Well, It’s been a long time coming and I am officially  declaring that I am going to paddle the 1100 mile expedition of the California coast?  I am so stoked to just put it back out there and I can’t wait to launch myself into the Pacific ocean at Pelican Point at the California/Oregon border and paddle every day until I reach the border of Mexico. I am doing this because I love the ocean so much and it is of the utmost importance that I just pick it up where I left it when I got sick and get on with it!

I was going to make this very important expedition and documentary film a few years ago but I got sidelined by melanoma and It’s over and I’m back.  I am now cured and training and getting stronger every day.  I feel reborn, actually.  Mentally, physically, spiritually, all of it.  Hell, I’ve gained 7 pounds in the past 3 weeks, how happy does that make me? Happy enough to  be so fired up I can barely contain myself half the time, seriously, I feel on top of the world most of the time.

I’m broke and hungry and don’t even have a car.  But, I’m working for my good friend and contractor Stephen Wilson and I can surf and paddle and I have an important message to send out to the world.  We all, everyone of us has to know and to understand that the Worl’s ocean’s need our help and it needs it now.

My friend and ocean hero Dr. Sylvia Earle said “The next ten years are more likely to be the most important in the next 1,000 years in terms of what actions we take or the actions we don’t take.”  I take that to mean that it is our individual responsibility to take action, right now.  Do it now or risk the end of our species and our planet, it’s true and it’s no joke. Just take what we’re dealing with here in San Diego.

Our city semi-treats and then deposits 175 million gallons of sewage into the ocean 4 miles off of Point Loma, EVERY DAY!  in north county it pumps it out 1 and a half miles of the beach. let me tell you some facts just to let you know.

There are measurable amounts of  over the counter and prescription drugs in every fish and mammal  tested near the outfall. everything from Valium, ibuprofen, antibiotics, narcotics and basically a laundry list of legal and illicit drugs.  Speaking of laundry, in the tissue samples they also found laundry detergent, cosmetics, hair products, sunblock, and everything else we put on and in our bodies.

Once we know  and understand that we are the problem and the solution we can begin to make healthy choices for ourselves and the ocean and the planet.  The fish and animals and mammals in the ocean are sentinels for environmental health and human health as well.

What rolls down the gutter can and will come back and bite us in the ass so let’s work together and make a difference.  The future of life on earth depends on us.

“No Ocean, No Life.  No Blue No Green”

I’m going to spread the word as I paddle 1100 miles down the coast of California.  I need your help and I want everyone who is able to come paddle with us and support clean and healthy oceans too.

San Diego city workers Wednesday brought out the loaders and dump trucks and succeeded in creating an environmental disaster in PB cove. The operators of the loaders scraped the entire beach of all kelp from its natural source. from the bottom of the stairway at PB Point approx.100 yards south toward Tourmaline Surfing Park.

Portions of the Kelp were loaded into waiting dump trucks which dumped most of the kelp back into the water at low tide.  Of course when the tide turned the kelp was deposited directly back onto the beach.  What the city succeeded at doing was destroying the natural estuary of pb cove and the nesting area for many species of sea birds and creatures that make the estuary what it is and it is a very delicate  cycle of life which includes all of the eggs from the recent Grunion runs as well.  All marine life on the beach in that area was destroyed.  Whatever the intent of the city is unclear but I think that running heavy equipment (loaders and dump trucks) and churning up the bird guano which contains enterococcus, Streptococcus etc. was a failure and an ecological disaster for the area.

The destruction that day also churned up the beach so badly that  thousands of unsuspecting surfers and swimmers  were recreating in polluted bacteria filled water, it’s a fact, not my theory here. The water from the point all the way to Missouri St.  ( approx.6 blocks which were discolored) became what looked like chocolate-colored water visible to the naked eye. Since we can’t see bacteria in the water I can assure you the damage went much further south than was visible.

I would like to find out who and in which department of the city is responsible but my phone calls have only resulted in people passing me off to someone else and someone else and on and on,  Regardless, the damage is done, again.

What this travesty also does is upset the fishery all the way up and down the coast; this was not an isolated incident and it happens from San Diego up to at least Santa Barbara.  It’s no wonder they are shutting down areas of the coast to sport fishing.  When companies like Everingham are taking all the bait they can get for cash profit with zero regulations or the City of San Diego destroying natural habitats  it’s no wonder our fish stocks are in such steep decline.

Just decided to write on the blog again for the first time since January.  This time I hope to make a near daily habit even if it doesn’t have any earth shattering environmental news or the latest man-made or natural disaster to hit the oceans. Then again, I will keep letting it rip whenever I am compelled.

I went for a long paddle last week and was so stoked and anxious to get in the water I didn’t do my usual yoga stretches and breathing and paid dearly for the oversight.  I was about a mile outside the point when I felt a little twinge in the right-middle (Quadradus Lumborum) back and withing a few more minutes I was in agony, but still had to dip into the reserve tank to get into the beach.  To make a long story not so long, I ended up in the E.R. at Thornton UCSD hospital for a scan and 4 hits of Dilauded, 10 mg. of Valium and some muscle relaxer to finally settle down the spasms, (Thanks again for the ride Dixon Livingstone!!).  After forcing myself to relax and stay down for a couple of days It’s all well now. Thank God!

Elese and I had a great run/walk from Tourmaline down to near the south mission jetty and back this morning.  It’s great to hop and skip around the piles of kelp all over the beach again since the city finally did the right thing in deciding to leave the natural events of kelp on the beach pretty much alone.  It’s already had a positive impact on the latest Grunion runs this Summer.

If you have any news on the ocean front, have anything to share, or want to comment at all about anything or just want to say hello, hit me back.

TK

I don’t really like to mix my personal political views in this forum so please excuse me for admitting that (Surprise!) I’m pretty well left of center.  Okay, I admit it; I’m a dyed in the wool left wing liberal.  But please don’t stop reading if you don’t share my view because remember, I’m an American and I Love my country I just have a hard time with Constitution bashing tea-baggers and am still waiting for Sarah Palin to dry up and blow away into the Alaskan tundra.

Anyway, I digress.  While I support the President on most issues and realize that being the leader of the free world also means that you have to trust your advisers  to, well, advise you about certain things like disaster relief and weather related events that cause serious damage and require federal aid.  Hell, when you’ve inherited two wars and a failing economy you only have so many hours in each day right?  So maybe I’m cutting Mr. Obama too much slack when I cannot for the life of me understand why in the hell San Diego is going to receive 13 million dollars in federal aid to clean up after we had a rain event which lasted one entire week?

We were one of 10 counties statewide to receive the declaration to seek reimbursement for cleanup and repair costs. For a rainstorm.  at the end of December and into the new year it rained and that is cause to declare a state of emergency. Or as Donna Fuller of the city’s Office of Homeland Security said “The actual dollar amount of the damage could take weeks or even months to assess.”  I have a couple of things to ask about that statement (1.)  Why the F#&k is  The Office Of Homeland Security involved in something that has, as far as I can see  absolutely nothing to do with security issues.  Unless some phone lines went down which caused big brother to lose the taps on our phones or terrorists are seeding clouds to cause a disruption via water from the sky. (2.)  If it’s going to take months to assess the damage how is filling in potholes in August going to help “cleanup damage” from the storm? It just gets even more ludicrous, believe it or not.

If the feds determine that the city or county could have prevented the damages (what has been damaged and where are  not even mentioned) then they may not even qualify for aid.  Since the city has a backlog of $377 MILLION DOLLARS just in road repairs and 17% of our streets have been declared to be in poor condition according to our own city auditor’s Office, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for those federal dollars to be coming any time soon.

Oh yeah, one more thing our wonderful city has accomplished is that they deferred 100 MILLION DOLLARS in maintenance for it’s stormwater systems.  I’ll bet not many of you know that during the aforementioned rain event a conservative estimate of 8 MILLION GALLONS OF RAW SEWAGE flowed from the sewers directly into the ocean just between Oceanside and Coronado.   Just a little something to consider the next time it rains and our oceans and every living thing in it becomes immersed in our shit.

Why do we just shrug and say “Oh well, what are we gonna do?”  Meanwhile the mayor’s office will defer millions more to take the money to fix the stormwater problems and use it for something “more important”.  If this scenario sounds as crazy to you as it does to me there is something you can do about it.  You can call or e-mail your local city council representative and the mayor’s office and let them know how happy you are with the job they are doing; they love hearing from their constituents; they say it every day.

Kevin Faulconer is the councilman for the beach areas of San Diego.  Tell him thanks for letting our streets flood every time it rains over 1/4 of an inch,  and kudos for the tens of millions of dollars spent on the overflow stormwater systems that back up and belch raw sewage mixed with the runoff that was supposed to go to secondary treatment at Point Loma.

Hello Everyone and welcome to TK’s blog.

The Fall/ Winter rainy season has begun in earnest with the storm totals from our first rain  “event” being all over the map, so to speak.  North county residents collected the most rain with San Onofre picking up over 2 inches of rain while Lindbergh Field measured a little over an inch.  San Diego beach areas averaged about an inch and a half of precipitation which is pretty heavy in terms of runoff pollution pouring off the streets and  into storm drains which, as we all know, empty out onto the beaches and into the ocean.

Now for the numbers and statistics and some of the causes of stormwater pollution.  Please pay attention Boy’s and Girl’s, there will be a short quiz at the conclusion of today’s lecture.   I’m not intending for this blog to be all about the bad news and chronicle just doom and gloom regarding coastal water quality issues.  In fact, I am going to really try tocreate a balance between both what issues we need to be aware of and how to deal with them and the people and places that are making a difference and improving our quality of life both on the beaches and in the ocean.

I recently uncovered a startling and really scary bit of information which needs to be addressed and rectified by our neighbor to the north; Los Angeles.  A new study has shown that the Los Angeles River, the long, wide, concrete structure that winds its way all the way through the city from the San Gabriel Mountains to the east all the way to the ocean.  You’ve probably seen it in lots of movies where they film scenes of cars with cops and robbers chasing and shooting at  each other while they drive all over and up and down the concrete embankments, you know what I mean. Yeah, that one!  Well, it seems that the LA river alone contributes 1% of all the world petroleum hydrocarbon input. What that means is that the oil and petroleum products that drip from millions of cars (in just a portion of LA) ends up in the river and along with all the other materials that wash off the streets and structures and mixes and churns into God only knows what kind of toxic soup that runs unabated to the ocean.

Now 1% of anything might not seem like much to anyone but when you consider that of all the world petroleum residue crap in the world that ends up on the ground and washes into one friggin’ river in one giant city, it’s not a pretty scenario, especially for creatures that inhabit the coastal waters and those of us who recreate in and eat the fish from those waters.

While I’m rolling along here I might as well add some more colorful tidbits of information for you to share around the water cooler or out in the lineup at you favorite surfing areas.  Gosh, I just get so darn inspired when the rains come!

13% of ALL the rivers in the United States, 18% of ALL the lakes, and a whopping 32% of ALL the estuaries are made unsafe for swimming, surfing, or fishing, thanks to stormwater, the #1 leading source of water pollution.

75% of the toxic chemicals that are dumped onto our beaches and into our oceans is carried there by stormwater that slicks our paved roads, pours from our rooftops, yards,gardens, etc.

Lead, zinc, chromium, manganese,nickel, and cadmium are the most common metals found in stormwater runoff polluting our beaches, waterways, and oceans.

