William Orbit gets it. Click on this link if you want a soundtrack for this blog
Had a gal come by yesterday who was working on a College thesis at Syracuse, and had asked if she could interview me about the changes that I had seen on the coast in my lifetime.
Wound up talking about how, in spite of the ocean doing pretty well, (My homestretch of coast used to be littered with innumerable oil piers which were dark, pitch stained fingers, laying across the bright blue of surf lineups. They are all pretty much gone now. Removed.) that there seems to be a well intentioned, albeit nonsensical movement to keep people out of the ocean. It is being done at the behest of several Environmental groups and one large Govt agency.
So I gave several instances of things that raised my ire and in counterpoint, also offered some common sense solutions to ocean pollution which our society tends to overlook.
But at the end of our interview it occurred to me, that nothing pisses me off more than some functioning elite deciding who gets to use the beach or ocean, and endeavors to regulate that for their own gain. Whether it be more waves for themselves, a fat money coffer, or to sustain some useless Government job.
It sucks. I hate it.
Surfing is for everyody.
So is the sea.
Learn about it.
Do something constructive.
Maybe just go ride a wave.
This link is to a reality show teaser that I worked on for Silent Crow, about Betty B, and some women who surf and love the ocean.
Seth Godin said something today in his blog that made me add it to this thread today. It is right on the nose and can help you.
The following images are a few glimpses of surfing and the ocean shot this past week. Click on any of them to toggle through as a slide show. Everything in this blog was shot on the Canon 5D Mark 2 system
I think what pisses me off, is not necessarily that the people that are making the decisions on ocean usage (protection) are elitists, but that they are only occasional users of the resource, without a true understanding of the dynamics of an ocean focused community. They target areas that look good but don’t necessarily get to the bottom of the matter. If they really wanted to make a difference they would target the major culprits: Run off and sewage from the large cities, over fishing (decimation) by the factory fishing fleets. Also consider the erosion problem brought on by coastal armoring. The 101 along the Rincon could be blamed for much of the loss of sand along the Ventura coast. LA county wants to pave over parts of the Santa Clarita river and dump the waste water from the housing developments into it. Instead of doing something about those issues it is easier to take the path of least resistance and close off the fishing grounds to the local recreational fishermen and make a small neighborhood get rid of their septic tanks. NOt to mention have a oil company remove piers that created sand retention and created surf spots.
I think removing oil piers is correct, if in some cases painful from a surfing point of view, but otherwise I agree and could not have said it better myself. The problem is not the ocean users, especially the recreational users. The ocean is downstream of all civilization’s environmental sins.
A sailor recently asked why he should be too concerned about occasionally flushing his marine toilet (1/2 gallon) in local waters as when a heavy rain storm hits the municipalities let 500,000 gallons of untreated sewage into the bay/ocean, which accompanies all the toxic junk washing downstream from each city.
At some level there is a sentiment an ocean lover can agree with, but the application and focus is all wrong. We need Government to address the real problems, not more heavily constrain the people who actually care about the ocean.