Sunday, June 28, 2009

Let's Learn from the Frogs ...


All's quiet at Chez Sven on this drizzly morning. I still have not been able to get to the beach to photograph the erosion, although everyone is talking about it. While waiting for our latest guests to arrive, I went upstairs and found Sven watching television. I picked up the New York Times Week in Review, which he had just discarded. "There's something you should read first," he told me straight away. "Nicholas Kristof's column." So, I turned to the last pages. The information Kristof provides is always interesting, but today's column sent chills through me. Sven and I have been following research in this domain for quite some time, and I am glad Kristof has brought the issue to the nation's attention. When I check guests into the cottage, I routinely show them how our PUR water filter works. I always say, "There's nothing wrong with well water, but we suggest drinking filtered water anyway." Perhaps there is something wrong, very wrong, with the water most of us drink. I am afraid PUR filters do not remove any endocrine disruptors that may have seeped in. Michael Jackson dies and all there is on the news for the weekend is trivia about his life. I wish television would focus on more important matters, like this column by Mr. Kristof. What can you do? Read the column and tell everyone you know about this situation. Parents protect the children swimming in Long Pond as best they can. Do they ever think about all the industrial chemicals our world shovels into the environment and how different our children's lives will be because of them? We are reaching a tipping point here, too. Spread the word: as Kristof urges, let's learn from the frogs.