5) Salmon                             4) Fear and Society 


            I'm a baby salmon, swimmin' to the sea
            clear cuts all around and they've silted up my stream.
            Most of all my siblings were killed when all this dirt
            covered up the eggs, I bet that musta hurt. 


            Now I'm in the river, but it's moving awfully slow.
            A dam has blocked its movement, I'm told there's 8 to go.
            How will I reach the sea with all that's in the way?
            Those turbines look mighty mean, they'll make me fish puree. 


            A barge, they say, will save this smolt, they'll take me to the sea.
            I'm stuffed inside some steel walls, I wish this fish were free.
            Now I'm grown up salmon, swimmin' from the sea.
            I missed most all those trawlers who were hopin' to catch me. 


            Cruisin' up the river, I reached the first big dam
            and then another and another, thanks to Uncle Sam.
            Millions of us salmon once swam with all our might
            to reach our destination and spawn into the night. 


            But ever since they built the beasts, there's been a great decline
            in salmon populations, this ain't no great design.
            Now there's talk to take out four dams along the Snake.
            These four are a waste of $ compared to what's at stake.
            Don't' let me be a dyeing breed, save the salmon now!
            Once we're gone, we won't come back, so help us out, here's how: 


                                                                         Malcolm Mohil
                                                                         "Ode To Salmon"

          

Malcolm was sitting on his couch, playing his guitar. He was strumming a song he wrote, but living in his past. He was remembering the previous night and his conversation with Becky. However, he was thinking not just about how much he liked her. She was beautiful, smart and seemed to like him. He definitely was attracted to her. His thoughts, though, were mainly on the topic of their conversation. He felt a tremendous weight on him. Knowing and believing he was part of an obviously unsustainable society made him feel guilty.
            He looked around his living room and couldn't help thinking most of the things he saw were useless junk. Sure, they made the place look nice, but how many other homes, in other cities, in other countries around the world were filled with trinkets? How many resources were used to make all that stuff? How much water was wasted and contaminated? How many trees were cut down? How many innocent creatures lost their homes and lives to make our homes look nice?
            He decided he’d use his guilt constructively. He remembered reading about a dam being considered for removal in order to save an endangered salmon species. Maybe he could somehow think of a solution.
            There was controversy because the dam provided a source of power for the town. People argued they needed the dam to operate the aluminum factory. Without the cheap power provided by the dam, the company was going to have to lay off some employees to cut costs.
            Other people argued studies showed the dam was the main cause for the declining salmon runs. If the run went extinct, the fishing industry would lose a lot of money. Also, the ecological damage would be significant.
            For thousands of years, millions of salmon swam upstream to spawn in the forest creeks. They cycled nutrients from the sea, which fertilized the forests. Their bodies were food for countless wildlife species. No other creature played such a crucial role. They were an integral part, linking the forests with the oceans and if they disappeared, there would be irreparable damage done.
            Both sides had valid arguments, but Malcolm knew saving the salmon was the most important thing. He hoped there could be a way to save the dam and the salmon, but understood it would be expensive and uncertain. If they were to try to save both, the salmon might go extinct in the meantime, making saving them a moot point.
            Most politicians were for saving the dam. Probably, he guessed, because the aluminum company was lobbying them hard. They probably also were fearful of significantly changing the infrastructure to some unknown solution. This fit exactly with his discussion last night, that politicians sell out to the corporate lobbyist and people fear change if they think it threatens their existence.
            Malcolm decided he would do a little investigating. He wanted to know more about the issue, so he did some researching on the internet. He studied both sides of the issue, trying to be as unbiased as possible.
             He thought about how he, as a physicist who was interested in helping humans become smoother in their relationship with nature, could use physical laws to make both sides happy. After all, hydropower's no better than fossil fuels if it was destroying ecosystems in the process.

            Perhaps there could be a way to generate electricity cheaply without the environmental hazards. He realized his idea was big and he wasn't an expert, but he would think about this problem. Maybe he would get some insight others hadn't thought of.

 

6) Religion