A MIRACLE and FREAKY NATURE

BIG BLUE

    A scientist who has studied Monterey Bay for 50 years says he doesn't know if he should be more worried than fascinated.  He was on KQED and the BBC's extraordinary live series Big Blue and was referring to the absolutely freaky and unprecedented events in the bay this summer.

    Birds that have never been this far north are roosting, Orcas and Humpbacks defining who's in control of a part of the bay, Dolphin behaving in skittish ways, great white sharks in unprecedented number, anomalies in harbor seal behavior, more otters being attacked by great whites and ocean water that is at least 5 degrees warmer than normal.

     The scientists are a bit stunned. It's a laboratory full of new behavior and experiences, but the down side is what it all means. Some of those options do not bode well.

     In addition to the warmer water there is also the Blob, a mass of even warmer water. Combine that with the predictions of an historic El Nino, the west coast is entering new territory. Mother Nature always has the last word.

MIRACLE IN KINGS CANYON

   It's being called a "miracle rescue."  62 year old Miyuki Harwood spent nine days clinging to life in the massive and rough Kings Canyon wilderness.

   King's Canyon is one of our favorite spots in the Sierra, but it gives me chills to think of Harwood's ordeal.  She separated from her hiking party. In attempting to get back she fractured her leg.  

  She spent two days crawling to a stream where she stayed, drinking water she filtered in her bottle. She survived the cold nights, avoided bears, mountain lions, coyote and snakes. The area is treacherous, rocky and dense and the idea of dragging yourself with a shattered leg to nestle near a creek bed is staggering.

   Harwood is not a big woman. A computer specialist she is an experienced hiker and clearly had a survival instinct. Teams of rescuers were hampered by a fire that was burning nearby limiting access and visibility. After nine days she heard rescuers and blew a whistle she carried, as all hikers should. She was rescued just in time. She is reported to be in stable condition and recovering.

   It maybe the 21st century, but it is still the wild west out here. Wilder than we understand, and maybe on the verge of getting even more so.

   See you down the trail.

   

SEEING THE FUTURE and CATS IN A BOX

BEAUTY IN THE WAY IT IS

   One can't live in California without continued thought of water.

    For some it is a shroud of angst, inescapable. Others step into the challenge to conserve, educate and find a better way. Most are someplace in between. 

   Growing up where we never gave a thought to water, there was plenty, leaves me "hypersensitive" to new realities. I think those of us who live with less, those who have adjusted to finite limits, have seen into the future.

     This is not limited to California, it can be anywhere. Refugee camps are full of people who have seen the end of life as they knew it. Working poor who barely can feed children and pay rent. Those who live in cars. The good life, the good old days do not exist and for some it never did.     

   The thistle, cursed by ranchers, farmers, gardeners and landscapers is a kind of signal. In this fourth year of historic drought, the thistle flourishes and spreads. It is a survivor.

 I see beauty in these frames. This is flora that thrives, even without water.

      It is about adaptability isn't it? Some of us, some things, are better at it than others, better at learning new ways and better at survival.

      This dynamic planet, a living, changing organism appears, by our short human lens at least, in the midst of profound change. Our specie may not be responsible for all of what is underway, but we have contributed mightily and in not helpful ways. A Beijing clouded by exhaust, rivers poisoned by chemicals, dead zones of trash in the ocean are examples of changes that now imperil all of us, even those who know better and have said so. Sadly there are those who have had no say because they are yet to be born into this change.

      Despite all our cleverness we cannot bring life out of death. We can not reanimate extinct species.

      There are millions of earth brothers and sisters who are desperate and certainly in more peril than we Californians, living in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. We conserve, debate, pray for rain, bet on El Nino's, grumble, get angry about the arrogant wealthy who waste water, engineer conversion systems and wonder if luck may run out. In that way we are seeing what awaits this blue marble of a planet. 

        Forces of nature, forces of our own doing, accelerated population, advanced technology, religious and ethnic politics, bad choices, the commercialization of government and our capacity to elevate brutality over reason conspire against us. More fundamentally, there are no winners in the struggle of humankind vs "nature" or cosmic luck. There is only change.  Some of it might be good. Some of it will not.

      We bipeds are capable of great adaptation and invention and resilience. We can also make hard decisions. Making those hard and good choices, application of reason and our higher principles is how survival proceeds from here.

LISTEN TO THE 1000

   In this context, it would do us all well to pay heed to the wisdom of 1000 of the brightest minds who have said we need to make sure our Artificial Intelligence systems, are not turned into weapons. 

    On this front we need to make sure the bankers, financiers, money boys and hustlers do not prevail. 

    The statement of the 1000 is the latest in a series of signals we've been getting about the future. Are we prepared to listen?

THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF

HEMINGWAY AND JOY

Cats in a box, redux

   Joy on the left and Hemingway have yet to meet a box they did not like.

 A box from a recent shopping outing and left in the garage was a place they needed to be, despite the bulging of the seams.

   At least they've learned to share.

    See you down the trail.