The US conservation
group American Rivers has released its annual list of the nation’s 10
most endangered rivers, emphasizing the critical need for action to
protect of rivers and their communities.
Ranked most imperiled is
the Upper Delaware River, which, located between the northeastern states
of Pennsylvania and New York, provides drinking water for 17 million
people.
This and the ninth-listed Monongahela River sit atop an
area called the Marcellus Shale, which is being subjected to gas
drilling, a process that involves injecting chemicals into the ground,
thereby creating untreatable toxic wastewater.
Meanwhile in
California state, the second most endangered Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta is lacking a flood infrastructure and thus is unable to
manage rising sea levels set off by climate change.
The Gauley
River in West Virginia, the third most endangered, is being blocked and
polluted with coal mining debris, while the flourishing of other rivers
is threatened by proposed projects such as new dam construction in North
Carolina’s Little River and the Teton River in Idaho, as well as
suction dredging, a gold mining technique that would kill fish eggs and
larvae while altering the entire ecosystem of Oregon's Chetco River.
Our
gratefulness, American Rivers, for your commitment to safeguarding the
rivers and the lives that depend on them. Blessed be all such efforts to
preserve the vibrant streams that sustain the Earth’s rich diversity of
life and beauty.
The need for more conscious stewardship of our
fragile Earth has frequently been mentioned by Supreme Master Ching Hai,
who addressed the imperiled aquatic ecosystems during a July 2008
videoconference in Formosa.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: You see,
these things are very sad. It happens a lot and we still did not learn
to be responsible and to feel for the environment and the helpless
animals, which are our friends and helpers. They suffer a lot, they die,
or they completely disappear because of our careless management of the
world. We have dumped so much chemicals and poisonous stuff into rivers
and oceans.
Our enduring, giving rivers and oceans have to take
in daily so much. Without water, what would we do? What would all the
species on the planet do?
This is another example of how we
exploit the Earth and vital resources with very little consideration for
the consequences. But we still can correct that. If we all become
vegetarians, then we will use very little fuel as vegetable food can be
grown everywhere easily and no need for long distance transportation and
no need so much water to produce.
We have to stop the harmful
effect of meat consumption, then we will see a happy, sufficient and
satisfied world manifest in front of our eyes in a matter of weeks.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/06/02/us.endangered.rivers/index.html?iref=24hourshttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/02/MNRH1DO5SS.DTLhttp://www.americanrivers.org/assets/pdfs/mer-2010/americas-most-endangered-rivers-2010.pdf
http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=12581869