My first encounter with environmental study was in 1971. In that summer, and again in the summer of 1972, I was privileged to participate in the Clear Creek Basin Water Quality Study. I had just graduated from Clear Creek High School. That summer, for 8 weeks, we collected water samples in Clear Lake and Clear Creek, the mixed water estuary across from the Johnson Space Center (then the Manned Spacecraft Center) south of Houston.

We showed the impact of the tides on the salinity of the lake and creek. And our temperature measurements showed the impact of the cooling water discharge of the Houston Lighting and Power (HL&P) Webster power plant on the lake, elevating the temperature and, for example, potentially encouraging elevated levels of algae growth, sediment and water pollution.

Our groups received Presidential citations both years for this work. And I felt proud about it then, and, looking back, still do.

That said, I’m not sure it made much difference. I learned a lot about pollution, and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and laboratory techniques for measuring pollution.

But in real terms, I don’t think our studies had any impact.

The power plant is gone now. It became part of Texas Genco, a subsidiary of Centerpoint Energy, and was recently demolished to make way for a 330 acre subdivision.

Clear Lake is still not even close to clear.

And some thirty-six (36) years later, we continue to pollute the soil, water and air, destroy the rain forest, threaten entire species and heat the planet.