Texas writer Jim Hightower wrote in a recent newsletter, "The water won't clear up until you get the hogs out of the creek."
I love that comment, and started thinking: Who are the hogs in our creeks or rivers? When I walk along the El Dorado 167 Bypass to get some exercise and see all the trash on the side of the road, I know the folks who tossed out beer cans and plastic cups are the hogs in that creek, and those hogs are probably the most numerous.
The roadside trashers aren't the only hogs in our creeks.
Let's start with coal-fired electrical generating plants. The ones in Arkansas are bad enough, but combined with those in east Texas, the plants are putting a lot of mercury in the air from coal and lignite burning, and that mercury falls into the waters of our creeks and rivers.
The mercury in Arkansas fish is from those plants, and until the coal-fired or lignite-fired electrical generating plants switch to non-polluting emissions, these plants will continue to be super-hogs in the creek.
While we're stepping on some toes, let's throw a rock in the thicket and see if the hit dog will howl. How about plastic waste: sacks, straws, cups, and other throwaway one-use items? Those are massive hogs in our creeks, and will be until we stop using them or recycle them. The huge plastic rafts floating in our oceans and fouling our beaches are the direct result of those hogs in the creek. Did you just howl?
Next, let's look at Springdale and the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority. Wow, that's a big hog to be in the creek, and this creek happens to be the Illinois River Watershed, and the creek is the Illinois River.
The area wastewater is loaded with phosphorus. As the northwest part of our state grows without upgrading the wastewater discharges, the hogs in the creek will continue to pollute the Illinois River. Unless the folks in NW Arkansas ante up some dough, those hogs will continue to grow, and the Illinois River will become a pig trough. And by the way, the folks in Oklahoma are upset, because we are feeding the hogs that are polluting the river as it flows into their state.
Another hog in the creek is the regulatory body responsible for a feral hog and CWD deer problem. That's the Game and Fish Commission, which is just saying, "Bad pig! Bad pig!" to control the feral hog population, and is asking deer to keep their "social distance" to combat the CWD deer apocalypse.
Can't you guys help Mother Nature by recognizing the cougar population, bringing in more apex predators, and putting a bounty on feral hogs? That would bring back our quail and help the turkeys survive.
The biggest hog in the creek is the Army Corps of Engineers. The "Keep Busy Boys" or the "River Killers," as they are known, are wreaking havoc on our rivers. (See my recent column.)
Another hog is an unlikely one, the Arkansas Waterways Commission. The disaster occurring on the non-navigable Ouachita River, caused by the Felsenthal locks, is creating a dangerous situation as erosion from the high water is causing a huge number of trees to fall into the river. You hogs need to take your heads out of the sand.
Now let's get spiritual. "I don't believe in global warming," I heard a friend say. No matter whether you believe in it or call it "climate change," it is a huge hog in the creek, and if we don't get rid of that hog, our grandchildren will be subjected to a rash of hurricanes, tornadoes and sea level rises.
This is not an invisible hog; it's getting bigger and bigger every day, and will continue to grow unless we slow down the heating of our planet. Earth is warming and that is an absolute fact, as scientific as gravity.
The entire Arkansas Legislature is a huge hog in the creek: no moratorium on the Buffalo River Watershed and no environmental bills. They are responsible for 90 percent of the roadside trash by not outlawing plastic on-use containers and not making beer bottles returnable. This fall I'm going to vote against every incumbent I can.
I'm sure you could list another 15 or 20 hogs. As Pogo the cartoon possum said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Unless we recognize we are the problem, and try to do something about it, it will get worse.
My travels to Third World countries, where garbage and trash are piled up everywhere and where surviving is a daily struggle, to countries in western Europe where hogs in the creek are as rare as the ivory-billed woodpecker, confirms that an advanced civilized society has a lot fewer hogs in the creek.
I drove into downtown El Dorado last Saturday morning, and two parking places right in front of the courthouse had around a half-dozen beer cans strewn across them. We are a reigning superpower in the world and among the most technologically advanced, but that doesn't make us the most civilized.
If we are to get our hogs out of the creek, we must create an atmosphere that won't accept roadside trash or plastic bags or beer cans in front of the courthouse. More regulations won't solve the problem. It requires a grindingly slow change of attitude, and unless we have that mental change, it will be a long time before we get all of our hogs out of the creek.
We must change one person at a time, and when we reach that level of civilization, we won't have any more hogs in our creeks.
Email Richard Mason at richard@gibraltarenergy.com.