Have you heard about the Asian carp tragedy going on up in the Midwest right now? Lake Michigan, a large Great Lake that juts south from Canada and gave birth to the port towns of Milwaukee and Chicago, is in very real danger of letting in an invasive species of fish that could potentially take over the lake, effectively destroying the fishing industry of the upper Midwest. Michigan currently has a $7 billion fishing industry. So if your $7 billion dollar industry was in danger of dying because of another fish, what would you do?

Michigan decided to sue. They put in a request to the U.S. Supreme Court to put an injunction toward two Chicago-area waterway locks and close them. The long term idea would be to close those locks (so that boats were not going through them) and for the eventual division of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.

That is, the RE-separation of the Mississippi from the Great Lakes. Until the early 1900’s when a major construction project changed the landscape forever, the two major water systems were not joined. It is a timely and very important example of the interconnectedness of the Earth rearing its very real head. Reuters described the fish as voracious.

There is some possibility that the carp have already made it to the lake- DNA testing says they are in, but no one is declaring failure yet.

"We would like the confirmation of a physical specimen," said Major General John Peabody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

As always, this is a battle between preserving the environment and preserving the economy. The two locks see around 15 million tons of commodities move through every year.

Every other state in the Midwest supported the request from Michigan. Every state except Illinois, that is, who stands to lose money and jobs if the two are not connected. Illinois and the White House. And you know where Obama came from. (Well, if you don’t know, it’s Chicago).

Not accusing, just saying. As for the whole situation- come on folks, this should be a no-brainer. There is a high possibility that these carp will destroy all of the other fish around them and mate like little rabbits. This will destroy the largest system of freshwater lakes in the world- why? Because Chicago doesn’t want to lose money by closing down some locks.

Did I mention that the Chicago River was doesn’t naturally connect the two watersheds? The way it should work is that the Chicago River flows into Lake Michigan. Chicago didn’t want their sewage going into the lake, so what did they do? Not find some way to deal with the sewage or treat it, no. They REVERSED the Chicago River so that it diverted into a canal and dumps into part of the Mississippi River watershed.

Damn. Wish we could take that one back.

But even now that we can’t, shouldn’t we do whatever we can to actually take care of the Earth? This is a no-brainer either way- we should do it, without question. If we don’t, we’re brainless.

 Photo Credit: kate.gardiner (via Flickr under CCL)