I’ve been watching with intrigue as the long dormant Lake Tulare has been refilling itself following record rain and snow-fall in California. It was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi but was drained for farmland a couple generations ago. My initial response to the story has been to root for the underdog and cheer for the return of the lake. The environmentalist in me takes a bit of glee in the idea of nature taking back what is hers.

But am I really that callous? There are many people losing land and livelihoods that have been with them for generations. How would that make me feel? Not to mention the farmland is highly productive. Driving through the area you see nothing but almond trees as far as the eye can see and I eat almonds almost by the handful. Am I not being hypocritical in that respect?

Now there’s no serious proposal to let the lake remain so this is perhaps a moot point, but its good reminder to myself that even issues that at first seem ethically clear cut are hardly ever so simple.