Today I had time to garden. No one else needed me to do anything. It was just me and the tomato plants, the lettuce seeds, the lumpy soil, the hose. How simple and yet how profound that from these tiny seeds, great pots of greens will be cooked, luscious fat slices of tomato will grace our sandwiches, and our bodies will be nourished from our own land and hands.
After planting collards and arugula and lettuce — and covering them with wire fencing, to keep the cats out of this large sized, manure-filled dirt box — I started walking around our yard, with the hose. In all the 66 years that I’ve lived, I’ve never seen things so dry. Even the weeds and wildflowers are thirsting for water, browning, producing smaller flowers, withering in the sun. Never have I seen a time so dry — our lawn is full of dust and brown grass. Every plant begs for water…and yet I cannot water enough. Not enough to make up for the lack of rain.
The Millers River that flows behind our house, usually with great force on its way to the Connecticut, is lower than I’ve ever seen it this early in the summer, no longer swift, no longer powerful. All the rivers that we visit are the same.
Our climate is changing — there is no denying that. At this point, is there anything we can do to preserve our water? I think there is.
Awareness of what we human beings are doing that is contributing to the lack of water is the first place to start.
We don’t have to look far from our area to find examples of what is happening to water around the world. A few years ago, Nestle wanted to take water out of the Montague aquifer, to bottle and sell. Our community stopped them. But other areas are not so lucky or so aware. Nestle, Coca-Cola and other such companies have been taking people’s water, leaving behind toxic sludge, in towns all around the world, from here to India. When we buy those plastic bottles of water, we are drinking the water that used to give life to someone else’s children.
Kinder Morgan, the same company that wanted to drill under the Connecticut and Millers River to lay their fracked gas pipeline, is now attempting to cut trees as old as 400 years to lay a loop of pipeline to store fracked gas in Otis State Park, which is protected conservation land, home to Spectacle Pond, in Sandisfield, Massachusetts.
Once those trees are gone, we will have lost one more water sanctuary. Our trees are vital to the preservation of water and air. They are the source of our oxygen, and yet the energy companies just keep cutting.
We lose 15 billion trees a year! Humans have halved the amount of trees on the planet.
In neighboring states, one of our greatest dangers to water continues to be a threat, as it is across the world: fracking. That the entire country has not called for a ban on fracking is hard to comprehend. This “technology” uses tons of gallons of water, creates earthquakes so that gas and oil can be extracted and then leaves cesspools of chem-ical-ridden water on the earth and in people’s drinking systems for
I haven’t spoken about the huge amounts of water that large agricultural companies, such as Monsanto, are using to produce pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables — one more way that humans are poisoning the water supply. Nor have I mentioned the poisons that people in Michigan, New York and Vermont are finding in their water.
What can we do against such powerful companies, against this great tide of destruction?
We asked the same question when Kinder Morgan came to the Pioneer Valley with their pockets full of money and their belief that the people here would bend over backwards to get some of it. We did not! They will not build their pipeline here.
That victory gives me hope that we can stand up for our water and achieve another victory.
From our awareness will come ideas, new technologies and actions.
Let’s join with the folks in Sandisfield to protect our ancient trees, our conservation land. Let’s think again when we buy water or other drinks from those familiar companies. Let’s preserve every tree that we can and plant many more. Let’s grow our own food, eat our local farmers’ food, learn how to preserve water on our own lands, teach ourselves, our children and grandchildren that the source of all life is water and that we must honor and protect it.
Imagine if everyone took a stand for water. Watering our gardens might again be a joy and a pleasure!
Morning Star Chenven lives in Erving.