A few days ago I started to read Kayaking the Vermillion Sea, by Jonathan Waterman, which someone had left in the bunkhouse at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. This is what he wrote about the hazards of paddling in the Sea of Cortez (not counting stormy seas) … “We have also been warned about rattlesnakes dozing under sleeping bags, neuro-toxic sea snakes curling under kayaks, scorpions crawling into shoes, seventeen-foot-wide manta rays jumping out of the water and capsizing kayaks, whirlpools forming out of the tides, elefante winds blowing small boats out to sea, and tarantulas nesting as copiously as ground squirrels. We are also wary of stepping on poisonous sea urchin spines, getting between a killer whale calf and a protective mother, encountering thirty-eight different species of shark …”
I won’t go on. You get the idea.
We too have been warned about hazards… about getting thrown in jail for camping behind a WalMart in Texas, about the bears in the north, about being caught between a motorhome and a guardrail, about being flattened by a transport truck, about Los Angeles drivers suffering from road rage, about the desert heat, about toxic fumes from the Salton Sea, about winter storms in the mountains of New Mexico, about cycling through Texas in general, about being assaulted by “illegals” near the Mexican border, about being harassed by the Border Patrol, about the insane traffic in Florida, about rattlesnakes and scorpions and killer bees…
I won’t go on. You get the idea.
When I told Malkolm that I was writing this blog he was silent for a minute. Then he said, “You forgot to mention the biggest danger of all… getting between Wendy and her morning cup of coffee.”
2 comments:
Sounds like it has been an adventure getting through Texas.... I heard about the Wal-mart incident from Christianne. Sheesh!
Save Birds - Fight Climate Change - Sign the Avaaz Petition
Many of you may have heard that John Baird's press secretary scoffed at our 60,000 signatures on the Canadian Avaaz petition today. While I'm not sure that any number of signatures will truly get this government's attention, I think this opens up great media opportunities- if we can come back with double that number in only a day or two, it will really be a testament to the power of the movement.
Please spread the link around:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/another_canadian_climate_crime/4.php
I highly recommend posting it ("Posted Items") on Facebook, I've found people are pretty responsive to that. Feel free to copy the message I used in the comment section, or come up with your own:
Calling all Canadians.
Today at the UN climate change conference in Bali, Canadian youth delegates presented this petition with 60,000 signatures (collected online in only 48 hours) to John Baird, Minister of the Environment. His press secretary, full of sarcasm, scoffed at the signatures and drove one youth delegate to tears.
If 60,000 won't get our government's attention, let's blast this thing and get numbers that they won't be able to ignore. Hundreds of people are signing every hour- please help us spread this far and wide
It only takes a minute to post it, and a massive petition will speak volumes to the size of our support base back in Canada!
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