Such sadness for the blue planet …..

Associated Press Photograph from Huffington Post

More oil drifting.  More of man’s madness on display.  The blue marble weeps ……

The spill in the Gulf of Mexico has already begun it’s deadly march.  Tendrils of oil spread toward the shoreline – reach down to the depths where they cannot be seen – fouling the marine life chain – threatening endangered species – killing off life.

Officials have estimated that the leak is gushing oil at a rate of 5,000 barrels a day. But if things go badly, representatives for the companies worried that that figure could turn into 60,000 barrels a day, or 2.5 million gallons. Just four days at that rate would exceed the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez off Alaska, the worst spill in U.S. history.

I feel ashamed to drive my car.  I feel ashamed to consider hopping into a plane.  I am embarrassed that I haven’t converted most of my house to solar or wind, that I am a part of the addiction to fossil fuel.  I pledge to do more to reduce my own footprint.  I pledge to be a better citizen and to work tirelessly to bring a measure of sanity our human resource consumption.

Marble heads toward London …

Cooper & the Blue Marble

Marbles flying to London via American Airlines

Blue marbles enroute to London, via my son, Cooper Lee, and American Airlines.  One is a gift for Peter Von Manen of McClaren Electronics. Maybe he can buzzzzzzzzzzzzz the marble around in one of McClaren Automotive’s fast rides.  🙂

From the air, the problems of the earth seem so far away. The marble likes the vantage point and the chance to reflect on all the wonders that make up its world.

What Happened to our President?

“Grey whale, show us the way to another fate”
–Homero Aridjis

One can only speculate what deals have been made behind closed doors, what debts called in, what people have been bought off – to let the man (because at the end of each day he is a man with wife and children and a planet to protect) – even contemplate selling out to oil drilling and the hunting of whales.

There are so many battles to be fought to ensure the future of the earth and her seas, her air and her forests, that those who come behind us may luxuriate in the magical planet called earth.  It seems heinous, that we have to go back, rally our intelligence, plead our cases to simply hold previously gained ground.

These rumblings – these undercurrents – remind me that vigilance must remain a constant.  That there really is no peace – no way to sleep – always someone who has no consciousness and cannot see, someone who has lost the light that was his/her birthright – that always we must be warriors in protection of our spinning blue home.

Blue Earth Day

It is, after all .. a blue planet 🙂

The highest good is like water. Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive. It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao. In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart. In dealing with others, be gentle and kind. In speech, be true. In ruling, be just. In business, be competent. In action, watch the timing. Tao Te Ching ~

Cynthia’s Marble on the Mesa at San Juanico

Cynthia's Blue Marble

photo : Cynthia Wagstaff

Sunrise serenity …

Marble at sunrise ....

Daylight whispers through translucent clouds, painting a carpet of color across the surface of the sea and wet sand. We walk together in contemplation of oceans and marine life. What can we do to protect the habitat? The species? What skill set can we bring to the table to increase awareness of the human population’s actions?

So many concerned citizens of earth. So many seemingly blind, deaf and dumb to their actions. A greater number more concerned with the bottom line – with immediate profits and corporate success – than with the long term viability of marine life – which ultimately affects all of life on our spinning blue planet.

Dance of the Heron

Marble Marvels at Heron Prints

The heron forages at the edge of San Ignacio Lagoon.  His feathered topknot unfurls up the back of his neck in a lacy pattern of reddish hues.  A ruddy heron, his buddies the night heron, great heron, yellow-crested night heron, blue heron, etc … all have passed through in my days by the water.

Dance of the Heron

I marvel at their beauty, their grace, their tenacity, and the extent of their habitat.  Herons can be found spread across the globe with slight shifts in speciation and coloring.

Fish foragers, the herons depend on clean waters and a bountiful supply of small fish that makes up their diet.  Like all seabirds, their health, and the health of their segment of the avian chain of life, depend on us – humans – to stop the degradation of the waters that has been our past, and turn clean water and conservation into items that are not merely spoken about, but acted upon.

