JUNE 22

On this date in 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught on fire.  Overladen with chemical sewage from the industrial giants along its path, it fed into Lake Erie and contributed to the 'almost dead' condition of the Great Lake.  The shame about it was that the fire prevented the children from Akron to Cleveland from playing in that multi-colored soup on the river's edge.  Alas, if only the adults could have resisted flipping their cigarette butts into the colorful stream.

The fire on the river was a major impetus for the strengthening of the environmental movement in the United States.  It soon led to establishment of the EPA and the Clean Water Act.  What followed was protection for darter fish in underground rivers and obscure lizards in remote deserts.

You can now fish in the Cuyahoga but I wouldn't eat your catch.
o.o