Are You Better Off?

Are you better off?

This question is often asked around election time.  It annoys me.  Yes, it does!  It isn't just about the money.  It better not be.  Otherwise you are buying into a consumer idea of how you are supposed to be.

Now I am talking health.  Health is a way we measure how we are. According to the World Health Organization (WHO)  health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. It isn't merely the absence of disease or infirmity or poverty.  I've seen many wealthy people who are impoverished.  Impoverished of the soul.  They have no sense of self-worth.  I think that has worsened in modernity.

If you asked a tribe how they are they would not measure it by some economists's notion of what is healthy.  They would measure it by family, by foodstuff.   Economists merely measure money. Moolah. Eewlah.

Now don't get me wrong. We want to have enough to live in a safe, comfortable home, eat healthy food, have a good sense of euphoria. 

When you vote soon, ask yourself this question. Don't listen to the politicos; the power seekers.  They aren't interested in you.  Maybe there are a few delightful exceptions.  Most growth their monetary fortune off your back.

I am better off now than I was four years ago.  I am closer to family, making new friends, keeping a few treasures I already made (friends) and will continue to extend my heart.

What about you? 

The Lighthouse

Come
I'll show you
The way

Pulling you in
And toward
The light

Come
I can be your
beacon

Drawing you
To safety
Now and

Always
Though I may
Change

In form
I will
Find a way

To guide you
Home
Come


Let me
Show you
The light

Up There

Up there
A quiet
Envelopes

You are called
In to hold
The moment

For now
And always
Stillness

Becomes you
As white-washed rose
colors the skies

The boat
Like you
Is anchored

500? What?

When this blog was first started last year, before I took it offline for a while, there were over 4,000 visitors.  I remember well when this first began.  Then the readership had gone to nearly 500.  Well, folks, we are nearly at 500 now.  Again. 

In thinking about how I wanted to approach this landmark, I stopped along the road to photograph this.

Salt marshes are important. Wikipedia says, "A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic (salt-tolerant) plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs.^[1][2] These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh in trapping and binding sediments. Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic food web and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide coastal protection.<sup>[2]

Just next to this salt marsh, is a buffer.  On the buffer, pipes have been placed in the ground to drain the area.  Trucks frequent the road dumping topsoil.  Soon a large apartment complex goes up.

Washington, D.C. was built also built on a drained wetland along the Potomac and Anacostia rivers.  The warm weather finds it exceeding hot, buggy and humid.  

Can you imagine anyone wanting to live on this?  Will perspective renters be told?  There are major concerns about this in light of the West Nile Virus found near this area.</sup>



 

Yes, Virginia...There Really Is A...

l’s Road To Nowhere: The Coalfields Expressway

By Climate Guest Blogger on Sep 2, 2012 at 9:49 am

A mountaintop removal coal mining site in Fork Ridge, Virginia. Photo courtesy of SouthWings and Appalachian Voices.

by Mary Anne Hitt, via the Sierra Club

In the tranquil, misty mountains of southwest Virginia, the coal industry is trying to build its very own road to nowhere. King Coal’s latest scheme is to try and take $2 billion of federal funds — our tax dollars — to build the Coalfields Expressway through rural Southwest Virginia. Coal companies plan to use mountaintop removal mining to flatten the area to make way for the road, while they keep the profits from the coal they extract. While the coal companies call it a road, local residents are calling it a taxpayer financed strip mine.
Virginians aren’t taking this news lying down, though. Last Friday, when an official comment period closed, more than 4,400 Virginians and 81,000 people beyond VA’s borders had submitted comments to the Federal Highway Administration in opposition to this project — over 85,000 comments opposing this boondoggle.

These tens of thousands of Americans know that the construction of this “Coalfields Expressway” won’t serve the public. The route was designed to help a coal company, Alpha Natural Resources, access coal reserves. To make matters worse, the road will not only cause pollution and destruction, but it also bypasses local communities and threatens to remove the through-traffic that local businesses depend on.

The controversial highway project would cut through southwestern Virginia, using eminent domain to relocate dozens of property owners while bypassing local business areas and burying at least 12 miles of streams.
Local residents assert that while the project is being billed as a highway project, in reality it’s a taxpayer financed strip mine that is likely to be exempt from all of the permitting requirements and other protections provided for communities and the environment by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Action.
In addition to collecting comments, local residents organizing against the project recently testified at public hearings held in the Virginia towns of Wise and Vansant. Dozens of local residents turned out to oppose the project and the negative effects it would have on their community, water supply, and local economy.
“We’re worried that this project is going to cost taxpayers an enormous amount of money while leaving Virginians with a toxic mess and miles of bare stripped land instead of a useful road,” said Marley Green, a Sierra Club Organizer in Appalachia, Va. “We need both the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to take action to protect the health and safety of our communities.”
Already, $38 million in taxpayer funds were wasted on a cancelled portion of the highway. The total taxpayer price tag for the entire project is still unknown. The Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center submitted comments opposing the project, together with our allies Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, Wise Energy for Virginia, and CREDO Action.

We can’t let King Coal destroy our streams and our mountains. Appalachians have suffered enough at the hands of the coal industry. The Coalfields Expressway will only lead to more polluted water and destruction.
This project is poorly planned, a threat to local streams and rivers, and a waste of tax payer dollars.
We urge the Federal Highway Administration to stand up for Appalachia, and complete a full study of the threats this road would have on local communities. There are smarter, more efficient ways to improve transportation options in southwest Virginia, and it’s crucial that we not rush into a giant gift to the coal industry without considering all of the impacts and alternatives.


Mary Anne Hitt is Director of the Beyond Coal Campaign. This piece was originally published at the Sierra Club’s Compass blog and was reprinted with permission.  Source:  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/02/785391/coals-road-to-nowhere-the-coalfields-expressway/

Please...tell me...There really is a Santa Claus.  Where???

Orange You Tired Of Seeing This?

Dawn came early to the beach.  Excited, hopeful. 

An early walk, after the tourists have receded.  After the waves have deposited their ecology.  After human the remnants of a not so thoughtful people.  Scouring the sand for more of this, none in the landscape was visible.  A single entry.  Orange. Located between red and yellow on the visible spectrum.

In marketing, "it's the color tied most this fun times, happy and energetic days, warmth and organic products. It is also associated with ambition. There is nothing even remotely calm associated with this color. Orange is associated with a new dawn in attitude."   Source:  http://www.precisionintermedia.com/color.html

But it's not such fun times for the animals and plant life caught up in this netting. 

These granite rocks anchor the land and provide some erosion control.  And a resting place for birds. 

Orange you tired of seeing human debris?

Pack It Out!

A beautiful ocean!  Pristine beaches.

Strategically situated these recycling cans mean business. How sad we have to use them because we create so much trash!  This obliterates our view from the street.

What ever happened to pack it out?

I'd rather see this:

This concrete retaining wall does also blocks the view from the street.  It is a must with strong winter winds and tidal flooding.  See below:

These blocks are everywhere along the retaining wall.  Still, strong ocean currents move them about. They have had tidal waves as high as just over 9 feet. 

What will this glorious day bring?