Harmful Algal Blooms are a serious environmental and economic

In the long history of humankind’s relationship with nature, Mikie Sherrill’s words rise as both warning and remembrance: “Harmful Algal Blooms are a serious environmental and economic threat to New Jersey.” Beneath this seemingly simple statement lies an ancient lesson, one that the rivers, seas, and lakes of every age have taught in silence—the balance between humanity and the waters that sustain it is delicate, and when that balance is broken, both the earth and its people suffer.

The ancients revered water as the breath of creation. In Egypt, the Nile was not only a river but a god, its flooding celebrated as the renewal of life. In Greece, Poseidon ruled the seas, and in China, the Yellow River was called “the cradle of civilization.” They knew that water is both giver and taker, capable of nurturing crops or swallowing whole cities. Today, in New Jersey and beyond, the same truth remains: when nature is disturbed—when pollution and neglect poison her veins—she reminds us of her power through calamities such as Harmful Algal Blooms.

A Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) is a surge of microscopic algae that multiplies beyond control, choking lakes and rivers with its growth. These blooms release toxins that kill fish, sicken animals, and endanger human health. But their reach extends further still—they stain the beauty of nature, drive away tourism, and cripple local economies dependent on clean water. What Sherrill calls a “serious environmental and economic threat” is, in truth, a reflection of human excess—the fertilizer that runs unchecked from farms, the waste that seeps into waterways, the heat that warms the waters unnaturally, all combine to feed this living plague.

History, too, bears witness to this pattern. In the 1950s, Lake Erie, once called the “Blue Jewel of the Great Lakes,” was declared dead. Decades of pollution and nutrient runoff had turned its waters green and lifeless. Towns lost their fishing trades, families lost their livelihoods, and the people lost their trust in the land. Yet from that tragedy came renewal: when laws were enacted, when citizens rose to demand stewardship, the lake was reborn. It stands today as proof that while destruction may be swift, restoration is possible—if wisdom and will walk hand in hand.

Sherrill’s warning, therefore, is not despair but awakening. She reminds us that the fight against environmental threats is not the task of scientists or governments alone, but of every citizen who draws water from a tap or walks along a shore. The economic cost of inaction is measured not only in dollars, but in the loss of the sacred relationship between people and place. Clean water is wealth beyond measure; it sustains the body, uplifts the spirit, and anchors communities. When it is defiled, the very rhythm of life falters.

The ancients would have seen this as a moral imbalance—a violation of the covenant between humankind and the earth. To drain the soil, to foul the river, to take without giving back—these acts awaken nature’s retribution. Yet redemption is always within reach. To prevent Harmful Algal Blooms, we must live with intention: reduce pollution, restore wetlands, manage agriculture wisely, and honor the natural cycles that cleanse and renew the waters. These are not mere policies; they are acts of reverence.

The lesson of Sherrill’s words is eternal: what harms the earth will, in time, harm its people. To protect the waters of New Jersey, or any land, is to protect life itself. Let each person remember that stewardship begins not with grand decrees, but with daily choices—with what we pour down our drains, how we use our land, and how we honor the living systems around us.

Thus, when Mikie Sherrill speaks of Harmful Algal Blooms as a “serious threat,” she gives voice to an ancient truth in modern form. The rivers are not merely waterways—they are mirrors of the human heart. When we care for them, they flow clear; when we neglect them, they reflect our corruption. May future generations inherit waters that are pure, and may we, in our time, act not as conquerors of nature, but as her faithful guardians.