Nature Perspective Series: River
Image from Google
We often view history from a purely human perspective, forgetting that the events that shape our story do not happen in a vacuum. In this series, I explore the often forgotten perspective of nature during major historic events. Here, we get a small glimpse into the quiet, pained view of the spirits of nature in the North American landscape as it witnesses the transition from Indigenous communities, through colonialism, and into present day.
Where I flow, I bring life. Through my many streams and channels that stem from my wide and raging main body, I am the arteries and veins of this great land. My reach is vast and far spreading, bringing the lifeblood to parched landscapes and creatures alike. Within me, I support an array of life that depend on my free-flowing waters and like children, I care for them. Generations of families have swum through my waters or gathered at my edges, enjoying the bounty that I carry. Through my many cycles, with their ebbs and flows, I hum along to the rhythm of life and put my mark on the land. I have the power to carve stone and erode soils or grow swollen with water and break free from my well-worn path to move across the surface, but when my strength is respected, I provide more than I take away.
Yet my power is now being constrained and harnessed and my once mighty veins and arteries are being choked. Areas where I once flowed freely are now dammed and drowned or being diverted to places far beyond my natural reach and where I once cascaded down waterfalls, is now but a slow trickle. My children have also suffered, for many of my gilled kin no longer swim freely within my waters but have been greedily plucked from my bosom in numbers so numerous that I can feel the emptiness they have left. The few that remain struggle to follow the ancient paths that I had always provided for them, only to find walls of concrete that they helplessly throw themselves against in hopes of returning home. However, man was not done with me yet, and he began to slowly poison my life-giving waters and it spread like a cancer, paralyzing my ability to support the life I always carried. My health is directly tied to what flows into me, for I absorb what comes from the land and when the land becomes toxic, it is inevitable that it will affect my precious waters. It appears that man will only know of my enormous significance when my waters are bled dry, become void of life, and are made too toxic to gather at my edges and swim in as they have done for generations.
Image from Google