I came to this story after several days immersed in reading the ancient history of peoples who migrated east across the Pacific 5,000 years ago to form the island nations that are dotted over thousands of square miles of ocean to the west of California.
What strikes me as strange is that Californians, or Americans, don't see themselves as one nation of people with one overriding interest - to keep their ecosystem pure and habitable so their people can thrive and prosper.
I know that's naive. In America individuals are free to pursue any activity that is permitted by law. Prosperity is measured in dollars, and breaches of the law require a lot of dollars to be exposed and rectified. The national purpose works differently to other countries, particularly smaller nations in which the people are more in contact with nature every day.
Still, I can't help but wonder whether most Americans would be happier if things worked differently, and catastrophes like the DDT dump were able to be rectified in a unified national effort. I'm not sure why that doesn't happen, or what makes it so unlikely.
What strikes me as strange is that Californians, or Americans, don't see themselves as one nation of people with one overriding interest - to keep their ecosystem pure and habitable so their people can thrive and prosper.
I know that's naive. In America individuals are free to pursue any activity that is permitted by law. Prosperity is measured in dollars, and breaches of the law require a lot of dollars to be exposed and rectified. The national purpose works differently to other countries, particularly smaller nations in which the people are more in contact with nature every day.
Still, I can't help but wonder whether most Americans would be happier if things worked differently, and catastrophes like the DDT dump were able to be rectified in a unified national effort. I'm not sure why that doesn't happen, or what makes it so unlikely.