Happy Earth Day!

The earth will give us much needed rain today, here in Wellfleet. Yesterday I was re-reading The Outermost House by Henry Beston, and came upon this passage:

"A new danger, moreover, now threatens the birds at sea. An irreducible residue of crude oil, called by refiners 'slop,' remains in stills after oil distillation, and this is pumped into southbound tankers and emptied far offshore. This wretched pollution floats over large areas, and the birds alight in it and get it on their feathers. They inevitably die. Just how they perish is still something of a question. Some die of cold, for the gluey oil so mats and swabs the thick arctic feathering that creases open through it to the skin above the vitals; others die of hunger as well. Captain George Nickerson of Nauset tells me that he saw an oil-covered eider trying to dive for food off Monomoy, and that the bird was unable to plunge. I am glad to be able to write that the situation is better than it was. Five years ago, the shores of Monomoy peninsula were strewn with hundreds, even thousands, of dead sea fowl, for the tankers pumped out slop as they were passing the shoals - into the very waters, indeed, on which the birds have lived since time began! Today oil is more the chance fate of the unfortunate individual. But let us hope that all such pollution will presently end."

This passage was written in 1928. The situation, unfortunately, has only gotten worse. We just marked the second anniversary of the Gulf Oil Spill with eyeless shrimp and heavy-metal oysters.

No one has been held accountable. How would you feel if BP were to obtain a permit to drill off Cape Cod?

On Earth Day, 2012, can everyone reading this post think about Beston's words and make a personal commitment to do more, ie. do his/her part, to stop pollution?

Why We Must All Fight Pollution

Don't you just love walking on a beach? It is so peaceful by the ocean, serene ... But, wait! What the hell is that? I was thinking another balloon, off a cruise ship, but no. This time the offender turned out to be a chunk of blue foam. But where did it originate? How did it get into the Atlantic? How many bits had broken off during its voyage and been swallowed by ocean fish? Suddenly I felt overwhelmed by this toxic mess we humans have created, environmental pollution that is seemingly omnipresent in our lives. I have been trying to spread the word through this blog, and through Facebook ...

Last week my younger daughter told me, "I may have to un-friend you, Maman. What you post is stressing me out too much."

It's true that the flood of information on harm done to the planet is pretty depressing. I would prefer to share positive stories, like the CSI episode on hydro-fracking, broadcast two weeks ago, created by a team of environmentally-aware writers. Seems I'm not alone in this effort to spread the word. Sensible citizens everywhere are getting it. Green bloggers have begun to unite. Check out the collective energy throbbing at Ecocentric, a new blog about food, water, and energy. Every day a new petition arrives in my in-box. But we must do more than sign petitions, like the one against hydro-fracking or the one at Living Green, Living Well to stop genetically-engineered salmon (both of which I urge you to sign).

I'm heartened that there is movement on the plastics front, too. You can read about it in a HuffPost article by Jennifer Schwab, Director of Sustainability for Sierra Club Green Home. Over at Fake Plastic Fish, Beth Terry has been considering a blog name change to reach a larger audience. And, Los Angeles County banned the plastic bag last month.

What's more, people are buying books like No Impact Man and applying eco-policies to their lives. Consumerism may not be dead yet, but it is certainly undergoing a reality check. Baby bottles containing BPA remain on store shelves, unsold. More and more people are saying no to toxic chemicals and endocrine disruptors. Even Facebook has teamed up with the EPA to offer a game that will educate users and encourage real environmental action.

What bothers me is that our Congressional leaders and President Obama lag behind. It would be so easy for Michelle Obama to set an example, recycling the White House plastic, for instance. We must all fight pollution together.

What have you done today to stem the toxic chemical tide?

Ocean-lovers, Unite!

Did you know it’s World Oceans Day? Please take a moment to think about the ocean today and what it means to you.

I asked Sven to free-associate the word “ocean.” Here’s the result: “Waves, the stillness while I was skin-diving, feeling that’s where I belong, silence, away from everything. The skin between me and the water disappears, and it’s as if I have become one with the ocean.”

Hmmm. Not sure whether I would have come up with the same concepts. My take would be: “Pollution, life, starfish, fish, tuna, mercury ….”

One of the fish that is endangered by the oil spill is the blue tuna, which spawns in the Gulf of Mexico, then travels to the waters off New England. (Donna Hull writes about how you can volunteer to help clean up the spill at My Itchy Travel Feet.)

The ocean means something different for everyone. Artists, particularly, draw inspiration from the sea. (Over at Music Road, Kerry Dexter suggests a few tunes for World Oceans Day.)

Finally, celebrate World Oceans Day by watching the movie Oceans, released on Earth Day. (Read a review over at Film Gecko.)

We all come from the ocean. Think about it a minute.

Living by the ocean is a special privilege. Our B&B guests often visit the Outer Cape to spend time with the ocean. One guest in particular comes to mind, a woman from Munich, Germany who had grown up by the seacoast. How important it was for her to re-visit the sea! Anyone who lives beside the ocean becomes addicted. I don’t think I could live anywhere else.

Here is a look at what we can find washed up on the shore:




Fish, lobster traps, shells, seaweed, driftwood, plastic bags .... Plastic bags? I ask you, should plastic bags be floating in our ocean? The ocean has become a garbage dump. It's such a travesty, you could almost cry about it. I picked up this bag and removed it from the beach. Small bits of plastic get eaten by fish. People eat fish. We will suffer the consequences of having added plastics to our food chain. There's not much we can do about that. But we can stop adding more plastic to our world. When you go shopping, say, "Thank you, but no plastic bag for me, please. It's not good for the environment." Bring your own canvas bag or basket.

Now, please head over to Beth Terry's Fake Plastic Fish for videos and a thought-provoking exhibit called Plastic Century, at the San Francisco Academy of Sciences ...

Do your part to save the oceans. Begin by spreading the word. Say NO to plastic!