An oil spill essentially means disaster.
So when Laguna Beach heard about the recent spill off the coast, the outlook was grim. We’ve seen the movies, we’ve lived through tar balls, we know the drill.
It’s an insidious drill because you never know for sure the scope of the spill. It’s like a fire that way. It starts off small and grows.
And with our global warming new normal, anything is possible. Think about the headlines the last few years – the ones that don’t surprise you anymore:
Not long ago, these would have been fake headlines in supermarket tabloids. Now, they are almost unremarkable. We might shrug and swipe, moving on without blinking.
Welcome to social media malaise, nanoseconds of concern accentuated with shares, fancy fonts and colored backgrounds. We frame our reality in a nice box to make it seem more important, as if the words alone are not enough.
It’s the kind of armchair reaction that drives Mike Beanan nuts.
Beanan co-founded the Laguna Bluebelt Coalition. He’s also a waterman and former U.S. Navy SEAL. For the sake of ocean awareness, he’s not against donning self-effacing costumes for Laguna’s annual Kelp Fest.
For years, Beanan has been preaching environmental stewardship, and for years he’s largely been beating his head against an ocean wall.
“I try to remind everyone that the ocean is the economy in this area,” he said. “It’s not the arts, it’s not our celebrity, it’s not our restaurants and hotels. It’s the ocean.
“And if the ocean’s impaired, it will affect the economy. I think a lot of people see the ocean as kind of a backdrop canvas to their dramatic life. It’s really reverse.”
Beanan’s words were prophetic, as they came from a 2018 interview with the Daily Pilot.
“Protecting our hillsides is important to me as are efforts to control mansionization of our village,” he said. “However, I’m equally concerned about urban runoff at Aliso Creek and our other beaches, over-fishing, tide pool degradation, and the trash associated with heavy usage.”
Local groups try to help but the scope of the problem is enormous, especially when you add oil spill to the mix.
Laguna Bluebelt Coalition, for example, tries to do what it can through awareness. It holds
an annual photography contest to highlight Laguna’s Marine Protected Area. The most recent photos can be found on its website.
Meanwhile, the black oil inevitably escapes and runs swiftly into our blue ocean. The engines of our existence – the gas cars and incessant leaf blowers – maintain the status quo.
Soon, we move on, like all the other disasters.
