We believe that all water is connected. We have seen the bay bottom through crisp clean waters filled with fish darting, crabs arguing and eelgrass meadows waving to a calmer music. We have seen massive Salmon swim up small streams. We used to drive in the country and find the windshield is painted with insect collisions. One can no longer ignore what is changing before our eyes in these short stories of clean water, in much the same way one can not ignore a brick in your pocket.
Insecticides and fertilizers are making it into the tidal reach, decimating zooplankton, the very base of the marine food chain. Pollution from Northeast cities ran into fog over rare remaining wilderness and rained acidic so sharply that the Salmon quit coming home to reproduce. Very few people have trees that actually bear edible fruit or nuts any more, even though there are plenty of flowering versions in estates & gardens. Instead of actual food, in the US, 40 Million acres of lawns now need chemical support to stay vibrant green carpet. Most just aren't aware, as it is hard to see underwater because of clouded, eutrophic conditions, and zooplankton and phytoplankton are microscopic anyway. We know for a fact that when people find out, most want to help bring that back. We are affected on a cellular level. Some of us have a disturbance about the growing imbalance that more than borders free floating anxiety. The SHO Club has been doing something about that on our level for the last 15 years, and now we are scaling up. We needed to water down the project list to a simple plate. Both puns are accidental, but they're both staying.
When looking to mitigate the negative impacts on the marine food chain & adjacent soils health locally, we chose these as the primary focus; Oysters; Salmon; Food Forests & Food Lawning; Awareness. With consideration to transferability and global impacts, we found that these local initiatives remained ideal. They travel well across America, and they speak well in any language, and in every planting zone. In small and large measure, the impacts of these efforts ripple throughout their environment both on a surface level, and when vertically integrated they solidify together.
These current initiatives thread together behind the statement that all water is connected, and restorative for us all when these waters are fully alive and well. Robust protections for these specific targeted initiatives reinforce the natural order so that it can better defend itself from changing conditions. A grade schooler that changes the irrigation schedule at Grandmas house to run for less time, at daybreak, has an impact, as does a property management company that recycles lawn clippings and autumnal leaf removal into community gardens, and let's not forget our social media companies that invest in the collateral benefit of liming a river for atmospheric and terrestrial carbon capture credits. Woven together the connection guarantees a tremendous benefit locally...and globally.
1- Oysters and other shellfish that filter feed and clean the tidal reach, vacuuming algae blooms before they blow up into destructive events;
2- Restoring and protecting Wild Atlantic Salmon runs, Native Alewive & other keystone species of anadromous fish and their riverine watersheds;
3- Food Forests and Food Lawning meant to reduce 40 Million acres of lawns while providing a valuable food resource, increasing biodiversity;
4- Public awareness of the risks associated with use and abuse of pesticides, herbicides & fertilizers which travel from our rivers to our tidal reach;
5- Building an efficient, lean, tax deductible, non profit organization that emulates the circular nature of water itself.
