The Poisoned Sea

As I cruise the waters of the Salish Sea, a name I'm growing to favor over the micro-names Puget Sound, various passages, straits, inlets and bays of the Northwest, British Columbia included, and one which recalls and honors the First Nations (and first cruisers), the waters seem beautiful and pristine. A warm sunny day, the sea close to being a millpond, nary a strong wind, and all is well, so very well. 

Yet, if I cut through this euphoria of sorts, I know that all is not well. What I experience on the surface, as in so much of life, is not what is below me. Of course I have a choice of either ignoring, or facing into what I really don't want to hear. It is easy to ignore or discount. It is harder, yet far more honestly liberating, to to look and listen.

This Tuesday, April 21st, at 9:00 PM, Public Broadcasting's local affiliate KCTS channel 9 will air "The Poisoned Sea", a startling documentary by Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, editor and Emmy award-winning producer/correspondent, and one of America's most distinguished journalists. Even after more than three decades since the Clean Water Act, Smith shows that two iconic waterways—the great coastal estuaries Puget Sound and the Chesapeake Bay—are in perilous condition. With polluted runoff still flowing in from industry, agriculture, and massive suburban development, he points out that scientists fear contamination to the food chain and drinking water for millions of people, as well as the death of the Sea.

Check out Chris Dunagan's, of the  Kitsap Sun, excellent review of Hedrick Smith and this documentary on his blog.

These waters are our responsibility as well as out playfields. To not be concerned is to suggest a very cavalier notion of boating. Most recreational boaters I know are concerned. All of us need to be.

"The Poisoned Sea" comes on the eve of the April 22nd Earth Day.

Do take the time to watch it.

Earth Day, quoted by a colleague: "We are called to assist the earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own -- indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder. (Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, political activist, and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.)