Wetlands

I am driving through the rain to my mothers house, and as usual, dead animals litter the bypass I travel on. This road runs dead center through a "Wetlands," an area set aside as a wildlife habitat, and storage place for flood waters. House and apartment construction butts up against the edges of the Wetlands. They spew god knows what into the pools of water created by the river and storm run off. I can remember when this area was grasslands dotted with pools of water filled with birds and ducks. I wonder at the planning that put a bypass down its center. It pisses me off. If we need a bypass, why not erect a fence to keep wildlife off the road? How effective is a wetlands/wildlife refuge with a freeway running through it? Whenever I drive along this road I imagine what this fence would look like. I see a tunnel, similar to a 'Slinky,' covered in chicken wire. It seems like a logical solution. Put us in a cage. I know this is fantasy, anyway a fence wouldn't help. There's still the oil dripping off the roads, polluting the pools, the chemicals leaching off the lawns, from surrounding buildings, contaminating the water.

Now the Alaskan Wildlife refuge is threatened by greedy American oil concerns. Argh! It's hard not to think about this crap, even when I'm in the garden, my own refuge, a place I can usually zone out, forget about the inequities we commit, . . . against eachother, . . . . against the environment. Folks, we're digging our own graves. We have to get active if we care. We have to protect what we have, and I'm not talking about our new SUV's.