Where do you think I found this flower?- and the photos in the last post? In a modern sewage processing facility.- a nature haven for plants and wildlife. Did you know, Dolly Madison lost a brother, a son, her first husband (John Todd), and his parents to disease brought on by raw sewage in the then capital city of Philadelphia. President Washington and Martha escaped by retreating to Mount Vernon. That was in 1793 after heavy spring rains. We have done a pretty good job in the USA to fix that problem. Do you know most large cities have discovered that their waste facilities are big tourist attractions – Folks pay many dollars to be able to hike,bike, run, photograph, go birding in sewage processing facilities – A national Birding and Wildlife Festival is being held here in Titusville next week -Already every Field Trip to City “Wet Lands” – and there are many – is overflowing with on-line pre-registrations.
Today, Titusville, FL wet lands are a bird and wildlife haven. In 1898, delegates from across the glob gathered in New York City for the world’s first international urban planning conference. One topic dominated the discussion. It was
not housing, land use, economic development, or infrastructure. The delegates were driven to desperation by sewage – mainly horse manure. The situation seemed dire. In 1894, the Times of London estimated that by 1950 every street in the city would be buried nine feet deep in horse manure. One New York prognosticator of the 1890s concluded that by 1930 the horse droppings would rise to Manhattan’s third-story windows. A public health and sanitation crisis of almost unimaginable dimensions loomed.
And no possible solution could be devised. After all, the horse had been the dominant mode of transportation for thousands of years. Horses were absolutely essential for the functioning of the nineteenth-century city—for personal transportation, freight haulage, and even mechanical power. Without horses, cities would quite literally starve.
But in a short time the car fixed the horse poop problem – Look at those gas guzzlers in this parking lot – Is the Mayor of NY thinking in the past – if we do not get the horses out of Central park, does he think the 1898 predictions may return – I do not know, but, let us not have a political fight over it – We have evolved to a better way to resolve political differences. We would not challenge the Mayor to a shooting duel. But, on July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr met on the dueling grounds at Weehawken, New Jersey, to fight the final skirmish of a long-lived political battle. When the duel was over, Hamilton would be mortally wounded. In the early 1800’s our politically intelligent future President Andrew Jackson, in a duel, kills a man who accused him of cheating on a horse race and then insulted his wife. I wonder if we have changed enough? Consider that NYC is on high alert, Paris is in a disastrous state. It seems time has taught us a lot about having safe pleasant sewage facilities, and it seems dueling is not a favorite way to settle an argument – but time has not taught us a lot about how to have a safe pleasant world political fighting environment.
Some day I may be wise enough to offer answers – but for now, I hope I am wise enough to have fun writing some observations.
