Sunday, March 18, 2012

where I was, in the trees by the sea



This little house in Carmel, California, is where I spend my several weeks each year in late winter. For as many years as I have been going out, I have wanted to capture the effect of light filtering down through the old oaks on the street here. This year I finally tried and think I've done a credible job without getting too specific. The trees are not all that ancient but have a way of surviving without much attention, and of being very protective of the land and people beneath them.


I wish I could say more powerfully how important it is for us to understand that we are the only stewards of the earth with the knowledge and power to keep the earth sustainable. Who else can rescue us? The trees, the whales, the wolves, perhaps the roaches or other sorts of bugs can outlast us but will they have the sense to attempt to balance one species with the others in some kind of harmony? I think not. It really is up to us as a species to recognize how important to our wellbeing trees are, how they need to be 'harvested' from time to time, for our fuel and their health, just as we are.


When I do my training walks with new docents at Point Lobos State Reserve, I try to make the point that in knowing how man has interacted with the environment historically, we can make better decisions in the present. We ignore the past at our own peril. The Point Lobos area is a great example of both the good and bad aspects of our interactions with the environment. But so is Maine. The recent decision to allow some development in the Moosehead Lake Region, called the Plum Creek development, is a story of the political process working to balance development with a sustainable forest economy - I hope. At least something has been decided; now all we have to do is wait and see if the economy will actually 'allow' the development to occur!

Friday, March 16, 2012

miracle whales









Three weeks ago, I went off to Monterey, California. It is a trip I make every year at this time; I return to a place I lived for nearly 15 years to see friends, to attend a scholarship fundraising auction at Cal State Monterey Bay, and to train new docents and stand watch at Point Lobos State Reserve.




Two weeks ago, I stood watch at the Information Station at Point Lobos; the station overlooks Sea Lion Point and Cove, and massive rocks just off Cypress Point. The Esalen Indians called this place, "the brink of the earth." It is a place that American poet Robinson Jeffers called, "the greatest meeting place of earth and sea." Each year the gray whales pass by, 'within spitting distance' of the rocks. They do this not once but twice, on their way south from the Bering Sea in Alaska to the gulf of Baja California in the late fall, where they have their babies. They return - even in February - from Baja, taking their babies north to feed in the Bering Sea once again.


That Sunday, as part of the early migration north, more whales than I could count moved north past the sea lion rocks off Point Lobos. The mamas and babies stopped in the quieter waters of the Cove, and fed their babies by lying on their sides. They spy-hopped; they flipped their tails; they were more active and happy than I have ever seen them. Grays are not as outgoing as humpbacks, but they were pretty 'flippy' that day. It was a breathtaking sight.


So it was with some eagerness and my usual scepticism that I went to see the movie, "the Big Miracle" tonight. I confess I cried when Bam-Bam died and chewed my fingernails when the ridge of ice was discovered, and was gloriously relieved when things came out right. It is one righteous movie! Go see it!