Wordsworth, Thoreau, Jason Voorhees: these are just a few of the esteemed luminaries who enjoy a good walk around the lake. I like to count myself among their company, as I too enjoy a lakeside stroll. Recently, I’ve been camping around lakes, so I haven’t taken many walks down to the neighborhood lake. But it was nice out this morning, so I took a walk down to the lake. What I found there shocked me.
My lake is dying. Just look at the difference between what it looked like in March versus today. Even with recent rains, the water level is so low, there’s not even enough to support the dock. There are no ducks, geese, or those white birds with long beaks that stand at the edge of the water. What happened? In a word, Capitalism.
On the far side of the lake, a new warehouse is being built. My neighborhood is not far from the Port of Savannah, so I am surrounded on all sides by warehouses and distribution centers. I am in a nexus of the stuff-industrial complex. Walmart, FedEx, Amazon, Target, even Ikea all have facilities within 10 minutes from my house. But never have they come so close.
They are in the process of clearing and levelling the future warehouse site. In doing so, they have cut off the little waterway that fed the neighborhood lake and blocked off the easier path around the lake. My lake is being starved to death. And for whom? Who benefits from this? For me, I benefit.
I get my pills from Amazon. I saved $30 on deliveries last month thanks to Walmart+. FedEx delivers many of my tiny keyboard components. And most of the furniture in my house is either from my grandma or from Ikea. I am a shameless consumer. I am a stuff addict. I don’t drink, smoke, or do drugs. I spend $300 at Amazon on a Monday morning so I can install a TV on the non-party patio on Wednesday.
I would like to go paddleboarding tomorrow morning, but I cannot paddle on a dying lake. Not when I am the one responsible. So instead, I will wash my house, using the power washer I ordered from Home Depot. I will scour the vinyl siding of my home with my own hypocrisy.