人与环境27.docVIP

27 POLITICS, ENVIRONMENT, AND SUSTAINABILITY Rescuing a River In the 1960s, Marion Stoddart (Figure 27-1) moved to Groton, Massachusetts, on the Nashua River, then considered one of the nations filthiest rivers. For decades, industries and towns along the river had used it as a dump. Dead fish bobbed on its waves, and at times the water was red, green, or blue from pigments discharged by paper mills. Instead of thinking nothing could be done, she committed herself to restoring the Nashua and establishing public parklands along its banks. She did not start by filing lawsuits or organizing demonstrations. Instead she created a careful cleanup plan and approached state officials with it in 1962. They laughed, but she was not deterred and began practicing the most time-honored skill of politics: one-on-one persuasion. She identified the power brokers in the riverside communities and began to educate them, win them over, and get them to cooperate in cleaning up the river. She also got the state to ban open dumping in the river. When promised federal matching funds for building the treatment plant failed to materialize, Stoddart gathered 13,000 signatures on a petition sent to President Richard Nixon. The funds arrived in a hurry. Stoddarts next success was getting a federal grant to beautify the river. She hired high school dropouts to clear away mounds of debris. When the river cleanup was completed, she persuaded communities along the river to create some 2,400 hectares (6,000 acres) of riverside park and woodlands along both banks. Now, four decades later, the Nashua is still clean. Several new water treatment plants have been built, and a citizens group founded by Stoddart keeps watch on water quality. The river supports many kinds of fish and other wildlife, and its waters are used for canoeing and other kinds of recreation. The project is considered a model for other states and is testimony to what a committed Individual can do to bring abo