ocean & earth day * Water Planet * no nurdles please

Surfing is ocean & earth. As is living in harmony with natural law and order. The question is as to whether we will take responsibility for our ocean & earth, and as we have for ourselves as adults.

Can we own our power with beauty and a most amazing grace ?? And how does it serve our own growth in consciousness ?? What will I do as waterman or woman of this Water Planet ??

Seems that for this ocean & earth day that is upon us, that the focus for a lot of us has been p!astic. And for a surfer that might translate into how does plastic relate to surfing, or more specifically for most of us living here in the Northern hemisphere ?? Have you heard of the North Pacific gyre ??

Twice the size of Texas and weighing in at 100 million tons, the Great Pacific garbage patch and trash vortex, is a subtropical glob of marine debris, and one of five major oceanic gyres. Growing and expanding 10-25 times faster than most anyone has forecast, our gyre is an immense region of slowly moving, clockwise spiraling, equatorially warmed air that pulls in wind and converging sea currents.

Creeping into portions of the Hawaiian archipelago, the NPG (North Pacific gyre) sits immediately north of the NW Hawaiian Islands. The world’s largest landfill is a virtual oceanic desert that is translucent and lives right below the water’s surface. Not visible from satellite photos, the great blob consists of plastic bags, plastic straps, soap containers, television tubes, automobile tires and deodorant bottles, and from American institutions such as Sears, Bristol Farms, the Baby Store, El Pollo Loco, Fred Meyer and in the form of Taco Bell ‘chalupa’ bags. She shows little sign of breakdown, and as aircraft parts, LEGO toys and medical waste can all circulate (some from container spills) for near twenty years or so within her swirl. Our gyre is six times the biomass of the microscopic plants and animals or plankton that occupy the same said marine sanctuary, and with NPG degradable cycles of 50 to 500 years in play.

Ninety percent of all floating rubbish is plastic, with experts estimating that there are 46k pieces of floating plastic for every square ocean mile. Plastic polymers soak up toxic DDT and PCBs, and load to a concentration 1m times than that normally found naturally in the ocean. Industrial nonylphenols are highly poisonous and do not breakdown/dissolve in seawater. And as early plastic formulations were biodegradable, ‘tis no longer true for our current generation plastics (we have been plasticized).

All the plastic ever made and in the all of history is still (well) preserved. We stand at 5.5 quadrillion plastic pellets produced, and which weighs in at ‘bout 250 billion pounds of plastic.

Unfortunately salps and jellyfish absorb/consume the plastic polymers, and the subsequent deadly DDT, PCBs and poisonous nonylphenols, and only to be in turn eaten by fish, which in turn are eaten by the ours truly and as it is now introduced into our foodchain. Our bodily consumption of plastics affects the absorption/assimilation of hormones, which again in turn can affect the mediation of physiological acclivities such as reproduction, sexual metabolism and bone physiology, and again as our endocrine system and metabolism is dependent upon hormones for regulation and healthy/normal activity.

Unfortunately again, bird and other marine life mistake plastics for food, and fill their bellies to where they can no longer take in foodstuffs, and as they are now full of syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes (among other things) inside their stomachs (Laysan Albatross pictured below).

We have plastic soup, within and without.

water planet * twenty * Surfer Tarot

more smile, more wave....  by Ichiro Tsutsui

The ocean is the common bond that unites all surfers, and it is the local surf spot which is the bond for local surfers. Via this bond, we gain a sense of direction as a surfer in relation to our ocean and earth. “Solar heat and global winds create high and low pressures with converging fetch, with waves pulled by gravity across the ocean floor, and over the earth’s unseen bottom contour. In effect, you are riding sun, wind, gravity and tectonic and littoral drift, all at once.” Hence we ride in harmony with natural law.story. Use catchy text, bullets, links and more to bring your words to life.

Nuevo Mundo by David Artavia

The earth acts as a chalice for our mother ocean. She is our home and our provider. She nurtures us with our life essentials. She is our life support system. She works without fame nor fortune and is not deluded my material aims. She helps keep us on the good green road, as her dharma sum total is our greatest treasury. The earth is naturally healing. As earth pearls, we are down to earth, and earthy. We are her custodians and guardians, as watermen and waterwomen of our Water Planet. As eco pathworkers, we marvel at her generosity, and indulge freely in the experiential assets of her oceanic and marine ecology. She is knowing and trustworthy, and asks us, as water brothers and sisters, to live a natural life, unto the laws of nature. Because like us, she works best from a point of eco librium.

surf planet by Ichiro Tsutusi

The destruction of our natural world is the destruction of humanity. Earth changes affect everyone. No one is spared. We can’t ignore the warning signs. She is not to be taken for granted. Everyone needs clean water. It’s an enormous hurdle and challenge for our planet. Water quality is not something that we can sidestep. It’s a call to action for all of us. The earth is seemingly a toxic trap. Until we can accept the existence of toxic buildup and learn of and measure its extent, pollutions and toxins will continue to prevent real enjoyment and satisfaction, and happiness, in our lives. “Unpleasant surprises are inevitable as the responsible elements and entities are inventoried and sorted out.” Our mother ocean and earth is in pain. Our smog is on her breath. Our destructiveness in the world is due to us as a peoples losing connection with our natural world. We are no longer in touch with nature. Money is our all consuming passion and has led us to a ruthless disregard for our rock. Our stubborn refusal to see that we mistakenly put work ahead of life, has left us for sofa sloths and feeling helpless and angry. Our Mama is no couch potato. As her sea level rises, her el Nino brings us drought and flooding. Unseen dangers might seem invisible within her waterworld, but our foolhardy response only heightens her fear and trepidation. Toxic surfboards and the surfwear industry, and their manufacturing process, only leave her in greater disharmony and closer to death. Ocean and earth matters are expanding into greater and greater chaos. The question is will a correspondent unity in spirit afford us a rebirth?

blue moon whale song by Stephen Bibb

Change the tide. Bring out into the open that which festers below the surface. Counteract this “necessary evil” with your unseen and invisible intent and commitment to restore “the whole earth, and nothing but.” Take responsibility for the “restoration equation.” Use hemp. Wear organic cotton. Renew. Buy post consumer waste products. Recycle. “Be the change you wish to see.” Ride your sk8board and bicycle. Take the bus. Clean up the pollution in our own bodies, then clean up the environment. Eat organic. Purify your body. Eat well. Purify the planet. Vote with your watershed in mind. Insure your future. Plant a tree. Be in harmony with the Natural Way. Think globally, act locally.

Surfers can be agents for change. Wear eco compatible neoprene. Our efforts have paid off. Don’t waste what we have here. Our foundation of watermen and women have taken collective ownership for our one planet as a “one water peoples.” Be a reliable resource. Join your local beach cooperative. Start a surfer’s guild. Take care of her. She is a sacred entity. The “way of beauty” requires daily maintenance. “Surfing drops barriers of race, religion and geography.” Uphold life. Personal effort is required. Whether working alone or with others, stop and consider things. Change and correct. Strength and fortitude is required. Spiritual self discipline is an inner shift. We must soften. Take the sensual path. “Chi flows in curving lines like water.” As part of the collective conscious, use your communal imagination. Water absorbs negative energy. Give thanks and good praises. Unite body, mind and spirit in “one love.” You are your own reclamation project.