Marble Meets Trash

The Marble Meets Trash

The marble asks, ” What is this?”

Something not animal or vegetable or mineral tossed up on the sand.  White, not soft. The fragrance is foreign.

Okay, it’s not the first trash that we’ve seen on the beach, but the first bit of garbage that this particular marble, this elegant small blue orb has found itself in such close proximity … and he doesn’t like it.  It saddens him. He senses something so innately wrong – but just what is it?

We sit quietly, watching the waters and pondering the Styrofoam, nemesis of seabirds, turtles, fish and crustaceans.

So many things come to mind.  The trash ‘island’ in the midst of the Pacific, it’s recently discovered match in Atlantic.  The photograph of the pelican’s dead body – filled with human refuse.  Dead at our hands – without any one of us touching him physically.

The beach clean-ups in both my home towns of Laguna Beach (CleanWatersNow) and Loreto, BCS (Loreto Pride – Eco Alianza).  Hands and hearts grunging in the muck.  Collecting and clearing what others can’t seem to consciously deal with.

It’s GARBAGE for heaven’s sake.  Wake up (okay, if you’re reading this post you are already awake) and use the trash can.

I admit to frustration.  My heart breaks when I encounter seals wearing bits of fish line or net, gulls and pelicans with refuse trapped in their beaks or tangled on their legs.  Another photograph – one of an Arctic tern – one of my favorite migratory birds – wearing a plastic bag collar.  The result of a dive for a ‘fish’ that turned out to be floating refuse, now wrapped around it’s neck – a threat to its flight and feeding.

My heart/head know that the only real answer lies in education – an expansion of the consciousness that to protect the seas is to protect and support all life on our tiny blue spinning planet.  That’s part of the marble’s journey … a growing voice of reason.

Drifting …..

Drifting Marble

The marble sits atop a piece of driftwood, in this case, likely carried from the desert canyons to the sea by recent rain storms that pummeled Baja.  Temporarily, it’s been cast by the sea via tidal swings, back on the shore.

The wood reminds me of other refuse, land-locked trash dumped by humans, that makes its way to the sea during storms.  This happens – not just in Baja – but in LA, San Francisco, Ventura, Texas, Alabama, Florida .. globally.  Every country and/or state that has a border with waters that swirl across our planet, has the need to put into place, protections for our common good.  Not just ours, but the creatures that inhabit the oceans and seas of Earth.  This is shared territory, bound between us by currents that pass effluents and pollutants from shore to shore, depths to shallows, north to south, and east to west.

The oceans have long been considered an amazing filter, but we humans – the biggest producer of toxins – have pushed the ocean’s health to the brink of collapse.  It is long past time to make environmental education a core curriculum in school system on the globe.

Travels of the Blue Marble

Serendipity.  The spontaneous response to random events.  I was sipping vino tinto at a pre-conference dinner in Loreto, BCS, Mexico.  Wallace J. Nichols of Grupo Tortugero dropped a small blue marble into my hand and whispered, “Everything will be revealed later.”

The marble for Wallace, represents our own spinning blue planet, and by placing it in each of the party-goers hands, he had asked each one to add another level of care-taking to our home, the Earth.

The caveat goes further, in a kind of play-it-forward fashion.  Gift the marble that you hold.  Share the wisdom of conservation and stewardship with others.

Mark Spalding, President of The Ocean Foundation, and I exchanged marbles.  But that’s a far cry from spreading the word.  We are both already devotees.  Mark has dedicated his life to finding ways to protect the oceans.   I have always believed that water cures anything, heals me.   Water makes and keeps me whole.  I understand on an intuitive level what clean water and a healthy planet means.

I have transformed this gifted marble into a tool to explore any and all aspects of my blue home planet.

Can’t wait to see where this takes me.