(Or scraping the bottom of the pond)
In yesterday's PD we read the following touching plea:
Even sadder than the loss of our wetlands is Metroparks having to look to cash strapped tax payers for more help. Perhaps, like other local governments, they need to examine where they've spent our tax dollars and save some of that money. They would get double the benefit (= 'matching funds') by not continuing to damage existing habitat. Created wetlands take a long time to replace natural ones, if they ever do.
Where could they find the funds in their own budget?
- the $4500 Frog costume they got for this years's mascot to go a beggin' in
or the $400,000 for turf chemicals (including atrazine - suspected of causing frog sexual mutations and now found to also affect human genes) [2] mostly so golf can create artificial, high maintenance nature-or-a-leash.
or the $60+ Million dollars in taxpayer money they got on the premise they would take care our parks.
Links:
[1] http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1215937819161720.xml&coll=2&thispage=1
[2] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507084013.htm