Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye talks with community members during a public meeting July 20, in Shiprock, N.M. The quality of San Juan River water on the Navajo Nation has returned to what it was before a spill at a Colorado gold mine sent toxic sludge into the waterway, federal officials said Thursday. (Jon Austria, The Daily Times via The Associated Press)
As we think about the plight of the Navajo farmers facing toxic waters downstream from the Gold King Mine, we must not forget that the bitter pill they must swallow ultimately came not from the Environmental Protection Agency’s contractor, but our mining society 150 years ago where wealth (“gold”) was king, and many early Coloradans were thoughtless about what would happen to people who came after them.
What happens 150 years after our time? We face real choices. What we do to our environment, what we do with our Earth’s climate, will have serious consequences to those who come after us. Our continued choice to do little about greenhouse gases will likely cause serious hardships for those who come after us, as Navajo farmers now reap the thoughtlessness of our ancestors.
Ken Gerdes, Denver
This letter was published in the Aug. 24 edition.
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