With Earth Day approaching, the following question takes on even more importance. We cannot celebrate the ocean's recovery when in fact the situation has become more severe than ever, despite all efforts of ecology-minded people and organizations to restore the coastline to its former opulence:
A question for you who grew up exploring Southern Californian tide pools — or others on more distant shores: Am I alone in feeling some melancholy when nowadays looking into the delightful miniature ponds that appear among boulders at low tide? I don’t mean the new ones created by the extreme loss of sand in this year’s storms, but rather the seasoned ones whose moss and sea grass have been groomed by the moving tides over many years, maintained to perfection like little bonsai gardens with ponds.
The pools themselves are as beautiful as they were when I was a curious kid climbing from rock to rock, never tiring of seeing more. But now something is sadly amiss and simply missing: Sea Life.
