Tag Archives: Gold Coast

Gold Coast Inspired Earth Day

by Woody

My friend Derek doesn’t walk on water, of course, but he can paddle on it while standing up. And when he’s out and about on his paddleboard he does a miraculous thing: he turns ocean water that is polluted enough to whine about a little cleaner.

The 51st annual Earth Day is Thursday and this year’s theme is “Restore the Earth.” This, it seems to me, is exactly what Derek does in his own small way. He helps restore our harbor waters, and beyond, by plucking out small piles of soggy trash – from common plastic grocery bags, coffee cups and fast-food wrappers to random items like lost life jackets, lengths of rope and most anything else that will float.

In truth, I know quite a few paddlers and surfers and beachgoers who make a goal of picking up three pieces of litter each time they go to the beach. I bet you know such a person and may even be one yourself.

A recent haul of soggy trash by Derek…

In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy was said to be so beautiful her abduction caused the Trojan War and inspired the sobriquet “The Face That Launched A Thousand Ships.” Well, Ventura County’s Gold Coast is so beautiful as to have helped launch the modern environmental movement by inspiring the first “Earth Day” on April 22, 1970.

This is true. Of all the breathtaking landscapes and pristine beaches on Earth, our very own scenic coastline is the Helen of Troy of beauties. When she was abducted, so to speak, by a monumental oil spill a national call to arms rang out.

While Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking 1962 bestseller “Silent Spring” raised public awareness about environmentalism, it was the devastation caused by a blowout of Union Oil’s Platform A in the Santa Barbara Channel on Jan. 28, 1969 that pushed U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin to create Earth Day.

In his book, “The Beach Colony Called Land & Sky: A History of Solimar Beach,” the late William Hart, a local pioneering cardiologist-turned-historical-author, wrote: “In January 1969, one of the worst of many oil spills to afflict our planet took place when a Union Oil drilling platform leaked about 21,000 gallons of raw crude oil per day.

“The oil slick eventually covered about a 200-square-mile area extending from the Standard Oil pier at Carpinteria to Pitas Point. The riprap, sea wall and ocean-facing decks at Solimar were soiled with tar and oil. Many shore birds and other sea life were killed. In truth, there has been seepage of oil and tar in this area at least since the Chumash inhabited the Rincon, but this was an exceptionally large spill.”

Exceptional, indeed, with an estimated final tally of 3 million gallons. At the time it was the largest oil spill in United States waters and five decades later still ranks No. 6, more than five times larger than the seventh-worst disaster.

Capitalizing on intense national media coverage and public outcry, Sen. Nelson 15 months later founded Earth Day with 20 million Americans taking part in coast-to-coast rallies that proved instrumental in creating the Environmental Protection Agency as well as passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.

“Restore the Earth” can seem impossibly overwhelming, but I think Derek is onto something important: he celebrates each day as Earth Day by focusing on restoring his own little piece of paradise.

Alone, Derek – or you or me – can’t clean up mankind’s entire Colony of Land and Sea, but as Mother Teresa wisely noted: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His SIGNED books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Personalized Signed copies of WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and  “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Beauty of Sunsets and Perspective

by Woody

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: @woodywoodburn

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The Beauty of Sunsets

and Perspective

High on my Must-See List is to visit Yosemite National Park during mid-February to witness the “Firefall” display when the water falling over Horsetail Fall seems to magically turn into molten iron ore being poured from a foundry kettle.

This natural spectacle, which lasts about a week of evenings, only occurs when the setting sun’s rays strike the falls at a rare and perfect angle.

While I have not yet seen this trick of light in person, in a way I feel have. After all, I have witnessed countless magical sunsets on our Gold Coast that seem painted by Monet using a palette of flames; mixed oils of reds, golds and oranges.

One such sunset occurred recently and, as usual, social media was ablaze with postings of gorgeous photos snapped by locals. In the comments section, my reply was always the same: “Ho-hum, another Ventura sunset.”

If you live here you will understand my sarcasm. As if one would shrug their shoulders unimpressed while gazing at the Mona Lisa. Indeed, our sunsets are masterpieces of nature. They are like Giant Redwoods – no matter how many such majestic trees you see in a forest, each is individually breathtaking.

The magical sunsets off Ventura’s coast are second-to-none.

To illuminate my point further, let me share a story from a Thanksgiving vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, that my wife and I spent several years ago with her extended side of the family.

Each evening, like most everyone else staying at the resort, we would gather on the beach to watch the sun dissolve into the Pacific Ocean.

“Oooh!” said some with enthusiasm.

“Ahhh!” and “Gorgeous!” others in the chorus sang.

My wife and I remained silent and unmoved.

Perspective is everything. Sure, the Puerto Vallarta sunsets were nice and fine, but in our eyes the Golden Hour was fool’s gold. For starters, the sun sank into a plain horizon. There was no contrast – no Channel Islands – to add brushstrokes of dimension.

Furthermore, because the sky remained cloudless the heavens did not catch fire as happens on our Gold Coast. It was like watching the black-and-white portions of “The Wizard of Oz” compared to the film’s Technicolor scenes.

Not wishing to be sunset snobs, my wife and I kept our critical reviews quiet. Alone, however, we were like old Hollywood actors complaining of modern talent: “In our day, we had movie stars!”

Us: “In Ventura, we have sunsets!”

During the most recent Firefall-like sunset here, I was running at a park as late afternoon began its metamorphosis into evening, turning from a brown caterpillar into a kaleidoscopic butterfly. To be honest, I was blind to the wondrous show taking place.

My spirits were down and so were my eyes. Arthritis in my neck, which required disc-fusion surgery 17 years ago after my car was crushed by a speeding drunk driver, had been acting up worse than usual. Not yet 60, my cervical spine seems to belong to a 90-year-old.

Thus, too stiff on this day to look around to-and-fro, my focus remained steely eyed on the ground a few strides ahead. Then everything changed.

“Wow!” came a voice from a passerby going the other direction. “Look at that sky!”

My eyes lifted as directed and my spirits followed at once. Stopping in my tracks, I admired the Firefall colors being amplified with each passing moment.

Additionally, my dose of self-pity fell away like water over a falls. You see, the man who had awakened me to this pyrotechnic display of nature does his exercise loops around the park in a wheelchair. Suddenly, my sore neck seemed inconsequential.

Perspective is everything, isn’t it?

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn. His books are available at www.WoodyWoodburn.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …