A Reason to Continue
A few weeks, I had the privilege of travelling to sunny California for business. I was going to meetings in El Segundo, about 20 minutes from LAX. El Segundo is a chemical engineers dream: decorated with steaming distillation columns and perfumed with oil refining.
El Segundo (The Second, in Spanish) became the second site of Standard Oil in 1911. In 1984, Chevron took over the site. Strangely, this refinery was located near one of the most expensive real estate markets in North America. Arriving early on a Sunday afternoon, I walked to nearby Manhattan Beach. We can see why this is an expensive area:
It was idyllic walking barefoot along the beach to the Manhattan Beach Pier.
However, when I went to pick my shoes back on, I noticed that my feet were sticking to my shoes. I took off my shoes to look at my feet:
Tar. Lots of tar. After a little research, I learned that the tar was from a spill in an underground pipeline at Refugio Beach in Santa Barbara in 2015. 160 km from Manhattan Beach. 3 years ago. How much longer will it take for the tar from the spill to disappear? In the interim, what is the impact to the people and animals using the water?
We tend to think of California as progressive in terms of the environment. Sadly it is not, as this article about the town of Wilmington which is south of LA and surrounded by refineries:
‘Trying to breathe’—as CA toasts environmental win, pollution still plagues
and The Annual Beach Bummer Report about the worst beaches in California:
While Manhattan Beach has taken a progressive step to ban plastic straws:
Article on Straw Ban in Manhattan Beach
I was saddened to receive a drink with a straw while I was there. The waitress explained that apparently people were complaining and they wanted straws for their cocktails. I thought that you had to ask for one….
This kind of situation leaves me with motivation to continue and keep talking about how we have to take care of our oceans and land by reducing our waste.
On a happier note, Happy Mother’s Day! Hope all of you mothers had a great day…(somehow that sounded better before I wrote it down). I did….
Plus I got the best Mother’s Day gift ever: a new picture of my and family for my blog page. Was everyone actually smiling in the picture?? Stay tuned!
Remember when we kids and we used to have paper straws? I was at Pizzadelic on Monkland and discussed this with the manager. She said that she would change over, but we haven’t made it back. I’ll let you know if they have.
Great initiative Randy! Or even better, no straws!