural runoff pollution control programs that Gov. Tim Kaine has proposed in next year’s budget. Kaine, like governors across the nation, is under intense pressure to slash from environmental programs because the recession has meant a drop in state revenues. Such cuts would backfire and prolong the economic crisis, because they would mean more pollution in the Chesapeake Bay – destroying more jobs for fishermen, crabbers, restaurants and the region’s tourism industry.
Gov. Kaine said he included the money in his budget to prevent pollution in the Chesapeake Bay – the same amount as last year – despite deep cuts in other areas to make up a projected $2.9 billion revenue shortfall, the (Norfolk) Virginian Pilot reported.
“It was tough, because I am cutting virtually everything in state government,” Kaine said.
That $20 million will look appealing for the General Assembly to cut when it looks for its own way to balance the budget, Kaine said. “This is just too important,” he told the crowd. “Go up and tell these legislators how important that $20 million is.”
The rally drew hundreds of clean water advocates from across Virginia, including busloads of citizens from Hampton Roads and the Northern Neck. Folks of all ages joined in, including children, a high school environmental club and retirees. Participants, each clad in blue scarves or coats, demonstrated their support for a variety of bills in the Virginia General Assembly that reduce pollution in streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. They chanted “Clean water now! Clean water now!”
Several in the crowd, including Katerine Poplewski of the Hopewell Clean Air Network, proudly wore paper fish hats to signify their devotion to protecting aquatic life. One toddler carried a simple but effective sign, reading: “We Need More Fish in the James.”
After assembling at Centenary United Methodist Church, the protesters marched a few blocks to Capitol Square. Snow flurries made for a brisk walk. The activists assembled at Capitol Square’s historic Bell Tower to mingle with state lawmakers as they stopped by CBF’s “Taste of the Chesapeake” tent to sample hot oyster stew. The stew was made from native Chesapeake Bay oysters grown in clean-water areas of the Bay and donated by Rappahannock River Oysters, a Virginia aquaculture company.
A major focus of the event was pending legislation that would ensure critical state support for farm conservation programs to help farmers reduce polluted runoff. Farm runoff is one of the largest sources of harmful nitrogen and phosphorus pollution plaguing Virginia rivers and the Bay. Cost-share programs provide funding assistance to farmers to help them create strips of trees along streams, build fences to keep cattle out of creeks, and plant crops like wheat and barley in the offseason without fertilizer so they absorb left-over nutrients in the soil. These are considered the most cost-effective tools for reducing runoff pollution and can provide an economic stimulus for Virginia’s farm and seafood economies.
For all you Bay Daily readers who weren’t at the rally, you can join the spirit now. Click here to learn how to write a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging federal action to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
(Photos by Hank Helmen and Bill Portlock. Additional text from Chuck Epes and Andrea Moran. Thanks!)
To see a lot more photos, click here.
If synthetic chemical production ceased tomorrow, traces of those chemicals
would continue to react for 250,000 years, or longer – perhaps about twice
as long as the human beings have been able to speak to each other. During
that time, water would be very likely to wash it all out to sea, where it could
all mix together into a potentially toxic milieu for the whole world to bathe in.
Like stirring chocolate into your milk, there's a big difference in the end
product from being all chunky and being evenly distributed as to how the resulting liquid will behave. No one and nothing wants oceans that are full of hairspray canisters, bars of highly scented soap and used motor oil.
The Earth is, for the most part1, a closed system. The magnitude of the time involved, the number of people and the sheer amount of “stuff” involved makes the consequences seem like a delayed reaction. It's not though – just a very, very big one compared to a single person.
The point is, we can stop putting the dubious chocolate powder in now.
Posted by: Beverly Clarke | 04/24/2009 at 01:13 PM