I like saltwater swimming

But the Ocean doesn't have much reason to like us. It continues to support all life on the Earth, as it has since the beginning. I guess that the Ocean is always analogized with a mother, because even though for her own sake the Ocean should just drown us all to save herself, she maintains patience, usually, and continues to support her children. If she flipped out and locked us all, her children, in the bathroom for our final dip together I would not be surprised. Human kind is the prodigal son in this story, and as a whole we are making little headway toward redemption. Other animals never binged on nitrogen fertilizers and chemicals that create "Dead Zones" the size of New Jersey where NOTHING AEROBIC CAN SURVIVE. This is precisely what humans have done to the Mississippi outlet into the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Nile, and many other rivers that were once hailed as fertile centers of civilizations. Did you know that they are part of China that have been scientifically labeled unihabitable for the next 100 years, yet they continue to pour our chemicals into the nearby rivers and watersheds because they do not give a fuck whether or not they are shitting in their own water supply? Other species maintained a balance between each other and nature--they did not steamroll the ocean life for dinner, indiscriminantly killing everything else on the way.

"The Last Days of the Ocean"--free at Mother Jones online

As you can probably tell I've been reading Mother Jones again. Here is another series of articles on the Ocean likely to enduce deep self-reflexion and hopefully the realization that we cannot keep living pretending not to see what surrounds us. There is water, a lot of it, and we are killing ourselves through poisoning it. All we have to do is turn our heads just the slightest degree, and the world expands. 6 degrees is an entire second. In an minute you can see the entire world.

Peace,
Salem