Day 193- Feb. 4, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

1.4 pounds

726.3 pounds total

This is the first of 5 straws that I collected off of the beach last night in 20 min.

Harry of the Flotsam Diaries has done it again! In a series of posts about recycling called, "The Triangle is a Lie" he has illuminated the not-so-green practice of recycling plastic. His latest installment - "Recycling the Myth" is a mind blower that I will have to go back through to absorb. Thanks to Harry, we can read his meticulously researched posts navigating the quagmire that is recycling, and come out the other end feeling a little less dooped by the whole thing. I'd go so far as to say that recycling plastics is the best sold green washing campaign out there. Before you disagree, read this.

Last night Team Marine had a meeting where they watched a recorded talk given by oceanographer Joshua Willis. He works for at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena CA studying among other things, "The role of the ocean in the Earth's climate system under global climate change."

I didn't stay to watch the entire talk with Garen sick at home, but what I did hear made me revisit the undeniable fact that Global Warming is directly linked to the warming of the ocean. "If you want to heat up the planet you have to heat up the ocean," says Willis. And with 70% of the Earth covered in ocean, it doesn't take more than a second to see his point. 

Here is a post on the JPL blog that equates global warming with betting titled, "It's a Sure Bet." I recommend taking a minute to read it. 

"HOW INAPPROPRIATE TO CALL THIS PLANET EARTH WHEN IT IS QUITE CLEARLY OCEAN." - Arthur C. Clarke

I hope that Wallace J Nichols excuses my paraphrasing here, but something that he said to me came to mind last night while watching Josh Willis's talk. J Nichols said to me, "However big you imagine the ocean to be, it is bigger. The ocean is way bigger than we could ever imagine." Being reminded that it covers 70% of the Earth's surface, I'd have to agree with him. As much time and energy as I spend thinking about the ocean, I had never thought about it the way that J Nichols put it. Maybe you haven't either?

For all of the poor air quality we endure in the LA area, we are paid back in part with dazzling sunsets.