I'm really happy that my guest is Nelson Brooke, who is the black warrior riverkeeper and

northern Alabama. It's the water supply for Birmingham. And I think Tuscaloose,

Nelson has been riverkeeper there. I think for now something like 17 years, right?

Yes, sir. And I'll tell us about what you do.

Oh, well, I'm really lucky to count myself as a waterkeeper as a riverkeeper.

It's something that I've really grounded love. It's a dream job. Like you said, I've been known

for about 17 years. Your godson wrote me into the movement when he founded black warrior riverkeeper

and was looking to finish his degree in college. And it's something that I just kind of happened

upon through David. And it's been an amazing job being a waterkeeper. My job entails being

the spokesman and the patrolman for the black warrior river watershed in Alabama. Essentially,

to boil it down, we stand up to major polluters who are polluting the river in its tributaries.

And we stand strong and hold them accountable where our state and federal agencies aren't

willing to do so. One of the key things that we utilize is the Clean Water Act, but there are a

number of other environmental statutes that we can stand with to hold polluters accountable,

and hopefully leave a better state for future generations.

Nelson, you're not what a lot of Americans would think of as a prototypical environmentalist.

You come as many of the waterkeepers do. It's kind of a hook and bullet

direction that is very very strong in the southern waterkeepers. And a lot of people are as

as strong as movement is in the southern states. And also how competitive and aggressive it is.

How do you explain that? Well, yeah, I grew up fishing and grew up hunting.

grew up spending a lot of time outdoors hiking, camping and backpacking.

It just comes naturally. I think I can say that for a lot of other southerners,

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