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Larry Goldstein
Lokahi
267 Posts |
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Puna
Lokahi
USA
227 Posts |
 Posted - 07/18/2006 : 08:10:41 AM
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Ok, so I scanned the title of this thread and thought "Well, that's a good start! Now, what about all the Army debris?"
Then I read the article. |
Puna |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2006 : 09:04:10 AM
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| You should see all the stuff that the birds eat and then regurgitate on the shores of some of the nesting sites in the new marine sanctuary northwest of Kauai. |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 07/18/2006 : 09:11:37 AM
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Once again, thank you Larry for sharing with us.
In our area, the Santa Monica Bay in Southern California, an organization Heal the Bay has been active for over 30 yrs and has made a huge difference. We now see dolphins very close to shore regularly, and the last few years, we are seeing whales in close in the bay. About 10yrs ago, they started marking all the storm drains; and the latest effort is to bring inner-city kids down for a day at the beach and lessons in proper trash disposal. It is cultural redirection as much as anything. Another step will be to clear out the channels of the human debris including needles and drug paraphernalia etc. But it's made a huge impact in this home by the sea that we love.
aloha! |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 07/19/2006 : 4:36:15 PM
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We really must look in the mirror when we see all thestuff that ends up in landfills, runss down the sewers into the rivers, lakes and seas, blows out of the backs of our cars and trucks. However, our illustious government, more particularly the military, has had a dismall history of fouoling the landscape wherever it has set foot. Granted, there is less of it going on now, as the county's awareness has rien, but in the past the military has left horrible messes for this and future generations to clean up.
Here in Alaska, where the remoteness made it easy for them to just toss stuff away rather than haul out what they hauled in, it may be as bad or worse than anywhere else. The only other industry that has fouled Alaska to that extent has been the mining industry of old. EExploration for gold, oil, coal, etc., was carried out under the protection and encouragement of the governments, both state and federal, and those folkks of old had little regard for the land they were stomping around on. So, now you can go fly along the Arctic ocean and find old supply points with a 5000 foot runway lined with thousands of empty fuel drums, wrecked equipment, old housing, and such. You see those places all over the north, and even down into the central part of the state.
Some of the millitary bases up here are themselves on the superfund list. One was used in the 50s and 60s to test mustard gas on troops. They actually fired off those mustarrd gas cannisters downwind, upwind and crosswind of real live troops to see how far the stuff would go and at what distances they could see any effects of the gas. Some of those areas have been of limits since then. I came upon empty jet asssist take-off bottles twice while buildinjg my cabin which is just outside the normal flight path of the local airforce base, and the housing project my son is currently working on in the local army base, building 76 duplexes, will, upon completion, be fenced off and left uninhabited for at least 2 years while the let the garbage leeach out of the ground.........they built this subdivision right on top of an old army landfill!!!
'Maybe they really haven't learned anything after all. But it is good to see something positive happening somewhere! |
Karl
Frozen North |
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sandman
Lokahi
USA
181 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2006 : 7:44:04 PM
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The mirror metaphor is very important for all of us. In 1976 my wife and I moved into a townhome in a man made harbor which we felt would be our last home. That still might be the case but over the years the pollution in the harbor has increased drastically. Perhaps the greatest selling point for our move was a 40 foot side tie sort of in front of our place which meant no more slip fees. The downside was a bridge under Pacific Coast Highway which meant when we had sailboats we had to lower the mast to make our way to the ocean. We also had to pass through the Seal Beach Weapons Dept territory, which put us in thrall to the military and whatever they chose to do with us and the environment.
When we first moved in we used to swim in the channel nearly every day. It was great for me since I had given up surfing a few years before but not my lust for salt water. Over the years, however, I have given up swimming here. I used to joke about glowing from some unknown substances in the water after a swim but no more. It has not been only the military which may or may not have been significant contributors to the pollution but the harbor dwellers, us humans, and the fact that we live downstream from southern California inland runoff.
Every beach community suffers from this, of course, but when you live in it it seems more profound. Pua kai, among many others, is aware of this.
Is there an upside, beyond living where we want to live? Over the past few years whenever a naval vessel ties off at the dock at the Weapons Depot they are surrounded by a ring of what hopefully are oil absorbers, although they may actually be some sort of protective device. (Homeland Security and the CG are alive and well in Anaheim Bay and it is closed to boaters both coming and going when a military vessel is entering or leaving.)
I would hope this is a small attempt on the part of the goverment to avoid any more pollution than is necessary in this harbor which has only one entrance and exit to the ocean, although sometime in the future a new and "traditional" egress at Bolsa Chica will be opened. The traditional opening closed well before any of us reading this far too lengthy epistle were born but it is perhaps another sign of a more positive approach to the future.
Earlier this evening my wife and I were having a drink on the waterside deck as I irritated anyone within earshot with my bari uke playing and a very serious swimmer (he had goggles and a swim cap) stroked by. We had never seen him before and it turns out he was a new guy living at the end of the channel.
I hope he doesn't glow anytime soon. If he doesn't I may be tempted to take the plunge again.
Malama pono,
Sandy |
Leap into the boundless and make it your home.
Zhuang-zi |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2006 : 2:42:25 PM
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Aloha Sandy!
I hope you can make it to some of the events coming up... or made it to the last one - last weekend at Alondra Park...
A major problem with man-made harbors is that they seldom allow for the natural cleansing of the sea. King Harbor is better than most in that the breakwater is fairly porous. I believe the keiki lagoon is the only place that doesn't not drain properly. Marina del Rey on the other hand was so poorly engineered that when first built, a surge took out most of the docks and boats. All they really did was rebuild some of the breakwater so even without the US gov't there, you may glow. Education!! it won't fix the problem, but it'll sure improve the impact, and educating the government entities is a part of this.
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