Ohio Sunset

Ohio Sunset
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

The Great Un-doing

There should be a great Un-doing of it all
Not because progress is bad
But because our progress has been bad.

No sooner had we settled the banks of the Ohio
here in Louisville
had we turned our streams and river into toilets and sewers.

Our progress, in building this city of many neighbors and communities,
was paid for at the cost of our water and wildlife
and ultimately us.

This was wrong.

We didn't err in desiring to have a city,
just in our design.
It was cheaper, remains cheaper, to use Beargrass Creek as a sewer.

However, what is cheaper in the short term is rarely,
if ever,
cheaper in the long term.

And what is cheaper in the long term,
is cheaper.