Goodbye, Clean Water Act. Hello, Zombie Fish.
Credit to Author: Johnna Crider| Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2020 04:30:55 +0000
Published on February 2nd, 2020 | by Johnna Crider
February 2nd, 2020 by Johnna Crider
Zombie fish — it’s just a prelude of what’s to come for our waters, once protected, but not more.
The Clean Water Act was one of the greatest bipartisan achievements of America, but now it too has been gutted by our President. The Guardian calls this the single largest loss of clean water protections that America has ever seen. In the 1970s, U.S. Congress set up these laws to protect our wildlife, air, and water. What happened was that our skies cleared of intense smog, waterfronts were cleared up, and our economy began to thrive. It was as if when our environment was cleaner, we were able to live better. Both sides of American politics agreed for decades this commitment to a clean environment was worth it — until now.
52 toxic Superfund sites in my state. Fisherman in the St John's River pull "Zombie Fish" (google up) out of this horribly toxic river full of a shopping list of chemicals. Why would anyone want 2 eat anything bleeding from its eyes, nose & mouth & convulsing? https://t.co/4TYTTGQpmA pic.twitter.com/eaoFCFuOhi
— 😈🤖 💕Cassie💕🤖 😈 (@Cassie4Peace) January 29, 2020
In 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigated a “zombie fish” that was discovered by a nature photographer who was snorkeling in Blue Spring State Park, Florida. The fish had missing scales and looked like it had lesions or ulcers. “The first thing that popped into my mind is that they look like a zombie because they look half-dead,” Cruz, the nature photographer, told Spectrum News 13.
Image courtesy Florida State Parks
The fish were very sick-looking mullet that also had growths on their sides and cloudy eyes as well. FWC biologists investigated areas with reported fish kills and disease in the St. Johns River. Samples that were collected from surrounding bodies of water, such as Lake George, showed the presence of blue-green algae blooms in the area.
Trump’s Dirty Water Rule will declare that a huge portion of the streams, lakes, bays, lagoons, wetlands, headwaters, rivers, and other waterways that have been federally protected under the Clean Water Act will no longer be protected. In other words, he has given the green light for corporations such as oil and gas companies, farmers, and others to dump waste into these once-protected waters. Goodbye, clean water. Hello, zombie fish.
With the high amounts of CO2 in our waters thanks to greenhouse gas emissions, our waters are already taking a huge environmental punch. If you flinch at the thought of drinking a mix of pesticide and raw sewage waste created by both humans and animals (think cattle farming), then why should the fish have to live in this filth? And if you eat the fish living in this mess, where do those chemicals end up?
It would make sense to not pollute the very waters we swim in, drink from, and fish from, but those polluting it are thinking about dollars, not sense.
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Johnna Crider Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, and Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.” Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter