Barbara Streisand woke up to the smell of nature at work
this morning. As she breathed in the usually refreshing salt air of the Pacific
ocean lapping at the beach below her stunning beachside Malibu mansion……
Rolling in the surf line, just upwind, was the rotting
carcass of a dead fin whale.
Wildlife authorities think the whale, on the
endangered species list, might have had a collision with one of the ships that
ply the coastline. But the fact remained;
this is a lot of nature to have going on in your front yard.
The exclusive surf side community is home to Streisand, Bob
Dylan and many others in the Hollywood entertainment
industry. This is ground zero for those
who embrace and fund every “green” cause and proudly drive their Prius to show
how pious they are about it.
Of course Barbara and her family could shift residences into
the adjoining and interconnecting two other seaside mansions she owns, to try
to avoid the smell of nature at work. But
it seems the prevailing wind graces each residence equally.
Although rare for California,
this particular stretch of beach is private. According to Carol Baker from the Los Angeles County beaches and harbors commission, the
homeowners have responsibility to the high tide line and the state has control
of the tide lands.
According to Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center,
Los Angeles
County lifeguards planned
to try to pull the 40,000-pound carcass out to sea.
But fire Inspector Brian Riley said that won’t work.
"The carcass is embedded in the sand and impossible to tow free,"
"Burial at low tide will be
difficult as well as land removal. It's in an area with bad access."
It will be interesting to see if red tape will be cut in
order to facilitate this “rescue.”
Will these residents get special dispensation from the usual
quagmire of interconnecting environmental agencies, coastal commissions,
building departments, fish and game, harbor traffic safety and every other
local, state and federal ABC agency you can think of?
Meanwhile, residents of La Jolla, a community south of Malibu, have been petitioning the state and
federal authorities for months, just to let them wash off rocks in the ocean
near their community.
The rock strewn shores have become home to large groups of protected species who deposit large amounts of their feces. Evidently the stench is unbearable. But environmentalists and government regulators are adamant about disrupting the natural order of things. This part of the California coast is home to a more politically conservative group of residents.
The rock strewn shores have become home to large groups of protected species who deposit large amounts of their feces. Evidently the stench is unbearable. But environmentalists and government regulators are adamant about disrupting the natural order of things. This part of the California coast is home to a more politically conservative group of residents.
With the violent death of the fin whale, a capital
environmental crime has been committed. The whale is an endangered species; shouldn’t a full scale investigation be
conducted before the body is even remotely considered to be moved? Where is the environmental CSI team?
This talk of bulldozing up a California beach in order to bury the
carcass or move it is another assault on almost every environmental nerve
ending. Where is the moral outrage?
If this were a true “green community,” and the residents
were really concerned for the environment, they would let the whale carcass
stay where it washed up naturally and let nature take its course for the next
year. The whale would provide badly
needed nutrition to the local marine animal/bird community.
Letting the whale carcass stay and decompose naturally,
would also make an environmental statement louder than any horn from a Prius
could make.
What are the chances? The answer is blowing in the wind.
