I’ve written about how lovely it is to use the beach, why we should take care of the beach, how terrible the algal bloom was to witness, how it impacted people’s health and how terrible it was when the beach became littered with dead and dying sea creatures.
Which is all very anthropomorphic in its focus. What about the sea creatures?
For them, the ocean is their life. It’s their home. It’s their city, their highway, their community. It’s their supermarket.
And yet they bear the brunt of our decisions. Our plastic bags, our litter, our dredging. Our overfishing, our pollution, our climate-induced marine heatwaves.
We see our beaches and oceans as a free resource. We see it as separate from us, a commodity to use that is cost-free.
It is not.
The more I learn about our unbelievably amazing planet, the more I stand in awe. I often post about my garden, because I can see nature close-up – and it is very evident how interrelated everything is. The bees and insects, the reseeding plants, the fertile soil, the shade and sunshine.
But the beach is a place to visit. It’s seen as a common area. Perhaps this is why it is not as easy to see the support that needs to be given to our beautiful oceans. But we have stressed them out mightily, and we need to play our part in redressing the damage we have caused.
The beach is important to me. Doing something is important to me. Helping others to feel part of helping the beach is also important to me.
In donating to the beach which inspired Beach Shorts a Sandthology, I’m reminded of the great Helen Keller, who said, “I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do.”
Let’s do the something we can do.
Joni
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