Man, the Kalamazoo River oil spill is just heartbreaking. Nearly a million gallons of crude, dumped right in my back yard, gives me new respect for the horror the Gulf Coast's been going through. Terrible pictures of oil-slicked Canada geese and muskrats are everywhere, and the beautiful river I'd been hoping to kayak tonight is ruined all over again.
Poor Kalamazoo River. It's been the dumping grounds for all sorts of heinous shit for as long as western settlers have been here. Things were finally looking up -- after years and years of Superfund cleanup and local efforts, the river was clean enough to sport and play in, again. Festivals, like Kanoe the Kazoo, sprang up in an effort to lure residents, long taught to avoid the smelly watershed, back to the rejuvenated river. And now it's all gone, those years of effort will have to start all over again, thanks to one company's negligence.
The summer-long Kalamazoo Water Festival -- sponsored by the watershed council -- couldn't be more timely. Maybe the last few events of the year will be turned into volunteer cleanup parties. God knows we'll need it.
I confess that I'm kind of scared to volunteer, myself, though this is kind of thing is right up my alley. But something's got to be done, and we can't count on the folks who made this mess to clean it up.