When you stick rake into calm still water, you will see ripples go out from the middle in an almost perfect circle. There will be one ripple after another until finally they all dissipate and the water is still again.

But even though you can’t see them who is to say that those ripples are not still effective influencers creating other ripples elsewhere? Are those ripples now in the air, moving into the heavens? Some of the things we do effect other people in positive ways and then they in turn pass it on to others. That is also a ripple.

Think of this, that rake I stuck into the water at Hunters Springs Park on Kings Bay in Crystal River for the first time way back in 2003 sent out ripples. At the time I had no idea where they would be going. One thing connected to another and the ripples keep fanning out further and further.

I remember that as people asked me what I was doing raking algae out of the swimming area, my simple answer was, to cleanup the swimming area for the kids. Our kids, in the broad sense our humanities children. The more complicated answer took longer to explain, but I would occasionally get up in front of city council and try explaining it to them in a way they could understand.

I could see that it was all about incremental improvements day after day that would add up to an amazing change as the years went by. For every rake full of Lyngbya algae that was raked out of Kings Bay was full of nutrient pollution. This was because Lyngbya is a type of algae that horde’s nutrients as it grows sometimes 12 feet long or longer and was clogging up the springs and killing the eco system.

Left unchecked the hairy, stringy Lyngbya algae rose to the surface of the springs and looked like rotting sewage floating on top. Who would want to swim in that? And it was killing everything else in the fresh water spring fed bay and was creating dead zones. So the point I would explain is that that more you took out today the less there would be there tomorrow.

That way every rake full of Lyngbya algae you removed today made tomorrow just a little bit better because our springs were just a little bit cleaner and less polluted. And that still stands true today as the ripples of that first rake in the water keeps expanding out.

Another ripple I see is the movement to give more respect to our Floridian Aquifer. People are asking what are we using all the water for as the levels of the aquifer decline and springs start drying up. Good questions.

That is how things can change for the better everyday when it comes to influencing the quality of our springs. For example , each person who decides to cut back on using spring water to water their lawns, can in turn influence others to do the same.

The more people who stop wasting precious water on lawns that, we can not eat, the more water will be available for our hard working farmers who are feeding us. And the more water there will be to keep our springs healthy.

Without our farmers, most of us would be starving. Most people would not be capable of growing enough food for themselves. Farming is one of the world’s oldest professions and one of the most important.

It takes knowledge and a lot of hard work. I know because I worked on a farm in Oregon for 10 years. It is a lot of hard work and you are not always successful, a storm or hard freeze can destroy things overnight.

What would we do if we did not have any grocery stores. People don’t know how to farm in a way that would be sufficient for them to survive without being able to go to a grocery store. Let’s give the farmers the respect they deserve.

So each one of us who truly understands how our aquifers work and cuts back on waist-full water habits can cause a ripple that can affect the health of our aquifers that our farmers need to feed us, and the water needed to keep our springs healthy. Together we have the power to recharge the aquifer.

It is the collective actions of many that help make great things happen. As the ripples of positive work continue to spread into the New Year may each of us continue to thrive together and help each other in continuing to heal our springs and planet today and for tomorrow. That is how we save the world, One Rake at a Time.

Happy New Year,

Art Jones