Water Relations

Water Relations

The clarity of the tide pool was exquisite.  The runoff from recent storms had settled either to the bottom or father out to sea.  The marble rolled exuberantly in a warm sea grass laden pool.

While the day was joyous and the sun shimmered on the sea’s blue surface, I was reminded, that even through the obvious clarity, several days after southern California storms, the local waters are carry toxic levels of bacteria.

Those bacteria are the source of ear and bronchial infections, along with skin invasions through scratches or open wounds.  If it’s not healthy for humans, how can it possibly be healthy for sea life?

We continually dump our shit (excuse me) into the water and expect that the ocean will magically transform garbage into clean habitat.

Wouldn’t it be magical to see the oceans 10,000 years ago?

Imagine the abundance of sea life.

The push/pull issues of corporate profits vs the health of the seas – and ultimately us – confuses me. I find it unfathomable that any person with any kind of conscious cannot see the relationship between actions and consequences.

Dump oil. Kill sea life. Dump chemicals down the drain. Poison shellfish and local species. Toss plastic bags. Strangle pelicans and terns.

The marble wants to know what it will take to wake up ALL the inhabitants of the planet?

Emma Cherril and the Marble

Emma and the Marble

In Emma's Hand

Marbles reach out and take flight – passed in airports, coffee shops and even a parking lot.  This marble has found it’s way into the hands of Cherril Doty, long time friend, fellow camper, kayaker and environmentalist.

Her intention is to share it, and water stories with her two grandsons.  The young and rambunctious boys can begin to learn early about conservation, where water comes from, how is it used – and wasted, and what they can do in their lives to institute change.

Simple things, like turning off the tap when brushing their teeth. Not letting the hose run in their garden after watering their plants.  Learning how precious each drop is, and how lucky they are to have water in their tap, when almost two in three people lack access to clean water.

Food Chain

Sei Whale

No doubt about it, we are on the top of the food chain – unless we happen to be caught on the African Savannah in the jaws of a hungry lion.

We have commanded this position for such a long time, and in most cases, have been unconscious of the affects of our activities.  Not to go on a tirade about knowing where one’s food comes from, but how many of us would actually bite down into that steak or burger if we had to kill the cow or steer that is it’s source?  Not many.  I think the world would be more vegan if the real connection between what we eat and how it gets to us were more visceral.

When the story broke this morning, linking Typhoon Restaurant in Los Angeles with serving sei whale meat, bits of my heart broke – and I could hear the marble sobbing.  This particular whale is an endangered species, aside from all other issues surrounding the killing of whales, it shocked me that a restaurant so close to home was serving up one of my treasured friends.

How many marine mammals did your plastic bag kill today?

How many marine mammals did your plastic grocery bag kill today?

http://www.care2.com

Did you know that 500 billion plastic bags are consumed on this planet every year? The sobering statistic: “more than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die every year from ingestion of or entanglement in plastics” is the subject of a new ad by the Surfrider Foundation.

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.

Water Protection and Reinvestment Act of 2009

From Surfrider Foundation:

Tell Congress to protect clean water!

Have sewage or stormwater recently polluted the water at your favorite beach?  Did you know that many of the 2 million miles of pipes in our drinking and wastewater infrastructure are now operating 50 – 100+ years beyond their predicted lifespan?  In addition to their age, these systems were originally designed for populations half their current size.  While these pipes might be out of sight and out of mind, the dirty, polluted water that can end up on our beaches is often hard to miss.

Over the next two decades we would have to spend $500 billion more than we are currently spending to fix all of the problems with the water infrastructure in the US.   Our state and local governments are not going to be able to afford these costs unless we find a new source of revenue.

The  Water Protection and Reinvestment Act of 2009 would establish a trust fund dedicated to fixing our clean water infrastructure and supporting other clean water initiatives.  Ask your Representative to support this bill.  Just click here.

To learn more about this bill and America’s water infrastructure crisis, visit the Know Your H2O Blog.

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.

Mother of Pearl

The shells cradle the Marble, not unlike the way in which each of us needs to cradle the earth.

Care for her, pay attention to her needs. Treat her with respect and honor.

I like the way the blue light reflects off the shimmering surface.

Planet light – Life light. The collective reflection of all or our lives.

Beach Day w/the Marble

Walked the rocky shoreline of Crystal Cove and photographed the Marble in various locations and settings.

Rocky faces, tide pools, even a chunk of styrofoam. In every instance, mental notes were made in relation of the small blue orb to the larger planetary concept. How do we change up perceptions and habits?

How do we protect environments that are cherished?

How do we instruct the next generation to do and be better than we have? So many questions ..

The walk continues the conversation and quest for answers.