In spring-fed Beaver Dam Creek, which borders the family property in Greenbrier, Alabama, there lives a teensy little fish called the Spring Pygmy Sunfish, which is on the endangered species list. Going back to the late '70s, there's been some controversy about development in this area because of this fish. My niece, Emily, is a fervent environmentalist and has made this rather charming video arguing for preservation of the SPS's habitat (filmed on location! as they used to say in old movie ads).
I'm posting it not because anyone reading this is likely to have any influence in the matter of the Spring Pygmy Sunfish but just because it's delightful, and in the final ten minutes, when Emily makes her preservation appeal to the rest of the family, quite moving (to me at least). It's rather long for a web video (25 minutes) and some people, including me, have had trouble viewing it. If you're interested at all, do try to make it to the last ten minutes.
Emily is the daughter of my brother John, who's the guy in the orange hat in the video. Emily's sister Nori is in it, too. Their mother is Japanese, in case you wonder.
A mischievous but obviously rhetorical question: who's the conservative–the environmentalist who wants to preserve this place, or the capitalist who wants to build a mall or factory on it? (The capitalist is hypothetical, by the way: there is not currently any such plan under consideration, but as Emily says there is almost certainly going to be development of some kind in the area.)
P.S. This is a QuickTime video.
Light On Dark Water 
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