7 recreational swimming and the more than a dozen dams built on the Fox River. Rylie-Nicole Bozarth juxtaposes two centuries of development on the Fox with recent, but incomplete restorative ecological efforts, in her essay “Obsolete Technologies and Restoration on the Fox River.” In “Glowing in Ottawa,” Evan Kuzukas examines the intersection of radium girls, the riparian ecosystem, and the history of occupational health in the United States. Kuzukas concludes that this “battle against corporate interest, short-sighted thinking, and environmental apathy continues to cause harm to the Fox River and the residents of Ottawa.” Finally, Part Four focuses on the modern history of the Fox River. David Love, in “Fox River’s Endangerment Status,” puts historical context the American Rivers’ decision to name the Fox the seventh most endangered river in the United States more than two decades ago, while Sofia Zasiebida’s “The History of Restoration Projects on the Fox River” adds the impact of suburban sprawl to the growing litany of polluters of the Fox River. Irene Park, in her essay “Policies and Regulations on the Fox,” examines the key role of the State of Illinois in protecting the Fox and argues that “though the state government extended its powers by proposing laws that both preserved the ecology of the river and helped human corporations, the laws have primarily been intended to help the Fox River ecosystems, rather than prioritizing human advancements.” Jeff Duan examines the intersection of casino boat gambling and environmentalism, in his essay “Behind the Glitz and the Glamor.” In “The Growth of Elgin and the History of the Fox River,” Alan Hernandez scrutinizes the river’s role in the rise of Illinois’ seventh largest city. The concluding essay of our book, Nooriyah Doriwala’s “Personhood of Natural Entities,” argues that a legal designation of personhood for the Fox River, while unlikely, “would be an important step to shifting our ideologies from nature's conservation for human recreation to nature's inherent right to exist.”
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