A beautiful day at the beach ends in another devastating “accident” oil spill

Friday, October 1st, 2021, was a day I had been looking forward to for weeks. October is my favorite month as the Fall weather starts showing its signs, and because it's birthday time for me and my Life Sister, Mandy. We have celebrated our birthdays together (they are 3 days apart) for over a decade now. This year's plan? Beach weekend in Cali! I took a lovely drive from LA and arrived around Noon on Friday in Huntington Beach, California. Mandy had secured a studio apartment through Airbnb that was 3 blocks walking distance to the beach. I had my new Puppy, Freddie, with me, and as we approached, a couple of miles out, we could hear what sounded like planes flying right over the top of our car very loudly. The phone rings as I get close to the Airbnb, and Mandy begins to tell me that the only thing we missed in planning our weekend is a 3-day air show taking place.

UGH. Not the peaceful weekend I was hoping for when you have fighter jets flying about 400 feet in the air right above you. I sound like a party pooper, huh? I know. It's sad, but when you care as deeply about the effects of Climate Change as I do, it's hard to see those fun events as just that, fun. Instead, I see unnecessary activities and events taking place while all the western states are experiencing an intense drought due to Climate Change. It makes it hard for me to be excited about such a waste of fuel and money and OIL all for show.

I get it. People love the entertainment and standing on the side of the road oohing and ahhing. I wish it could be decades ago when I could still see it as a fun event, but I look at things differently today. Here is what I wonder. How many of those people standing on the side of the road were thinking the same thing as me?

Over on the beach I was looking out into the Ocean and I could see the offshore oil platform known as Elly. I stood there with Mandy's stepson Rex, about to turn 5 years old, as he pointed out into the Ocean and asked me what Elly was. My explanation was that it was "an oil rig drilling in the Ocean, and it shouldn't be there." He asked me, "why not"? I told him that "it causes many problems with oil spills and harms all the wildlife around it in the Oceans." It was about 3 pm on Friday when I said that to him, and little did we know the leak and the busted pipeline had just happened.

Saturday arrived, and we decided to go to Laguna Beach instead of staying in Huntington. We wanted to escape the noise of that Air show and the toxic particles of burnt fossil fuels so close above us. We spent the day sitting under some beautiful rocks at the Cove and at that time, we had no idea that oil had begun to wash up on the beach right below us, along with dead fish and other wildlife. We stayed in Laguna for the day in our bliss, and still, no news had popped up on our good ol' smartphones.

Did you know that just one jet plane uses 1,300 gallons of fuel for one air show at the cost of about $1400 USD?

Sunday morning, as we rose to pack and prepare to leave, we received the news. All of our phones began to ding with the sounds of media texts popping up to tell us of the oil spill. My eyes were so big and round as I read them. I had just been there staring out at Elly, the oil platform, with the ironic situation of an air show taking place while at the same time I was telling Rex that oil rigs should not be in the Ocean. We found ourselves grateful that we had decided not to go to Huntington on the same day that people witnessed the oil and wildlife wash up to shore.

Now, a few days later, the oil spill has been declared a state of emergency. Our dependency on oil is deep. Deeper than that Oil rig through the Ocean floor. I look to my environmental activist friends as to the solution. Yes, I know I still need fuel to drive my current car, the same as many, but did we need to have that air show? No, I don’t believe it’s a necessity while we are facing a drought that is connected to Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. Why must we continue to do these unnecessary things that contribute to harming the planet?

Every 5-10 years, an "accident" like this usually happens in the name of a fatter bottom line; however, Planet Earth can't afford to continue losing wildlife by drowning in petroleum and oil polluting the waterways. This spill has infiltrated the Talbert Marsh, a large ecological reserve, causing significant damage to the important (eco)system that cleans our water, grows our food, and gives us oxygen to breathe.

I certainly do not have all the answers, quite far from it, but why not start with shutting down all offshore rigs and take further action towards clean energy? There are alternative solutions to using fossil fuels available today, but our government must stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry and invest the tax dollars into developing a clean energy system.

I leave you with a prophecy of the Cree Indians. "Only when the last tree is cut down, the last fish is eaten, and the last stream poisoned- will you realize that you cannot eat money."

Mary Brooks

Climate Activist & Contributing Writer, in Los Angeles CA