Tag: OCEAN

Toward an Open Dialogue

Toward an Open Dialogue

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I sat in my car listening to rain pound the windows and roof. I was overlooking the Gulf of Mexico where just last year oil coated the beaches. I reached over and picked up the children’s book that was birthed from the year’s work at the beaches. I held it in my hands, closed my eyes and said a silent thank-you to the Gulf and Her ecosystems and dedicated The Gulf Oil Spill Story to Her.

I slowly opened the cover and started reading the story aloud to the Gulf. The rhyming poem echoed through my heart and mind as I sent it out into the muggy, coastal air. With each image I remembered the exact place where the illustration and story lines were inspired. As I read I began to feel a mixture of grief and love and passion for this place to which I am deeply connected. Hours after my birth I breathed the salt air of this beautiful coast. And today, as a thank-you for the life I was graced with, I gifted Her with this kid’s book in the hope that future generations will be better caretakers than my generation.

Yesterday a guy that has worked for an oil company for over twenty years looked through the book. It was a surreal experience. While the story is not anti-oil, it does question the wisdom of choices we make regarding energy and drilling. He shared his ideas about the spill and so the book opened a dialogue between us.

My niece read the book and loved it. My mom especially liked the checklist at the end of the story that encourages families to be daily environmental stewards. A friend of mine sat mesmerized by the illustrations while another friend had tears come as she read it. All of these different reactions and yet the one common thread is the story opens dialogues between people. I can think of no more important intention of any project.

It’s easy to get discouraged with so many conflicting ideas about renewable energy, drilling, politics, religion, climate change…. But when we take the time to listen to other’s points of view without judgment, movement toward resolution can occur. Common ground can be found if we are willing to stand with one another, instead of against each other.

Life After the Spill

Life After the Spill

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A week ago I led a small group experience in Asheville. I showed an audio visual presentation of images from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill last summer and then we did a meditation visualizing the Earth healing from this and other man-made disasters. Next I showed beautiful images of nature from many places in the world and we did a gratitude meditation. During this time I felt the strong connection humans have with the planet and a flow of gratitude from the Earth as we sat in silence, in stillness cultivating appreciation and love.

Today, as I was paddling my SUP board on Mobile Bay dolphins swam under the board, flocks of pelicans flew overhead, and small mullet splashed in front of me. What a different experience from a year ago.

Last June 13 I was walking the beaches documenting oil washing ashore in Alabama and grieving the unfolding disaster, still spewing unknown amounts of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. As I walked the shores I expected few shore birds and little marine life to survive. I felt as if I was attending a wake each time I visited the beach. And certainly I was for the thousands of birds, marine mammals, sea turtles and fish that died. And for the 11 men who died. It was so devastating to witness this tragedy. Each blog post felt like a eulogy.

But today, there is life on Mobile Bay–swimming under the water, flying over it, and paddling on the surface. Gratitude abounds within me as I acknowledge these signs of recovery.

Yet I know every place on the Gulf Coast is not so fortunate. Some areas are still experiencing heavy oiling in marshes. There are still large tar balls washing ashore and in the local Mobile newspaper, I read an article stating that local officials know there are large oil mats on the bottom just offshore of some major tourist beaches. They are trying to figure out how to remove the oil but are waiting until after ‘tourist season.’ In the meantime, if a hurricane comes ashore, who is to say what the outcome will be.


There is much work to be done on the Gulf Coast to return it to health and there is much to be thankful for. I believe we must remember the spill so we can use it as a reminder that renewal energy is an absolute MUST in our country, in our world. Also, we still have cleanup to do and much oil to remove that remains in the ecosystem. Finally, I believe the spill is an opportunity to recognize the value of such beautiful and amazing resources found along the Gulf Coast and in all of nature. This man-made disaster is a reminder that we must work diligently to protect nature, refrain from exploiting natural resources, and be good planetary stewards.

Today, I am grateful for dolphins, pelicans, fish and all life that slowly recovers from the toxins released last year. My friend Brandon also posted on gratitude today and so I join him in promoting awareness and gratitude for the amazing world in which we live.

Ballet of the Sea Turtles

Ballet of the Sea Turtles

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Our group of seven submerged into the Blue Hole. White sand on the bottom illuminated the massive, silver tarpon hanging along the wall. I counted almost fifty. Then I looked to the center of the hole and there were at least fifty more of the big fish lazily watching as we quietly moved along the reef.

We spent about 20 minutes playing in this beautiful spot then the dive master had us line up shoulder-to-shoulder and ascend to the top of the reef where the strong surge made forward movement impossible when it pushed against us. We quickly got into the rhythm of the ocean as waves pushed across thousands of sea fans and beautiful soft corals. It doesn’t take too many attempts at trying to kick against such strong surge to realize that to pause is to gain greatly. When the surge lessened and then pulled back, we could literally fly forward across the reef. I looked across my right shoulder at one point and noticed that all of us were kicking in perfect unison. I thought we looked like synchronized dancers flying over a living dance floor.

As I breathed and kicked, breathed and paused, I felt perfectly in sync with the Ocean. My body and mind was ‘forced’ to conform to the rhythm of the waves, of Her movement. There was a feeling of total at-one-ness with the massive Ocean. So in tune with Her, so truly in Love with the Ocean was I, that contentment and peace was experienced on a visceral level.

Back and forth, push and pull, to and fro the Ocean moved me. To my core, the very center of who I am She rocked and reminded me that She is my Mother. She is that from which all life on Earth comes.

As we floated and kicked above the sea fans, sea turtles began to rise among us. They slowly rose up from their hiding places, looked around at the diver ballet, and then effortlessly continued to the surface to breathe. From every direction these gentle beings appeared, swam within our troop, and then did their own dance into the blue. Sometimes there were three or four sea turtles swimming around us at once.

Fifty-one minutes can change a person’s outlook. Dancing with sea turtles in blue water during that 51 minutes can forever alter a person’s life.