Your Hero: Plato or Joe the Plumber?

My appreciation for the plumber came to me from opposite directions. As a semi-successful do-it-yourself plumber, I slowly learned a bit about the trade. I learned that when the sewer starts to backup plumbers should be reached by dialing 911.  Sorry Plato, you lose round one.

But, what about the history of plumbing and its importance to human civilization? Plumbing history came to me accidentally.  

While employed by the Military Sealift Command, I was “stuck” on the Island of Crete. Being stuck on Crete is not a hardship. In fact, you might pray that you suffer this fate one day.

Before docking, I read in National Geographic, about an ancient civilization on Crete called the Minoan. In its heyday, young nimble girls would leap over charging bulls at festivals. In a way it was like modern Olympic gymnastics springboard competition between the horns. The article said there were frescos on preserved walls of the ancient Palace of Knossos depicting the event.  Docking at Souda Bay was, as I explained to my mates, “A once in a lifetime opportunity to see frescoes of the bull leaping babes!”.  The trip was launched.

Tour guides in Europe are licensed, thorough, and entertaining. Our guide at Knossos was all the above. She was proud of her Cretan heritage. The Minoan civilization was Europe’s first civilization.

Disappointingly, she was not as excited about the charging bulls and the gymnastic girls as me and my mates.

In contrast, she became excited when she came to a hole in the ground.  She pointed down and said, “What is this?”

I took the bait and answered confidently and a bit sarcastically, “That ma’am, is a sewer pipe!”

 “Not only that” she replied with a wry Cretan accent, it is the oldest sewer pipe in the world!”. She went on to explain, “The whole city and palace had hot and cold running water, sewers, and hypocaust room heating.” This was prior to 1375 BC! In contrast, our White House in Washington did not have the “luxury” of hot and cold water until 1834, 3000 years later.

To study the history of agriculture and the history of plumbing is an examination of what makes civilization possible. Without agriculture we starve. Without clean water and a way to remove waste we poison or sicken ourselves. The lack of plumbing, old or new, is a story of massive sickness. The story of failed agriculture is the history of hunger. These are historical horror stories.

 Today, thanks in no small part to our plumbers, we have clean water from a tap. We also have pipes to remove sewage from our dwellings.  We have also discovered that processing our sewage before injecting back into our world is more effective than just dumping it back in the river. This regulation, what we consider common sense today, did not come to us until after 1972 with the passage of the clean water act. I saw the change with my own eyes.  My brother and I swam in the Mississippi River before and after the act.  Before 1972 we came out orange and after we did not.

 Clean air, clean water, and a benign climate are what makes civil society possible. Today, we not only have plumbers to protect us, but we have scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, state environmental agencies and our departments of natural resources to help. They are our guardians. Bottom line, they are employed to keep micro-plastics, harmful pesticides, and chemicals out of our bodies by keeping them out of the water, air, and food.

They are our guardians who tell us civil society is threatened by climate disruption. They also give us solutions.

If we were born between 1300 BC and 1873, that 3000-year stretch, avoiding plague was hit and miss. Prior to 1972, our chances of getting asthma or lung cancer were going up.  We take clean water and air for granted. We take a benign climate for granted. These are not rights. We earn them through knowledge, vigilance, personal actions and political action.

May I suggest that before you vote, know where your politicians stand on clean water, clean air and protecting the climate. These have always been the bottom lines issues for humanity. As long as we exist, we will be challenged with attaining all three.

Sorry Plato. I love your wisdom but plumbers (and scientists) get my vote. Now that I have clean air to breathe, a drink of clear water, and a bite to eat, I’ll relax and attempt to learn what you had to tell us.  Thanks.