“Whitman’s pale body, and my own, frolicking in the waves, carry on our skin the guilt and violence of ecological catastrophe. I would like to believe, and sometimes I do believe, that inside the chaos of the surf we can derive succor and some pleasure from the buoyancy that poetry creates. But it is hard not to recall the other creatures who depend upon the ocean, the fish and crabs and microscopic plankton, that will pay a harsher price.(150)”
Every summer, the warnings issued through news sources and splashed in front of empty lifeguard shacks tell beachgoers that a sewage spill has contaminated the water, and thus, swimming is not recommended. And so, like Dickinson, we watch from ashore, the untouchable Silver that beckons us with its waves and dirtied water. At least, this is the issue in the South Bay. Miraculously, the sewage-contaminated waters from the Tijuana River plant do not spread beyond Silver Strand(and occasionally Coronado).
Every year, visitors turn away from the contaminated beaches of the South Bay, and find solace in the pristine white sanded beaches of Solana and La Jolla, conveniently located in some of the most affluent areas of San Diego.
While Blue Humanities focuses on the poetics of planetary water, I can not in my experience separate my view of the ocean from the politics of land and water. The contamination of the beaches and the surrounding wetlands and waters is a constant feature on my mind. Just as Steve Mentz states, “it is hard not to recall the other creatures who depend upon the ocean, the fish and crabs and microscopic plankton, that will pay a harsher price(150),” I too can not seperate my enjoyment of the beach and ocean, from the total devestation of an unsolved ecological crisis happening a few miles down the coastline. As we turn to our beaches in the summer for pleasure and connection, and the surrounding coastal cities benefit from curating their beaches into tourist economies, I think of the way we continually take advantage of the body of the Ocean, the life and solace it provides us, and with which we interact.
I appreciated the broad experience captured in “poetics”, which Mentz expands through “Aristotle’s claim that poetics combines pleasure and pain,” which “seems especially noteworthy for a blue humanities focus on the watery parts of the world that both allure and threaten human bodies. (139)” Even as we remain grounded in our homes and on land, the ocean reminds us of its mistreatment, and it asks us to pay the price. As the issue at the sewage plant worsens with inattention, it rightfully reminds us that even the gorgeous beaches and tanned cliffsides further up the coast can not escape the eventual devastation of human pollution.
Wonderful post– insightful and right in its focus on the entanglement of poetics, pollution, and politics. Let’s keep all of that in mind as we continue to explore BH, the ocean, and the siren songs of lure.
Angelina, I love how you ground the reading into your own experience living by the coast, especially the South Bay. There is really something here poetically and politically. Not only are “the pristine white sand beaches… conveniently located in some of the most affluent areas of San Diego… These coastal cities benefit from curating their beaches into tourist economies” Bringing in tax dollars and driving up property values of the already wealthy. I never thought of the beaches as a device for keeping the rich rich and the poor poor.
Hi Angelina, I love your personal observations and experiences and how they connect to the material. I love the relevancy of your post since we all go to school in San Diego, and I also love your observation of how people capitalize off of something natural, like beaches, to promote the wealth of certain people and exploit the situation of less fortunate people.
Really insightful post. The politics of the land runoff into the ocean, as you said it can’t be separated. We get the stories of the human experience of the beach closure and then the economic fallout from South Bay areas, but very rarely is the ecological impact mentioned with any gravity. I think this is in part because because that is the “long term” issue of it, something to kick or spill down the line, but for now the issue of capitalism is the first issue to be addressed.
I love this perspective, Angelina! I totally agree that politics and the ocean seem far too intertwined. It is astonishing to think about how such a large part of our globe is water, and yet we still treat it horribly or misuse it. It is also very telling that beach and water upkeep seem to matter so much more in places of wealth and/or tourism. We should not care simply about how nice our beaches are for us to lounge at or swim in, but for the multitude of life that calls it home. Billionaire politicians with immense power seem to forget just how much we rely on the ocean and the ecosystems it houses.