I understand that not everyone will have access to a stream/river with fish, but I thought people might find this interesting anyways.
Do you have videos that stick with you? "Through the Kitchen Window: A Town Living with Water [Harie, Shiga] " is one that occasionally pops back in my mind.
In Harie, Shiga(Japan), water canals run through much of the town, and the people there use it to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with fish. 🐟
Imagine a pool of water that people use for washing fruits, vegetables, and dishes. That same pool has carp that call it home, and the carp eat the scraps and keep the water crystal clear. This could be inside the home or outside, but it is constantly added to by natural spring water, and the water exits in to a canal. This system is called “Kabata,” and has been used for over 300 years.
(Both images above are from this website)
That running water then heads to rice flats, which benefit from the natural fertilizers the fish provide. That water then heads to wetland area, where the water is cleaned by reeds and other vegetation before entering a lake.
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what I find most amazing is that people don’t destroy the water by throwing in garbage. no way would that work where I live
I think that’s the strength of a commons, really.
Because everyone directly uses and directly benefits from it, everyone is invested in keeping it well maintained and useable.
I bet there’s a super strong local culture around protecting that system from harm. It could be deleterious for the whole community if it was allowed to be ruined, and they’d be super aware of that.