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How do we keep Alabama beautiful? As the state grows and the popularity of our beautiful natural resources catches the eyes of beach and nature lovers around the country and the world, we put more strain on our resources. The highways and municipal systems in Alabama are struggling to keep up with the higher volume of traffic and people that are either visiting or relocating to enjoy one of the last truly natural areas of our country. Business and indusrty from around the country and around the world are relocating their operations here to take advantage of the low taxes and hard working people of Alabama. We welcome them, of course, but there is a price to pay for progress. More traffic means more accidents. More people means more waste. How do we handle this increased waste generation and pollution? It is up to each of us to make sure the resources put into our care will be protected and preserved for generations to come. Alabama does not have the funding or manpower to fully police waste handling, accident site remediation and pollution control. If an accident happens on our highways, what becomes of the fuel, oil and radiator fluids that leak onto the roads and make their way into the soil and even our waterways? Right now, the only thing we seem to be able to do is to pour sand on the spill to ensure traction while the fluids evaporate. If you have spent time at the beach playing in the sand, you know that sand is very abundant but not absorbent. Water runs right through and leaves essentially dry sand...so does gasoline, oil or antifreeze. While sand solves a short term problem of covering slippery surfaces, the long term problem of pollution still exists. We must insist that accidental spills, chemical releases and pollution are cleaned up. The long term effects of pollution can easily be seen when we look at what happened to England and Germany during the industrial revolution. Unchecked dumping of chemicals and exhaust from autos, trains and manufacturing plants nearly destroyed the natural resources of both countries. It does not take long to have a tremendous impact on our surroundings, but recovery is a painful and enduring process. The best solution is prevention. Together we need to keep Alabama beautiful - insist that we clean up after ourselves, not just dump sand on the problems. Sand belongs at the beach, not on our highways. ...read more