Wellfleetians March on Behalf of Planet

The sun was not shining this morning at 8 a.m. when a handful of hardy Wellfleetians met on Uncle Tim's Bridge to march around Cannon Hill but that did not dampen their enthusiasm. The gathering was part of a world-wide effort to draw attention to the problem of global warming and climate change. How inspiring to be part of such a movement! A dozen Wellfleetians marched. I have only one question: where were the rest of you?

Here's the deal. We need to reduce our use of fossil fuels. Instead, our government is looking to extract dirty oil from the tar sands in Canada. What really frightens me is the idea that the Gulf Stream may slow down. We must send a message to our legislators that global warming exists, no matter what the idiot-deniers claim, and that this is no time to be dragging feet. We need to take action now.

America has always been at the forefront of innovation. Our leaders should support renewable energy. We must make a clean break from our dependence on Big Oil. How about a challenge to scientists to come up with new solutions, organized at MIT for example? These ideas are mine alone, but no doubt fellow marchers had similar thoughts as they walked along.

In any case, what we can all start doing right this minute is to take baby steps, one at a time. Stop accepting plastic bags at the supermarket, as suggested by the Wellfleet Recycling Commission, whose chair, Lydia Vivante was present this morning. Use public transportation whenever possible. Carpool. Improve the insulation of your house and turn the thermostat way down at night in winter. Turn off lights when you leave a room. Ask your friends and family to do the same.

Femke Rosenbaum had made a new GREEN POWER banner for today's protest, which was led by Harriet Korim, right. As you may remember, Harriet was arrested in front of the White House last month, on her birthday no less, taking a stance against the tar sands pipeline.

I flipped my last pancake this morning at 8:30 and jumped in my car. What's wrong with this sentence? Gee, I should have walked down.

Many of the participants did come on foot. McNeeley Myers, left, one of the stars in WHAT's current production Body Awareness, rode her bike. After the march, Harriet caught the Flex bus to Provincetown and planned to take the Boston ferry in order to participate in 350 events there this afternoon.

"Moving Planet is a day to put our demands for climate action into motion—marching, biking, skating — calling for the world to go beyond fossil fuels. At over 2000 events in 175+ countries, we're letting leaders know that a movement is rising to move our planet forward to a clean energy future."

Did you do anything today to support 350.org's Moving Planet?

Why I HEART Dr. Gupta and Senator Lautenberg

Yesterday I wrote about blog abandonment and some of you rallied with comments, (thank you for that!), including a request for another photo of Uncle Tim's Bridge, above. I think it would be hard to stop posting, although there’s a good chance daily entries will be less of an option for me this winter. Next week B&B duties will diminish, but November is slated as renovation month at Seagull Cottage, so I will wield a paintbrush rather than a pen. It’s almost impossible to find blocks of hours to revise my novel when so many other circus rings are active and require attention. Facebook is in the middle ring and it sucks enormous amounts of time. I have discovered the site replaces the media to a certain extent in that Facebook friends often share news stories not covered in the press.

A status report by a Facebook friend alerted me to Sanjay Gupta’s participation in a New Jersey hearing on the regulation of toxic chemicals, organized by Senator Frank Lautenberg. I immediately shared this news: “Unable to move the Senate this session, Sen. Lautenberg of New Jersey took the debate on toxic chemicals to his home state. CNN's Sanjay Gupta is one of the people who testified that chemicals in the environment may be harming kids. (The rest of us, too, I might add.)”

Please read the CNN article or simply watch the video of Sanjay’s testimony. Dr. Gupta turned down the job of Surgeon General of the USA to retain his freedom, and it looks like this was the right decision.

I have not yet called for the first meeting of my green working group, and members are probably scratching their head as to why, but I do plan a November screening of Sandra Steingraber’s new award-winning documentary Living Downstream at the Wellfleet Public Library. I also continue my education on the impacts of body burden and endocrine disruption, and share what I learn here. So much to do, so little time!

Innkeeping is a job that requires work every day in season. What I mean is we do not get weekends off, unless we plan ahead. This is one of the reasons innkeepers burn out so fast, and why I harp on the fact that innkeeping is not an activity for retirement, unless, of course, one has the means to pay for help.

Are your days as busy as mine? Have you come up with ways to staunch the social-media time drain and get other things done once your work day is finished? Do you spread the word about toxic chemicals in the environment to family and friends? Did you watch Sanjay Gupta's CNN special Toxic America?

Carless in Wellfleet?

We should have a day where cars are forbidden in Wellfleet, don't you think? A day different from the other 364, when people would have to walk into town. Or, bike. Rethink old habits. Consider our dependence on oil. This idea occurred to me when I went downtown yesterday evening, at twilight, for a pot of yogurt to serve today for breakfast. Despite the occasional flurry of interest in sidewalks, no town official has been able to get sidewalks built so far. Most roads are sidewalk-less, so pedestrians must struggle not to get hit by traffic, and, in summer, the cars whiz by, operating at a faster pace. There's no shoulder to walk on, either. When you walk, your senses experience the town in a totally different manner. Sense of smell gets hit with roses along Main Street, garlic at The Juice, exhaust by Commercial. Of course, last night, at Uncle Tim's Bridge, the sweet scent that rose from the flats was low tide, an earthy, sea smell that is so Wellfleet. Sight: You have time to observe gardens, paint jobs, paintings in gallery windows, earrings. You see things you have never seen before, although you have driven the same road hundreds of times. Hearing: the low buzz of a million insects in the reeds is only interrupted by the roar of a car engine, once or twice every minute. Touch: I sat down at The Juice and placed my hand on the bar, hard and cold, while awaiting my order. Taste: I drank a smoothie, coconut and pineapple, on the way home. It was getting darker outside. The surface of Duck Creek shimmered with azur and pink light. It was a beautiful sight, one I'm sure I would have missed had I taken the car ....