Coastal Waters, Coast Range, Dog Coats

So we've been trying to squeeze the last drops out of summer these past few days.

We went to the coast on Thursday and had a nice time seeing the usual circuit of places we and the dogs love. Agate Beach was almost empty and the cool clean air was a delight after many days in the smokey valley. The absence of humans on the beach helped to preserve a number of great sand formations, but high tide timing on our part made shell hunting unrewarding. We delighted in the huge driftwood tangles instead.

Today we took Hwy 99 to Eugene for Saturday Market. The coast range was extra lovely with layers of smoke, cloud cover, and fog. In town we took the dogs to a new dog park and Freyja had a great time exploring the various little swimming pools. Later though we noticed that she was shivering, so we put one of my shirts on her...she was not pleased, however she was warm.

So it goes. Onward to fall!

A Day in the Park

Today we went to Avery Park for a walk around the loop trail and down to the edge of Mary's River.  Freyja and Moose had a splendid time swimming around. Especially Freyja who thinks she is part river otter.  

In the course of our walk we saw many delightful things. The rose gardens still had plenty of flowers blooming, and the native plant garden--although well past blossoming-- was fantastic and inspiring. As I walked I thought about this blog and what I might say regarding sustainability. The Avery Park composting display seemed promising, and the apparent health of the River did too, but then this appeared...   

beneath the shrubs between the native plants and the playground. Although by this point in the walk I had already picked up a dozen cigarette butts, a burger king wrapper, a kiddie drink cup, two pull tabs, and a heap of fishing line, I found this particular object worthy of a photograph. In fact upon inspection I found it worthy of two photographs.

This label states that this particular bottle is designed to contain 30% less plastic than the "typical" bottle. While I think this is admirable in someways it is also misleading. Minor efforts like this seem to lull the consumer into thinking that such a purchase is "ecofriendly"-- a positive act. 

Plastics in general are toxic. While they are used medically to save lives as the plastics industry has reminded us in their advertisements, they are not really safe for eating and drinking. They are especially unsafe for children. 

It was only about a year ago when I discovered that many plastics contain toxic chemicals that leech into the foods and beverages stored in them. The main toxin that I have read about are phthalates.  Granted this is only one toxin group but it is enough for me to be very wary. 

Despite the fact that the Phthalate Information Center (a group with panel members from BASF Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, and ExxonMobile) claim that "Phthalates have established a very strong safety profile over the 50 years in which they have been in general use". I tend to put some stock in the numerous university studies that show a correlation between phtalates and endocrine anomalies, reproductive harm, and carcinogenic effects.

Beyond the toxicity, another issue is the waste of resources involved in the production of plastic bottles. Although plastic is recyclable it can only be recycled so many times before it is no longer usable. Much of what plastic is recycled does not re-enter the consumer market. Most if not all of the plastic bottles consumers purchase are of virgin plastic. Plastic is a petroleum product that is energetically costly to produce. 

Bottled water is especially troubling since it is mostly a "luxury" purchase.

 

Americans shell out more than $20,000 "every minute of every day" or up to 60 cents for a glass of bottled water

1978 Consumption = 415 Million Gallons**

2006 Consumption = 8.2 Billion Gallons***

For comparison, Worldwide Consumption = 

41 Billion Gallons***

It takes 1,851 gallons of water to refine one barrel of crude oil.**

Twenty-four gallons of water are needed to make one pound of plastic. **

1.5 to 2.7 million tons of plastic used per year to make bottles for bottled water.***

That’s 24gal/pd X 2000 pd/ton x 1.5 million tons = 72 billion gallons of water or 24 times the quantity of water used by the City of Corvallis every year to make bottles that are empty. 

 

**Emily Gersema, Associated Press (2003)

***FAO and Earth Policy Institute (2006)

Disturbing. At least to me and to Bird. Although it is seemingly impossible to avoid plastics altogether, it is easy to substantially reduce how much plastic one uses. We've stopped all plastic shopping bag use by bringing our own bags. We've started saving bread bags and produce bags to reuse them. We're slowly but surely converting to bell jars for all of our storage needs, and are in the process of phasing plastic utensils out of our kitchen with the help of our local Goodwill's utensil bin. It's an uphill battle, but a fantastic adventure.

Some tips for reducing plastic use. 

Tons of good links for sustainablity issues and info.

Flagging, Feasting and Free-Verse

It seems I just can't keep the same intellectual pace up anymore. I haven't really read any scholarly works in some time. I've slowed down in my Wharton readings as well. I suppose the lull is understandable given the intensity of the past few weeks, but it is somewhat dismaying. I'm hoping to go to the map and photo archives tomorrow to find some information about the historical hydrology and geology of Pendleton, Oregon. The due date for this Columbia Basin paper is fast approaching. 

Despite the diminished scholarly work I have been busy mixing up pizza dough, making jugs of tea, Thai peanut sauce and the like. 

I've also written three or four poems, none of them very good, but they are first drafts after all. 

Channeled Scablands

1.

I will be a reminder

a curve

hugging close hand

to hip

a whiff of water

in a wasteland

slip of skin black

between shadowy hillocks

a glimmer of cataclysm

some will say

sun white in open sky

light I will be

reflecting

whispers the fluvial

fluctuations

of will whirling

star-spit in a field of

basalt umbilici

Topography and Thesis

I started reading another Wharton novel today, Hudson River Bracketed.  Published in 1929 it is claimed by some scholars that Wharton considered this work to be one of her best novels.  I am only about 90 pages into it, but there are already several points of interest concerning water issues.  I am not sure if this novel will end up in my thesis as a case study, but it is certainly evidence that water issues were important to Wharton since some of the same issues she was considering in 1913 appear many years later.

Aside from Wharton this day was mostly spent playing with the dogs and catching up on some Columbia Basin Ecology. This week the lessons revolve around industrial disturbances, depressing, but interesting. This class, although it is a great deal of work, and not particularly related to my thesis, has been quite inspiring. I've decided to work on developing a collection of geology/ecology-inspired poems. The tentative title is "Belated Odes to Harlan Bretz".