Just like it's easy to forget that clean water comes from somewhere and at one point in US history would've been seen like a miracle. That your shit goes somewhere you don't have to think about it. It's easy to not see how the chunk of money that you pay in taxes is linked to that.

Damn near everyone in Florida would die without electricity. But the idea of paying $400/mo to power your 2000sqft suburban home moves them to revolution.

*i* get it. I know what its like to look at your pay stub and wonder what it would be like if you didn't have to pay taxes. And it's worth asking if everywhere or tax dollars goes make sense.

As someone who works for an environmental engineering firm, it’s always interesting to explain to folks what the infrastructure they take for granted is doing. I have been recommending Deb Chachra’s “How Infrastructure Works” to folks a lot lately.

Where I live, the city bills for water & sewer by number of gallons of water used. (Assumption is what comes in goes out, I think.) That makes it easier to see. And if you think about it at all, it's a bargain, even though it's the building's 2nd greatest expense.

The most impactful field trip I remember taking as a kid was going to the sewage treatment plant. Should be required at every school.

Here in farm country clean water would seem like miracle if we had it. Water treatment is good but getting overwhelmed by pollutants.

When the Singapore government put in place a dam to convert the river mouths into a freshwater reservoir, there was a ton of effort made to develop a visitor centre that educated people on where their clean water came from. Same with the reverse osmosis water plant, which hosted school kids’ visits

Unless you’re looking at a baby humpback whale playing in Boston Harbor and you remember when falling in meant IV antibiotics…then it’s hard to miss when it’s whale-sized!