It seems a simple enough question to me. I mean, you know - acid rain. Huge environmental issue - before dolphin-friendly tuna, nuclear waste disposal, medical waste on the Jersey shore, recycling, heck I heard about it before there was noise about the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect, for crying out loud. Berke Breathed even did a Bloom County strip on it. Binkley dissolved into bones. Milo wrote a poem about it.
I'd never cry if I did find
a blue whale in my soup
nor would I mind a porcupine
inside a chicken coop.
Yes, life is fine when things combine,
like ham in beef chow mein...
but lord, this time I think I mind,
they've put acid in my rain.
Then I consider that there are people who don't know what I'm talking about when I mention Bloom County. But it seems like acid rain should stick in the memories of a few more souls. I don't believe that just because it slipped out of the newspapers it doesn't happen anymore. That's the worst thing about the media. I bet there are people who believe that the problems of the world are solved as soon as the newsman stops talking about it 15 times a day. Like those glorious little victories that emerge long enough to make page 1 of the Our World section mean that we have all the answers, and a resolution exists.
I turn away from the dark, dripping sky, and head back inside where it's bright, clear and 72 degrees.