Water and Martin Luther King

I was re-reading a transcription of Martin Luther King's speech because I was a bit embarrassed that I could only remember the sound bites.  What a tremendous piece of oration.  Despite its dated language it still resonates and serves to highlight how far we are from equality still, over forty-five years later.  There is still racism of the type that spurred King to make this speech, but now we also have covert -isms that perpetuate inequality in often more subtle ways:  the low income housing next to industry that is more or less careful about its emissions, the menial, dirty jobs that no one but the poor are willing to do, the energy efficiency programs that only help folks that have the disposable income to participate.  I also keep getting confronted by environmental issues on a daily basis, especially those related to climate change and pollution in general.  Long, slow developing issues that will have big consequences in a hurry by accounts I see reported in the general science press.  So perhaps you will be as struck as I was by this quote from Martin Luther King:  "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now.  This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."