WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.960 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:03.390 align:middle line:84%
The first year I lived
in Ketchikan, Alaska,

00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:09.570 align:middle line:84%
42.5 inches of rain fell
during the 31 days of October.

00:00:09.570 --> 00:00:12.390 align:middle line:84%
I began to better
appreciate a Tlingit

00:00:12.390 --> 00:00:16.379 align:middle line:84%
story I had heard about a
village on a small island

00:00:16.379 --> 00:00:19.920 align:middle line:84%
occupied by sea lion
people, who originally

00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.380 align:middle line:90%
had been human beings.

00:00:22.380 --> 00:00:26.040 align:middle line:84%
A great storm blew in,
which lasted for weeks.

00:00:26.040 --> 00:00:28.500 align:middle line:84%
And when the storm
finally had passed,

00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:32.920 align:middle line:84%
the people on the small island
no longer possessed human form.

00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:36.660 align:middle line:84%
They all had become sea lions
because that was how they could

00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:38.280 align:middle line:90%
best survive in that place.

00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:42.420 align:middle line:90%


00:00:42.420 --> 00:00:43.390 align:middle line:90%
For a long time.

00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:45.660 align:middle line:84%
I had a great many
Sonoran red-spotted toads

00:00:45.660 --> 00:00:48.490 align:middle line:84%
around the rainwater
pool behind my house.

00:00:48.490 --> 00:00:52.020 align:middle line:84%
I also had a few cattails
and a yellow water lily.

00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:54.030 align:middle line:84%
This was a modest
accomplishment,

00:00:54.030 --> 00:00:56.880 align:middle line:84%
since the pool is
replenished only by rainfall

00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:01.170 align:middle line:84%
and there is no electricity to
operate a filtration system.

00:01:01.170 --> 00:01:03.780 align:middle line:84%
Hundreds of toads
used to sing all night

00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:09.720 align:middle line:84%
in magnificent choruses
with complex harmonies.

00:01:09.720 --> 00:01:12.810 align:middle line:84%
One summer, when the water
level of the pool was low,

00:01:12.810 --> 00:01:16.620 align:middle line:84%
a man I had recently met brought
his sons and his dog for dinner

00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:18.030 align:middle line:90%
at my house.

00:01:18.030 --> 00:01:20.190 align:middle line:84%
The boys were 11
and 12 years old,

00:01:20.190 --> 00:01:23.190 align:middle line:84%
and they had been adopted
off a Canadian Indian reserve

00:01:23.190 --> 00:01:25.110 align:middle line:90%
by the man's wife.

00:01:25.110 --> 00:01:27.990 align:middle line:84%
After dinner, the boys
took the dog outside

00:01:27.990 --> 00:01:30.540 align:middle line:84%
to enjoy the coolness
of the twilight.

00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:33.300 align:middle line:84%
A few minutes later, when the
man and I joined the boys,

00:01:33.300 --> 00:01:36.480 align:middle line:84%
we found them with the
dog by the rainwater pool.

00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:39.630 align:middle line:84%
Strewn all around the pool
where the remains of toads,

00:01:39.630 --> 00:01:42.510 align:middle line:84%
smashed flat by the
boys and their dog.

00:01:42.510 --> 00:01:45.450 align:middle line:90%


00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:48.660 align:middle line:84%
I managed to keep my composure
until the dinner guests

00:01:48.660 --> 00:01:50.760 align:middle line:90%
and their dog had left.

00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:52.065 align:middle line:90%
I never saw them again.

00:01:52.065 --> 00:01:54.780 align:middle line:90%


00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:58.800 align:middle line:84%
The dinner guests from
hell, I guess you could say.

00:01:58.800 --> 00:02:04.110 align:middle line:84%
The night-long choirs of
multitudes of toads ceased.

00:02:04.110 --> 00:02:06.510 align:middle line:84%
The Chernobyl nuclear
reactor disaster

00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:10.080 align:middle line:84%
occurred not long
afterward and may also--

00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.770 align:middle line:84%
didn't help-- and may also have
affected the toad population.

00:02:13.770 --> 00:02:16.200 align:middle line:84%
I guess that's pretty
much established.

00:02:16.200 --> 00:02:18.950 align:middle line:84%
It actually caused more
human beings to die too--

00:02:18.950 --> 00:02:21.690 align:middle line:84%
babies born to babies died
all over the world too.

00:02:21.690 --> 00:02:23.340 align:middle line:90%
They don't say much about that.

00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:26.190 align:middle line:84%
Last summer, the pool
had polliwogs again

00:02:26.190 --> 00:02:29.220 align:middle line:84%
and the descendants of the
red-spotted toads, which

00:02:29.220 --> 00:02:33.960 align:middle line:84%
had survived radioactive
fallout and the boys with a dog.

00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:36.960 align:middle line:84%
The night-long choirs
have not resumed yet.

00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.345 align:middle line:84%
The toads need a few
more years to recover.

