‘Goss, now in his mid-fifties, became fascinated with river pollutants in a unique manner. He grew up in Kenora, where his father was warden of the area prison in the early 1970s, when mercury poisoning from area pulp mills became a national issue. He was an impressionable youngster when a fishing ban went into effect along the Wabigoon and English River system and led to the economic collapse of Grassy Narrows First Nation (now Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation), where a successful commercial fishery had operated for decades. While both the paper and chemical companies that had been polluting the waters closed down in 1976, the mercury remained in the water for decades. “That was reflected in my father’s jail,” remembers Goss. “It was filling up with people’s social ills.”
Ever since then, he has dedicated his research to finding a workable balance between a sustainable environment and a sustainable economy. “We can find that,” he says. We have to. “Most people don’t think about [the watershed] because they can turn on the tap and get water.
“We essentially don’t appreciate water until it’s gone.”‘
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What’s your relationship with water? Have you ever really thought about it?
In the spring when the rains come, the rain can be such a relief from the months of snow and cold. We don’t mind a few days of a good, soaking rain, especially when we can watch the earth and the trees greening up right before our eyes. If it drags on too long, though, all of those gray days can be downright depressing.
But without it?
Thoughts? Feel free to share them here.
