What I\u2019ve Been Reading This Week:<\/strong><\/p> It will not surprise you to learn that I, your humble Shipwrecked Sailor, bought this book based on title alone. I knew it was nonfiction, too. Don\u2019t put it in the newspaper that I thought this was about a sea ghost sinking ships. Yr man likes to do some science reading sometimes, even some highly scientific writing<\/a>, from time to time<\/a>. I\u2019m talking, of course, about The Death And Life Of The Great Lakes<\/em> by Dan Egan. <\/p> I tend to despise the need for hope in books, but I felt it acutely here. The American Century<\/a> was extremely unkind to the Great Lakes, with some cruelties more understandable than others. Why shouldn\u2019t we dig a canal to connect the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean? Why shouldn\u2019t we drain this massive swamp at the tip of Lake Erie and turn it to farmland?<\/em> Lots of reasons, it turns out. You want me to take our your kidney? Why you wanna take out Lake Erie\u2019s kidney then? As I mentioned Wednesday<\/a>, don\u2019t go dropping random animal\/plant species into random foreign environments. Invasive species aren\u2019t good for anybody. In the last chapter\u2014the hopeful chapter\u2014there\u2019s talk of a poison to kill the zebra\/quagga mussels, whitefish evolving to eat the mussels, a returning whitefish population, of walleye making its way back to the dinner plates of Midwesterners, and the guy who introduced chinook and coho salmon talking about how catching whitefish is boring. Hey, guy: fuck you. Trust me, I love sport fishing, but \u201cthe thrill of a salmon being your line\u201d or whatever is not worth the collapse of an ecosystem. <\/p> This book should absolutely be read in conjunction with An Indigenous People\u2019s History Of The United States. <\/em>Dan Egan\u2019s book is about how settler-colonialist groups who wouldn\u2019t even consider themselves settler-colonialist\u2014USians and Canadians in the 19th and 20th centuries\u2014have nearly destroyed the largest supply of fish-filled freshwater in the world. Indigenous peoples in both Americas are the greatest land managers the world has ever seen. Reading this book and thinking about Land Back\u2014a movement that argues for increased Indigenous decision-making power and cooperation between US\/Canadian governments and tribal groups, not<\/em> dissolving the United States or whatever Fox News-style fearmongering that might pop in your head\u2014it\u2019s hard to feel like industrial societies have earned<\/em> that bounty that the Great Lakes provide. Then again, it\u2019s hard to say things aren\u2019t improving. Awareness of the importance of native plants has grown, laws are on the books about the need for flushing and replacing your ballast water. Definitely read this book and reflect on how broken our relationship with nature has become, and reflect on ways to change that. Sorry to sound like a youth pastor, but I feel religious about nature lately<\/a>. <\/p> LINKS!<\/strong><\/p> Something to listen to while you browse? Decidedly not <\/em>a Great Lakes resident, but the beach music I\u2019ll be jamming most this summer (non- \u201cNot Like Us\u201d division) is Reyna Tropical, a band with a tragic backstory I\u2019m only just learning about<\/a>, a motto of \u201cqueer love and Afro-Mexico,\u201d and a guitarist who is super reluctant about singing. I can get behind the latter two. <\/p>![\"The](\"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/1f9c3b0f-1965-4c3f-a612-f221d04f92c1_2798x3024.heic\")
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