Honoring the Gift of Water
In my next life I want to be an otter. I’ve seen their playful slides in the snow, and the fact that they can outdo us when it comes to catching trout has me sold. Agile in the water, happy on land, a joy to watch as they lope along like furry slinkies, and, oh, so family oriented, otters suit me just fine. When I’m in my canoe absorbed with my own fishing, I usually hear them before seeing them. Their displeasure with my presence in their private bay is undeniable. They pop their heads up, disapproval written clearly on their faces as they look directly at me, and kind of bark, kind of snort their opinion of my rudeness. They dive, swim a couple of yards and resurface only to find that, yes, unbelievably, I haven’t taken their hint. More otter comment before going on a little further, rechecking, snorting and finally giving up on me, they head off for another part of the lake. I’m pretty sure they feel about me the way I feel about our present political world.
What a price we seem willing to pay to build a huge wall between us and the global south. We’ll countenance a paramilitary – something I never thought I’d see in America – who roam in unmarked, dark windowed cars dragging workers, college students and kids coming home from school off our streets for the dastardly crime of dreaming of a better life.
Unbelievably, we seem willing to let our president sell off our precious, yes, our National lands to the highest bidder. I guarantee that will not be your bid, nor mine. Beautiful lands, kept in the public trust for all of us to enjoy, gone into wealthy, private ownership, fenced and gated to keep us out. Like an otter, I bark with dismay and loss as more and more of what I treasure is lost.
It is said that water is life, and upon reflection every one of us, otter included, understands that at our core. Even without being conscious of it, we are all what Indigenous people call “water protectors” when we take the time to sit down and think about it. So we need to know that at this very moment our waters here in Wisconsin are at risk from exploratory drilling for gold and copper in our sulfide bedrock. The risk of dangerous water pollution from mining here was so well known that a bi-partisan bill called the Prove it First Act was passed in 1998 and proudly signed by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson. In 2017, another Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his partisan legislature turned their backs on clear, clean water and got rid of Prove it First. Wisconsin was open to the business of dangerous mining again. That dirty business goes on hot and heavy this year all around us. First at the Bend site in wetlands near the Yellow River in our Chequamegon National Forest not far from Medford. Next site is in Marathon County just downstream from the Eau Claire Dells, and various other water rich sites sit waiting on the list. Yes, part of what it takes to Make America Great again apparently requires a lot of sulfide mining in Wisconsin.
Before you mine you do a lot of exploratory drilling, and that brings with it a host of its own water risks. Our Department of Natural Resources has developed a very stringent list of regulations to ensure that our waters are protected during drilling, the hitch starts when it comes to monitoring the drillers for compliance. Our misfortune lies in the fact that the DNR apparently does not have the money to fully monitor these operations. Much of the time the drillers are on their own, the fox in charge of our hen house waters. Even the otters aren’t very comfortable with this, so a small band of Indigenous water protectors, members of the American Indian Movement, will camp near the Bend site and monitor the drilling with their cameras to share what they see with the DNR and the press.
There is, I believe, an important lesson here, partly spiritual, partly cultural.
When the creator resides in heaven, and the spiritual goal of those here on earth is only to get there too, nature and our planet have little value beyond the price we put on resources like gold, oil, coal and lumber and the money harvesting those resources puts greenbacks in our pockets. In our mainstream culture, nature is bought and sold, nature is ripe for abuse. But when the creator breathes in us and in the rest of creation as one, when we see in nature a sacred family, when God’s kingdom is all around us, we accept her gifts with intense gratitude and respect. Instead of carelessly and thoughtlessly laying waste to the gifts of the natural world, gifts like water, we become earth’s caretakers and protectors. We come to understand that nature is real and has rights too. The otter in me dives joyfully at this thought into clean, pure water looking for his next life giving meal – and no more.
If you are concerned about honoring the gift of water when it comes to exploratory drilling and becoming an active water protector too, write to the DNR about your concerns around the need for full time monitoring from beginning to end. Here is a good email address: Molly Gardner at molly.gardner@wisconsin.gov.