Can we unify the Chesapeake Bay Clean-up?

If you missed this article, please read it now. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/26/AR2008122601712.html



People ask me why we don't just contribute a percentage of our profits in support of existing organizations fighting the fight to clean up the Bay. There have been some people that have shared this view with me, "Don't you think you'll be taking away support (money) from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation?"



In my opinion, the answer is pretty clear. Why not start a local, grass roots based non-profit that solicits businesses to get involved? If the CBF is already garnering 20% of the populations support, and we pull in another 3%, doesn't that increase the amount of people working towards a common good? The article clearly states that what we are doing ISN'T working. Special interests rule the day in Washington. Lobbyists that protect industry interests continually throw red herrings out to confuse scientific data.


The Bay oyster population is decimated, yet groups lobby to protect native oyster species that have proven they aren't hardy enough to survive their "new" environment. I understand their fear. I grew up on the Lake Erie and witnessed the spread of Zebra Mussels (an invasive species). I also witnessed the water clarity of the lake drastically improve. Sure, there has been a lot of money invested in trying to re establish the native oysters....well that amount of money will pale in comparison to what happens if dead zones continue to grow.


Menhaden are the Bay's number two filter feeder. These fish not only help clean the water, they are one of the most important links in the Bay food chain. Yet Virginia remains the only coastal state that allows them to be commercially harvested. Think about that. Oysters are gone, yet we continue to remove the number two filter feeder out of the Bay. I understand people have jobs and lives that depend on this harvest, but what do you think will happen to their jobs when the fishery collapses? What have their representatives been doing to get other industries interested in moving into the area? Instead of fighting a losing battle (how long can we keep this up), why not offer solutions to concerned citizens? New jobs? New industries?

PA doesn't want their farmers bothered with an issue they can't "see". Introducing stream buffers and controlling fertilization, erosion, and rain water runoff could help slow the nutrient flow into the Bay.

Municipalities don't have the money to upgrade their sewage infrastructure, yet spring rains overflow infrastructure capacity all the time. Raw sewage is sent rolling down river to feed algae blooms in the Bay. Dead Zones continue to grow in the upper Bay every year.

It is time to redefine our clean up plan. It's time to redefine the priorities of counties and cities. Lobbyists count on the confusion caused when scientific and political interests clash. By dividing any unified fronts, their myopic concerns become more relevant. Unifying the citizens that care only increases the size of the stick we carry. Get informed. Get involved. Everything you do can make a difference.