May 19, 2026

The Gray Goose

When the children were little, we would gather round and sing,

Go tell Aunt Rhody

Go tell Aunt Rhody

Go tell Aunt Rhody

The old gray goose is dead

She died in the mill pond

She died in the mill pond

She died in the mill pond

And here comes a swift swerve to the left . . .

Because it was polluted.

All the kids laughed and snickered. Little did we know that it was the beginning of 65 years of progress and national acknowledgment that indeed, we were polluting our environment. The Environmental Protection Act of 1970 , thanks to some far seeing legislator under Nixon, began a series of regulations and laws that ensured limits on water pollutants It set restrictions on greenhouse gasses to reduce soot, smog and harmful emissions, and it managed clean up sites of hazardous waste.

Tragically, the last six years, under the Trump administration,has seen an increase of industrial pollution of our water ways, the air we breathe is no longer protected by strict emission standards and our national parks are being opened for mining and drilling. The structure of new windmills as a source of alternative energy has been halted, and this is just a tiny fraction of the damage the Congress and Republican majority has legislated against our environment. Worst of all, the whole budget of the Environmental Protection Agency has been cut in half.

It’s really sad.