Who will you vote for? I will vote for someone who understands the essential role the ocean’s health is to Laguna’s quality of life and economy.
Does the City Council Candidate understand Laguna is discharging 2 million gallons daily, over 1/2 billion gallons annually, of secondary sewage just 1.5 miles offshore? Do they know about the Southern California Eddy Current and how it transports sewage contaminants to Main Beach and protected coves and tidepools? If Laguna’s wastewater is “safe,” why don’t we recycle it for wildfire protection and routine irrigation of Laguna Canyon, festival grounds and Main Beach?
Laguna Beach is much more than art festivals, gourmet restaurants, itinerant celebrities and gala events. Just about any city can support these features. Few, however, have the natural heritage of a Greenbelt and Bluebelt surrounding our City’s steep, rocky terrain and underwater wonderland.
While debates rage about the next parking structure or development, are we ignoring the real source of Laguna’s survival and success? The ocean determines Laguna’s climate and, ultimately, economy. The Gulf of Santa Catalina offshore retains and re-circulates our careless ocean discharges slowly adding to increases in sea temperatures and sea level rise.
Without a dedicated, science-based approach by City Council candidates to protecting the ocean, Laguna will incrementally add to climate change negatively impacting the region. A warmer ocean accelerates evaporation and more intensive storms to flood the community and send soil from eroding hillsides, many stripped of vegetation for a wildfire program, to fragile tidepools, kelp forests and essential sea life habitats.
Let’s vote for our next City Council candidates as if our lives depended upon a healthy ocean.
Mike Beanan, Laguna Beach
I appreciate this thoughtful letter by Mike Beanan. I too will be voting for city council candidates who understand (or are willing to learn) the ways in which our ocean is a critical life support system to Laguna Beach and our entire planet. Every issue we face here in our city impacts and is impacted by the ocean’s health. We need macro-system thinkers and planners with foresight on our City Council — council members who can understand the entire web of life in our coastal home.