Brake linings, tires, and gunk from our engines and vehicles;  pesticides from our lawns and gardens, PCB’s,  petroleum hydrocarbons that drip off our roadways.  Oil stain by oil stain; drip by drip, drop by drop; it all adds up! We all contribute to this mess, all of us.  it’s not going to go away any time soon and it’s the winter rains that  are washing all of of our stuff into our oceans.  It’s everything I mentioned and so much more that blend together and commingle and it’s creating cancers and diseases that haven’t even been identified yet, let alone named.

Until we can get our cities and municipalities to begin to use permeable materials on our streets and roadways.  Until we can create some filtration for the runoff to pass through.  Until we can make even minor changes and adjustments individually and collectively as a society’ or in our own tribes. There are so many things we can all do; Information is everywhere if you just take a few minutes to check it out.  Things like rain barrels to collect the water off your rooftops to water your gardens later on.   Think about something other than a lawn in your yard; especially if you live in a desert climate like here in San Diego. create a garden of plants native to your area.  If everyone just thought of ten things they could change in their day-to-day existence.  C’mon, quit buying cases of water bottles-get a water filter.  Use your own cup when you go to your coffee shop in the morning.  Bring your own bags to the market and grocery store.

We can’t keep throwing our hands up or shrugging and repeating “Well, what can I do?”  There’s plenty we can do and until we all change our minds and our habits nothing will change; it’s just going to get worse.

Here’s one more for today’s lesson:  The eastern pacific gyre of plastic has been proven to be twice the size of Texas and estimated to weigh 3.5 million tons.  I can’t even imagine what 3.5 million tons of anything is, but you know it can’t be good.  Oh well, whatryagonnado? Think about it.  Please?

Thanks for checking in and please feel free to comment.

Tim Kessler

To celebrate the 75th birthday of one of the most influential scientists ever born and the most inspiring speaker I have ever had the privilege of meeting; please watch this video. Dr. Sylvia Earle “Her Deepness” should be crowned “Queen of the Oceans”. If any of us care at all about the ocean or the future of our planet this is mandatory viewing. Spend the next 18 minutes with the good doctor and you WILL be moved, if not to tears, then to at least learn the truth; The rest is up to you.

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, boy’s and girl’s, to the official opening day of my new site and my first blog.  Please, first of all, take a few minutes and check out what the project is about, what we plan to do,  why it matters to us,  and why it SHOULD matter to you!   And now, for the record…,

I will be writing about issues that pertain mostly to California’s coastal water quality issues.  However; I may also address  matters outside of our jurisdiction and geographical locations as I see fit.   I should also mention that the views expressed on this site are my own and I am personally and solely responsible for the content herein.

Furthermore,  I hereby swear to not hold back in any way, shape, or form, from naming names of any individuals, elected officials,  groups  or organizations that are (willfully or otherwise: ignorance is NOT bliss here) responsible for, and or support in any way, any pollution or destruction of any coastal marshes, grasslands, habitats or waterways. Hell, let’s just say; anybody who pollutes and I hear about it will be called out for it. nuff’ said.

I really do hope to make a difference in people’s lives and the future of our planet.   My goal , really,  is to make enough of us think about the health of our coastal waters and the health and well-being of our oceans in general.  If I can just help to educate enough people to consider the fact that we are all polluters to some degree, and we all share in the collective responsibility to clean up our acts;  THEN I will feel like I’m doing my job.

Welcome to the Site.

I’m still in construction and moving content over from my old blog.  You don’t need infinite patience,  cuz I’ll be done soon.

Meantime, please find me and say hello on Facebook.

Or email me at tim@cleancoastalwater.com

Take ‘er easy,

Tim

Our goal is to produce a documentary film about the once in a lifetime adventure of the Coastal Dreams Paddling Expedition. “The ultimate goal in undertaking this demanding and potentially dangerous journey is to bridge the divide between popular culture, and the need to educate the general public about the environmental choices we are making as a society on a daily basis.”