Salmon Runs

This evening, after mowing the lawn at my mom's house, I actually watched the news. This is a shock in itself for many who know me, because I rarely do. Reasons abound for why I am so awfully pathetic when it comes to the news, but being dragged into tachycardic depression by the state of the world is highest on the list. So, anyways, they were doing a story on the pitiful Sockeye Salmon runs going through the Seattle ship canal (Ballard Locks, way to win one for technology and 'progress' over the environment and indigenous lifestyles...another issue altogether I suppose). The goal for a successful run this year, and to be able to have Lake Washington fishing, is upwards of 300,000 Sockeye come through. The tragic possibility is that we are looking at a run of 18,000 to 19,000. My mind begins to tumble and crash down the stairs at the multi-faceted environmental complications this drastic drop-off implies. Just a taste: warmer water temperatures, effects of Fall/Winter/early Spring floods on egg clusters and their survival, the suppression of other species proliferation due to a loss of food resources and on and on and on.
I have to tell ya, with these kind of signs staring me (us, hopefully?) in the face and the far-too-slow-if-any progress and change in our human lifestyle and impact upon the rest of the planet, I doubt that we can pull out of the tailspin we're in. In my somewhat educated estimation, we have a generation and a half left before we join the relics of the past at Jurassic Park.