"We have probed the earth, excavated it, burned it, ripped things from it, buried things in it.... That does not fit my definition of a good tenant. If we were here on a month-to-month basis, we would have been evicted long ago. ~Chief Justice, Rose E. Bird
Now, living in Santa Cruz, we are frequently bombarded with "causes" of many sorts by environmentalists and protesters on the streets. Although, perhaps not apparent from my physical appearance, I happen to be somewhat of a hippie at heart, therefore I don't mind the soliciting. My sister used to work at a law firm in Florida, and had a co-worker there whom she told about me. She described me as a hippie who doesn't wear a bra, so when I began working at the same law firm years later, this co-worker (who is now my friend) said she expected me to be long-haired, incense-scented, dirty and pot-smoking. While none of those things are true, I AM still a tree-hugger who hasn't worn a real bra in years. Not for feminist reasons (although it is liberating) I just don't like the uncomfortableness of being bound by elastic strings and cups all day under my clothing. This may be too much information, but I tend to divulge in this way, so whatevz. The point is that I am free-spirited and I like my freedom, yet I also want others (whether animals, trees or humans) to be free as well. The hippie in me believes that it is of utmost importance to abide by certain "natural laws" of care and stewardship of this planet which aid in the free-living of all living things. The way humans now live has clearly caused the destruction of our land and other species. As an example, I will turn to the ever-so-popular cliche of saving the polar bears. As much as we like to deny it, working toward this endeavor is absolutely necessary for our OWN survival as a human race. If you look at the loss of their natural habitat, the ice, it's a fact that it's melting and shrinking due to the warmer atmosphere that we've caused by our excessive emissions, stemming from cars to food production. It may seem so far-removed from your daily life because you don't see the bears or the ice, yet this occurrence in Alaska and Antarctica has actually caused the sea-level to rise on my mom's tropical home island in the Philippines. The house she grew up in, which belonged to her grandparents, is still standing and lived in, but is directly touching the ocean. The ocean was her back yard as a child, and waves have always hit the house, as they live on the top level, yet it's visibly risen in recent years and will eventually ruin the home. Here in Santa Cruz, we live one street over from the ocean/lighthouse/surf museum, and I've heard it said that the water has now moved beneath the rocks of the lighthouse foundation creating caves 35 feet inward. There are houses on cliffs that will soon fall right into the ocean, it's already happening to the apartments by the boardwalk bridge (from the movie LOST BOYS). Now that I live directly by the ocean, I am more aware of trash on the ground, knowing that if I don't pick it up and place it in the recycling bin, it will blow into the sea and perhaps harm the otters or seals that I can see and hear everyday. Here in my town, waves from Japan's tsunami flipped ships and destroyed docks. Weather patterns have changed and make a drastic impact on "natural disasters." My point in all of this is not to scare people or be all doom-n-gloom, but isn't it waaaayyy beyond time that we actually take this stuff seriously and make daily changes in our lives to at least TRY slowing down the impending man-made disasters which only intensify the inevitable natural disasters that we have come to experience more closely in recent years? Yes, earthquakes happen, tectonic plates shift, tsunamis kill and we have no control over it, but we are the only earthly beings who create pollution that cannot be digested by nature (plastics/chemicals/emissions); and we are also the only ones who have the brains and ability to chop down and devastate entire rain forests, killing off whole species, filling oceans with garbage, covering land with piles of rubbish, burying nuclear waste beneath our soil, and filling waterways with the bacterial run-off from beef production. It may not be your "scene" to grow dreads or long armpit hair, but everything you buy, eat, wear, drive, consume, and dispose of truly makes a difference, because watching other species die out is only a precursor to what will happen to our own. It's hitting closer and closer to home and if we aren't good stewards of the land, air and sea, who will be?
Two major concerns I have been informed of recently that are worthy of sharing:
1. Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and 11 other oil companies have joined forces to destroy America's largest protected wildlife habitat In Alaska, for polar bears. The state of Alaska joined Big Oil by filing its own lawsuit to abolish the polar bear's 120-million-acre protected wildlife habitat, set up last year. Due to global warming and industrial development, scientists predict that polar bears will disappear from Alaska by 2030 and could be extinct worldwide by the end of the century. Bears are already drowning and starving to death as their habitat disappears. There are petitions and fund-raisers in place to stop this through The Center for Biological Diversity.
2. The M.S. Oliva, a freight ship carrying 66,000 tons of soybeans from Brazil to Singapore, crashed into Nightingale Island, snapping the vessel in half and spilling 800 tons of oil into the fragile ecosystem that endangered rockhopper penguins call home. About 20,000 seabirds were affected.
"...All these "losses" and many others are the result of one life-form annihilating other life-forms in its immoral confusion of "dominion" with "domination." ~Leonard Sweet
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