00:02:39.345 --> 00:02:42.810 align:middle line:90%


00:02:42.810 --> 00:02:45.150 align:middle line:84%
Some months after the
Chernobyl accident,

00:02:45.150 --> 00:02:47.640 align:middle line:84%
neighborhood dogs
trapped a big mule deer

00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:50.490 align:middle line:84%
doe as she came to
water at the pool.

00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:53.400 align:middle line:84%
I heard the commotion of the
dogs and water splashing,

00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:55.530 align:middle line:90%
and I ran outside to the pool.

00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:58.480 align:middle line:84%
I chased off the dogs
with rocks and sticks,

00:02:58.480 --> 00:03:01.650 align:middle line:84%
so the deer was able
to escape unharmed.

00:03:01.650 --> 00:03:04.230 align:middle line:84%
The water lily was
trampled to pieces,

00:03:04.230 --> 00:03:06.930 align:middle line:90%
and the cattail was torn apart.

00:03:06.930 --> 00:03:09.420 align:middle line:84%
Still, I did not
expect long-term damage

00:03:09.420 --> 00:03:11.400 align:middle line:90%
from the deer's frenzy.

00:03:11.400 --> 00:03:14.190 align:middle line:84%
But soon after
the deer's ambush,

00:03:14.190 --> 00:03:18.360 align:middle line:84%
a strange red algae
with a texture of mucus

00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:21.210 align:middle line:84%
began to float on
the pool's surface.

00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:24.510 align:middle line:84%
This red algae smothered
the yellow water lily,

00:03:24.510 --> 00:03:26.040 align:middle line:90%
and even the cattail died.

00:03:26.040 --> 00:03:29.750 align:middle line:90%


00:03:29.750 --> 00:03:32.600 align:middle line:84%
I did not visit the
pool often after that.

00:03:32.600 --> 00:03:35.360 align:middle line:84%
Red algae slime
covered everything.

00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:37.910 align:middle line:84%
But sometimes when I
did visit the pool,

00:03:37.910 --> 00:03:41.300 align:middle line:84%
I found the floating remains
of drowned creatures.

00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:43.610 align:middle line:84%
The red algae on the
surface of the water

00:03:43.610 --> 00:03:47.720 align:middle line:84%
gave the appearance of
solid material, not liquid.

00:03:47.720 --> 00:03:49.850 align:middle line:84%
I considered
destroying the pool,

00:03:49.850 --> 00:03:53.120 align:middle line:84%
but since most of the
desert animals and birds

00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:56.360 align:middle line:84%
managed not to drown and
depended on the rainwater pool

00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:59.720 align:middle line:84%
for survival, I gave
the pool a reprieve.

00:03:59.720 --> 00:04:03.590 align:middle line:84%
But then I discovered a
decomposing mule deer partially

00:04:03.590 --> 00:04:07.070 align:middle line:84%
submerged, and I decided that
I'd had enough of the pool.

00:04:07.070 --> 00:04:10.070 align:middle line:84%
I ordered six dump truck
loads of crushed rock

00:04:10.070 --> 00:04:13.610 align:middle line:90%
to begin to fill in the pool.

00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:17.029 align:middle line:84%
But then I got tired
of shoveling the rock

00:04:17.029 --> 00:04:19.680 align:middle line:84%
into the pool--
kind of what is--

00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:21.709 align:middle line:90%
well, I shoveled a lot in there.

00:04:21.709 --> 00:04:25.820 align:middle line:84%
The crushed rock, but not
six dump truck loads, OK,

00:04:25.820 --> 00:04:29.690 align:middle line:84%
because look what happened
which is a little work,

00:04:29.690 --> 00:04:31.760 align:middle line:90%
a little wheelbarrow pushing.

00:04:31.760 --> 00:04:35.150 align:middle line:84%
The crushed rock created
a natural escape ramp,

00:04:35.150 --> 00:04:37.580 align:middle line:84%
which the lizards,
birds, and other animals

00:04:37.580 --> 00:04:39.440 align:middle line:90%
use to avoid drowning.

00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:41.880 align:middle line:84%
See, this is an old,
defunct swimming pool,

00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:44.660 align:middle line:84%
which drowns so many
kids and stuff, too.

00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:47.930 align:middle line:84%
The rock also acted
as a natural filter,

00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:51.530 align:middle line:84%
and the red algae seemed
less hardy than before.

00:04:51.530 --> 00:04:53.900 align:middle line:90%
I decided to try one more time.

00:04:53.900 --> 00:04:56.990 align:middle line:84%
I resumed my struggle
against the red algae.

00:04:56.990 --> 00:04:59.660 align:middle line:84%
I skimmed off tons
of the red algae,

00:04:59.660 --> 00:05:02.180 align:middle line:84%
but this only seemed to
stimulate the red algae's

00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:04.070 align:middle line:90%
growth.

00:05:04.070 --> 00:05:06.050 align:middle line:90%
I tried water plants.

00:05:06.050 --> 00:05:08.810 align:middle line:84%
At first, red algae
overpowered and smothered

00:05:08.810 --> 00:05:11.660 align:middle line:84%
the roots of all the
water plants I tried--

00:05:11.660 --> 00:05:14.690 align:middle line:84%
duckweed, water
lettuce, or water lily.

