September 2007 | From the Editor
On the Surface…
In the evenings, I lace up my running shoes and hit the trails in Magnolia’s Discovery Park. I run to feel strong. To sweat. And the burst of endorphins is a nice bonus, too. But the thing that keeps me consistent—on those days when it’s raining or I’m beat—is our Northwest’s famed scenery. There is something about clipping through the wooded trails and taking in the park’s leafy surroundings and watery views that makes the miles feel effortless. I don’t always want to run, but I miss the experience—the postcard vistas around every corner—when I skip it.
One part that never gets old is the panoramic view of Puget Sound I get about a mile into my run. On sunny days, you can see the sunlight sparkle off of the Sound’s slight ripples. On cloudy days, the vast body of water is a gunmetal grey, that I swear, forces self-reflection and contemplative thoughts (willing or not).
From where I’m perched, the large bodies of water, inlets and estuaries that accent our city in deep blue provide a place for me to put my thoughts.
On the surface, everything looks okay.
This month’s feature, Think Like a Fish, forced me to reevaluate my day-to-day denial of the health of our waters.
“Unlike environmental problems on land, which manifest in unmistakably visible ways — from clear-cut forests to paved-over paradises — the ocean’s issues aren’t easy to fathom,” writes author Andi MacDaniel. “From above, an ocean in crisis looks a lot like a healthy ocean: beautiful, blue and impenetrably vast.”
Oceans let us believe that everything is okay. Gazing out at Puget Sound during my daily runs I am overcome by its utter beauty, not a sense of worry.
Unfortunately, my level of awareness needs to shift.
Like most bodies of water on our planet, Puget Sound—an estuary where saltwater from the ocean mixes with freshwater from rivers—is in trouble.
More than one million pounds of chemicals are released into the Sound annually, dumped at any one of the 972 spots permitted for treated waste and industrial water. Hood Canal has a growing dead zone caused by pollution that reduces the water’s oxygen level and kills marine life. In some ways it’s a shame that our water is still so beautifully blue. I know that looking out at a brown horizon would have the power to pull me out of my head and into action.
If you visit the Puget Sound Partnership website (www.psp.wa.gov) you can read staggering statistics on our Sound’s water quality, the vast numbers of animals that live there—salmon (8 species), oysters (6 species), clams (4 species), orcas (3 species)—and how most of them are on the decline (being coated in toxic, dirty water can do that) or gone.
With hope, things are on the upswing. Earlier this year, Governor Chris Gregoire signed a law creating the Puget Sound Partnership, a new agency drawing from government, tribes, businesses and citizen groups that will focus on restoring our Sound by 2020. The clean-up effort is estimated at $8 billion.
In the meantime, visit (www.psat.wa.gov/you_can_do/10_things.htm) for a list of 10 simple things you can do to improve water quality and marine life.
Here’s to turning off the faucet while we brush our teeth!
— Ritzy Ryciak [click to e-mail]
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