Controlling the Tap

Today, a reminder that things are not always what they seem and that the touch of humanity runs deeper than we like to believe. And that this holds true most especially in the wild. There, industrial effluent runs silently through streams, planes and satellites pass continuously overhead, pipelines are buried in mud and thickets, and, yes, someone controls the water over Niagra Falls. Consider for a moment the millions of people that annually visit the falls to witness a natural wonder or mark a life event never knowing that the flow is increased at peak visitor hours and dropped to a trickle at night when the waters are diverted for human uses. Consider the unnatural and perilous ecosystem created. Consider the hubris in treating an abiding natural phenomenon like a common faucet.

What does it say about us that we are blind to the irony in this situation?