This is the story of one woman who has photographically documented the sad environmental reality unfolding right outside her window in the hope that she can draw attention to a chronic problem that only seems to get worse as the weeks, months and years progress.
Imagine living in a sleepy town for the better part of your whole life and observing physical and often quite troubling changes in the landscape that are reflective of a slow yet pervasive illness.
Mary Taffe, who for decades has enjoyed the view of Big Stone Lake - a freshwater reservoir bordering northeastern South Dakota and western Minnesota - has noticed in recent years that things aren't quite right anymore.
Gone are the views of a tranquil body of water reflective of what Mother Nature really intended and in its place, one can see a whole host of day-glow colors that look like they leapt straight out of James Cameron's Avatar.
These ever-changing scenes may seem deceptively pretty on the outside but they are truly symptomatic of a far deeper problem - the pervasive pollution of a once-vital aquatic ecosystem.
The body of water, stocked every few years with an estimated 7,000,000 walleye fry, is now inhospitable given the massive fish kill that occurred last summer.
Come to think of it, with all of the phosphates, algae and seaweed swirling around, it's probably not a good idea for humans to wade in it, either.
Despite "making noise" by setting up two blogs, posting a vast collection of photos and contacting a whole host of local officials (including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency), Taffe has been unable to get anyone in a position of power to rectify this eco-travesty.
So how did things get so out of hand for Big Stone Lake? Blame it the manure runoff that traveled from one of South Dakota's largest dairies, Veblen East & Veblen West, into the body of water via their chronically maximum capacity waste lagoons.
In addition, the lake is apparently quite shallow and laden with fertilizer phosphates that heat up quickly, creating the ideal breeding medium for algae and weeds to proliferate.
Taffe notes that this transformation began approximately four years ago and was accompanied by a pervasive stench that hung in the air for about 2+ months.
She explained to TreeHugger a few weeks ago, "There are two main South Dakota rivers coming into the lake. At the north end is the Little Minnesota River, which is close to a factory dairy farm and has tested positive for E. coli. At the south end of the lake, the Whetstone River goes down to the Minnesota River, which flows across the state and connects to the Mississippi. (My) photos come from the extreme distress of seeing this lake diminished, and having my quality of life stripped away."
While some of her images are enhanced to accentuate texture, pattern and emotion, they are all legitimate accounts of her corner of the world, forever altered by mankind's apparent lack of regard for much beyond profit.
This whole collection of pictures makes me sad...really sad.
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