Sunday, July 7, 2019

The Dark Underbelly of Our Throwaway Culture

Sea kayak paddler on my local river, was the order of today. After a real heavy morning fog I the kayak was lashed atop my Hobie cat atop its trailer. This looks odd but is handy because of its modest height above ground level :)
The mess at the boat launching ramp was a poor omen, the river was filthy. ISome flotsam was expected after recent rain weather, but the next find was the tank from a Porta Potty camping toilet! The day's tally ended up being:
Porta Potty. X 0 5
Boogie Board x . 0,5
Cardboard box x 1
Beer 6 pack carton. X 7
Beer 6 pack wrapper x 2
Plastic meat tray x 2
GAZ camping has canister x 2
PET Bottle (lge)  x 2
  "       "   (med) x 4
Glass bottle (lge) x 1
  "         "        (sml) x 4
Styrofoam box  x 1
Foam hot food carton x 1
Paper bag  x 1
Aluminium can x 1
Plastic pieces x 6
Felt hat x 1

Left in situ:
Cow x 1
1 000 litre cube tank x 1

Returning to the ramp, the kayak looked like a garbage barge. I was glad to be helping out, especially as much of this stuff looked old and as tho it had been floating on the tides for months. But, despairing for our society that does this without consequence (in the short-term).

The paddle? Yes beautiful, and energizing. At age 59 and in the early throws of what may be a destructive legal battle over property from a failed 27 year marriage, a paddle like this is compulsory to maintain sanity. The highlight of the day was listening to bird song in a groove just north of"the mansion". Up in the tops of a stand of tall eucalypts the birds were invisible, but they made short happy calls, like singing rounds to a song we humans could never understand. A predatory kite soared overhead, but the bird chorus never missed a beat, as though after a week of lost weather, they were celebrating and nothing was going to stop them.

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