Nature is speaking…

Uh oh Doug….you a treehugger or something?

I liked Harrison Ford's as well.

I've become quite attached to the ocean, almost more so than the mountains these days. It's quiet down there, a different sort of quiet than anywhere else. Living in Southern California, I feel like it's the wildest wilderness we have left around here, especially according to the Edward Abbey definition: "The essence of true wilderness is big mammals that can eat you.". Only we're not talking mammals down there.

I was solo freediving and hunting lobster a few days ago, weaving in and out of wavering kelp forests, rock trenches, and absolute weightless silence. It's become my happy place, even despite the need to occasionally look over one's shoulder for creatures bigger than you. The strangeness of life, the diversity, and abundance below the surface is staggering.

But to think that the majority of ocean fish are becoming toxic, entire species even being on the "do not eat" list. Go anywhere on earth and you'll find carcinogens and poisons in the fish. It's hard to comprehend that we could do this to something so vast.

"I liked Harrison Ford's as well."

+1. Definitely thought I was going to get squashed like an insect during that one. And appropriately so.