If Your Real Estate Values Were Polluted, Would You Care?

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The primary reason for sky high real estate in SoCal is undoubtedly the ocean. Without the Pacific, we would all be in the desert. So, perhaps it makes sense to ask more questions about how she is doing.

Whether your motivation is passion or dollar signs, it's important to attend the Surfrider Organization monthly chapter meeting at Forum Hall in UTC. This informative session details the severity of ocean destruction.

Anyone impacted by the depth of the matter might feel that a considerable solution to keeping the ocean clean is asking our lifeguards to bear arms and pick off those who can't pick up. Because this solution is extreme indeed, various San Diego and nationwide organizations are coming up with more realistic campaigns to encourage residents and visitors to get the drift before their rubbish does.

Those that say the ocean is so vast that trash doesn't matter are misinformed in a monumental way. Many species of marine life are dying off as a result of how we currently think about and treat the environment.

On August 22, a San Diego Coastkeeper meeting at Vaughn Hall in the Scripps Institute offered a fascinating overview of the Watershed Management Plan by UCSD and Scripps. There is significant truth to the adage that there is much more going on below the surface than one would think.

Fortunately, there is a 12-14 million dollar investment by Scripps Institute alone, dedicated to the protection of the marine life and the prevention of pollution on our beaches. An additional 1 billion will be contributed by the city by 2012 for the same purposes.

However, there is a grassroots campaign that could potentially make a far greater impact, and I am not just referring to our oceans. This campaign is about sparking our mentality in a way as grand as the ocean and Mother Nature herself. One of the discussed ideas is to offer more trash cans, and  to find an artist with a slogan so that subliminally, people will be more mindful. Perhaps if we start with the edge of the water, our understanding of trash and pollutants will be just as expansive.

Another great idea is a Christmas gift, where family members or clients can give a year membership to Surfrider or a donation to Coastkeepers. Perhaps this would result in an elevation of the spirt necessary for more community participation. One can't help but think the Pacific might get sick of all of that trash in her belly. And if she does, a potential Tsunami won't be so great for any of us.

Startling Factoids and Ideas

Texas made significant progress with their clean-up campaign, "Don't mess with Texas," and now it's the Big B, not the Big D, where we have a mess the size of Texas.

There is an island in the North Pacific Gyre where most eastern Pacific currents terminate, equal in size to Texas. The trouble is plastic is not bio-degradable. The fish are eating plankton size pieces, and their bellies are so full, they die. Put simply, this affects the circle of life. Between the significant accumulation of various pollutants in the ocean such as plastics, oil, and debris, and the acts of spear fishing and pirating of endangered species—you could say there are issues in our ocean.

One of the things Coastkeeper points out is that negative reinforcement does not work. We need to be positive and come up with a stream of consciousness to protect our little guys in the water and keep our beaches and community clean. Coastkeeper and Surfrider want everyone to know that we are all seriously invited to participate.

I procrastinated for a long time because I didn't think I would matter much, and that it was a closed society of some kind. Some of the ways I have investigated where my commitment will lie is at the following sites: www.sdcoastkeeper.org, www.coastal.ca.gov, www.surfriderfoundation.org, www.thinkblue.org, www.sio.ucsd.edu. You can take action on this alert via the web here.

There is a beach clean up in Pacific Beach on September 25, 2007 from 9 to 11AM and another at La Jolla Shores in La Jolla September 29, 2007, from 9 to 11 AM, hosted by www.sdcoastkeepers.org. I will be at the Shores for my own paddle-out before pick-up on September 29th.

Also, there is a Surfrider Paddle around the Pier on September, 16, 2007 in Ocean Beach.