Damn Dirty Protesters

The Colorado River, once a river full of silt and raw energy is now a river full of clear blue and harnessed power. There was only one thought that crossed my mind as I watched this film; was damming worth it. Was damming worth the violent deformation of some of the world’s most renowned natural formations. This quandary affected more than just the beautiful Colorado River.

The Columbia River, which runs through the Pacific Northwest and lower parts of Canada, is a stunning river. It once had, according to National Geographic, “as much as 43 million pounds (20 million kilograms) of salmon and steelhead a year.” from just one outflow; juxtaposed to today where there are roughly only “2 million pounds” taken from one fishing port in Oregon. That decrease was caused in part by Hydraulic Dams. These dams disrupt the salmon runs and destroy the migratory patterns. According to the movie Cadillac Desert the Columbia’s salmon run has decreased by 90%. This is an exponential environmental violation and an inexcusable lapse of judgment; all for the sake of power. Power, the life force of America; without power we are nothing.

Power is something that everyone uses weather we are aware of it or not. Power is something that is needed in order for us to perform the miracles of technology, to have light where there was none, to explore the depths of the ocean and the tops of the world. Power, it is the driving force of innovation and of life itself. As far as we, Americans are concerned it is a simple switch that we flip on. To the average American, power is just that thing that is always there. It is a constant in an era unknowing. The common American would never think of where their power comes from. A common American would never as...

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