00:05:14.690 --> 00:05:17.000 align:middle line:84%
They all succumb
to the red algae

00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:20.780 align:middle line:84%
and its ally, the fierce
ultraviolet rays of the sun.

00:05:20.780 --> 00:05:23.450 align:middle line:90%


00:05:23.450 --> 00:05:26.090 align:middle line:84%
I located some water
hyacinths after I

00:05:26.090 --> 00:05:28.640 align:middle line:84%
read that they are
hardy and pestiferous,

00:05:28.640 --> 00:05:32.780 align:middle line:84%
the bane of waterways and
lakes throughout the tropics.

00:05:32.780 --> 00:05:35.360 align:middle line:84%
The water hyacinth might
have a better chance

00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.420 align:middle line:84%
against the red algae
in the summer sun.

00:05:38.420 --> 00:05:41.150 align:middle line:84%
But at first, I only put a
handful of water hyacinths

00:05:41.150 --> 00:05:41.930 align:middle line:90%
in the pool.

00:05:41.930 --> 00:05:45.020 align:middle line:84%
And the red algae made
short work of them.

00:05:45.020 --> 00:05:47.390 align:middle line:84%
So I put more
hyacinths together,

00:05:47.390 --> 00:05:49.940 align:middle line:84%
and when I had
assembled 30 plants,

00:05:49.940 --> 00:05:56.900 align:middle line:84%
a sort of critical mass, the
red algae began to recede.

00:05:56.900 --> 00:06:00.620 align:middle line:84%
30 water hyacinths
became 3,300, and then

00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:04.190 align:middle line:90%
33,000 water hyacinths.

00:06:04.190 --> 00:06:08.330 align:middle line:84%
The water in the pool began
to clear and smell cleaner

00:06:08.330 --> 00:06:11.840 align:middle line:84%
because water hyacinth
digests the worst sorts

00:06:11.840 --> 00:06:14.000 align:middle line:90%
of waste and contamination.

00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.610 align:middle line:84%
Decomposing rodents
and dead toads--

00:06:16.610 --> 00:06:18.915 align:middle line:84%
nothing is too vile
for the water hyacinth.

00:06:18.915 --> 00:06:21.560 align:middle line:90%


00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:24.650 align:middle line:84%
Water hyacinths even
removed lead and cadmium

00:06:24.650 --> 00:06:26.630 align:middle line:90%
from contaminated water.

00:06:26.630 --> 00:06:32.540 align:middle line:84%
I write in appreciation of the
lowly water hyacinth, purifier

00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:33.710 align:middle line:90%
of defiled water.

00:06:33.710 --> 00:06:36.860 align:middle line:90%


00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:42.140 align:middle line:84%
Only the night blooming datura,
jimson weed, sacred plant

00:06:42.140 --> 00:06:47.300 align:middle line:84%
of the Pueblo priests, mighty
hallucinogen and deadly poison.

00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:53.050 align:middle line:84%
Only the datura has the power to
purify plutonium contamination.

00:06:53.050 --> 00:06:57.410 align:middle line:84%
Datura not only thrives in
soil contaminated by plutonium,

00:06:57.410 --> 00:07:01.320 align:middle line:84%
the datura actually removes
the plutonium from the soil

00:07:01.320 --> 00:07:03.200 align:middle line:90%
so that the soil is purified.

00:07:03.200 --> 00:07:06.680 align:middle line:84%
And only the datura plant
itself is radioactive.

00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.530 align:middle line:84%
The datura metabolizes
heavy water

00:07:09.530 --> 00:07:14.510 align:middle line:84%
that contaminated with plutonium
because for the datura,

00:07:14.510 --> 00:07:16.100 align:middle line:90%
all water is sacred.

00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:19.460 align:middle line:90%


00:07:19.460 --> 00:07:22.640 align:middle line:84%
Across the West,
uranium mine waste

00:07:22.640 --> 00:07:25.340 align:middle line:84%
and contamination from
underground nuclear tests

00:07:25.340 --> 00:07:30.290 align:middle line:84%
in Nevada ruin the dwindling
supplies of fresh water.

00:07:30.290 --> 00:07:33.980 align:middle line:84%
Chemical pollutants and heavy
metals from abandoned mines

00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:38.420 align:middle line:84%
leak gold, lead, and mercury
into aquifers and rivers.

00:07:38.420 --> 00:07:42.050 align:middle line:84%
But human beings
desecrate only themselves.

00:07:42.050 --> 00:07:45.470 align:middle line:90%
The Mother Earth is inviolable.

00:07:45.470 --> 00:07:48.530 align:middle line:84%
Whatever may become
of us human beings,

00:07:48.530 --> 00:07:51.710 align:middle line:84%
the Earth will bloom
with hyacinth purple

00:07:51.710 --> 00:07:55.070 align:middle line:84%
and the white blossoms
of the datura.

00:07:55.070 --> 00:07:55.970 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:07:55.970 --> 00:07:59.320 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:07:59.320 --> 00:08:33.000 align:middle line:90%