Hopefully over the course of the summer, you were able to visit a lake and spend time in and around it. Hopefully your pursuits were recreational, but have you ever thought about the eco-system under the water? In a book called The Death and Life of the Great ,Lakes by Dan Egan published by WW Norton & Company, NY, 2017 the author has and did. Although most of the book focuses on the Great Lakes – Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario; the eco-system of the entire US is discussed. Most of the time if you go to a lake, the lake is the end point of rivers and streams sending water into the lake. In the case of the Great Lakes, one really interesting method to look at them is they are a river flowing from Superior to the Atlantic Ocean. Niagara Falls means two things – one the waterfall is lovely to see, although 100 or 200 plus years ago it was 10 times the size and noise. However in terms of the ecosystem, because fish could not get over Niagara Falls, the fish were different on both sides of the falls.

In the world of fresh water systems – there is the Great Lakes system and the Mississippi system and they partial meet in Chicago at the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Chicago receives its fresh water from Lake Michigan and sends its sanitary waste down the canal to the Des Plaines River which connects to the Illinois River which connects to the Mississippi River. This means if there is something no good for the water in the Mississippi ecosystem it will not be good for the Great Lakes system.  In the book, the story of the Zebra and Gugga Mussels, Asian Carp, Lake Trout and Salmon were given.

In the case of the mussels, the good idea was in terms of ship building was to use water as the ballast to ensure the ship was steady in rough seas. The bad idea is where the water was picked up, the organisms in the sea was transplanted to the next stop of the ship’s journey. Until species developed and generally when new species develop at first they have few food chain “enemies” so they multiply. After some time, the animals in the sea change to their surroundings or die off. As the movie the Lion King said – the circle of life – we are all connected.

The issue is the cost to clean up is always more than the cost of prevention but until people or politicians see there is a need for cleanup, the balance typically falls out of synch and the costs are in the cleanup.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in nature there are balances in the ecosystem until things change. Some for the good, some preventable and some because we believe nature can adapt to the changes. It can but it does take time. For dividend paying stocks, the balance is ability to sell goods and services at a healthy margin and make profits. Your task is to ensure you know how your companies are making profits and monitor those conditions do not change your balance.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.