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Why the name?

This black and white photo is of the Cuyahoga River fire in 1969.  It has become symbolic for the catalyst to change that is popularly believed to have led to the Clean water act and much of the environmental movement.  While in reality larger forces had set the wheels of change in motion, symbols are still extremely powerful.

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It is easy to forget that disasters have almost become an abstract.  Turn on the news and devastation is so commonplace that it can be difficult to understand the gravity of any single event.  This is where symbols have power.  The Cuyahoga River fire became etched into the environmental movement because it was a moment where perspective shifted.  A river catching fire is easy to understand.  People realized that tragedy was not the natural biproduct of industry, but something we were doing to the natural world.  Now, more than ever, it is important that we have a symbol for the environmental catalyst, and we need only look back to see it and how much power our actions can have to repair that which we have broken.

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