I promised you a blog about travel and climate change and I guess I had better get to it before my next trip which is coming up in less than two weeks. I suppose the problem is that as a scientist I cannot ignore or deny the problem. It is sad and very disheartening that so many of our so called leaders have given people permission to deny that we have a problem. If you belong to the group that has bought into the lie that climate change is not real or not caused by human beings burning fossil fuels all I can say is shame on you, get a clue, and start thinking about what kind of world you want to leave for your grandchildren. Climate change is real, it is serious and in this country the bulk of emissions which are contributing to the problem are in the form of carbon dioxide which is a by-product of burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, oil and its derivatives, gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
I am a retired air quality specialist and I have poured over the emissions inventories. I know that for every gallon of gasoline I burn in my car 19 pounds of carbon dioxide are added to the atmosphere. I know that the single most carbon intensive activity that I, as an individual, can engage in is stepping onto an airliner. How then can I justify traveling?
Long story short. I can’t. But here’s the deal. I tried telling myself I can’t travel and I got very depressed. I have spent my entire life driving fuel efficient vehicles, turning off the lights, turning down the heat, living without air conditioning, and walking or using public transportation as much as possible. And oh, by the way I don’t have any children or grandchildren so I am just doing this out of the goodness of my heart for you and yours. Well, and the Polar bears who are probably screwed anyway. Yet, in my lifetime the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has gone from less than 320 ppm to over 400 while scientists are telling us that anything over 350 is unacceptably risky.
It has become very clear to me that anything I can do as an individual is a drop in the ocean and until we all agree as a society that we must take action and find alternative fuel sources, my staying home hurts only me and helps no one. I realized when I was gravely ill a few years ago that if I really wanted to reduce my carbon footprint I should just go ahead and die. I wasn’t willing to do that and I am not willing to become a vegetarian and I am not willing to spend my retirement years sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch.
It was when I was researching buying a new car that I finally turned the corner. Because I really wanted an all-wheel drive vehicle but my environmental conscience kept telling me to buy a Prius. I don’t like Priuses because you can’t see a damn thing out the back window, and they are so low to the ground you scape bottom all the time. I don’t know how they do in snow but I don’t want to find out. So, I eventually determined that over the course of a year the difference in carbon footprint between a Prius and the Honda CRV I wanted was approximately equivalent to one person flying round trip from New York to San Francisco. I don’t know how many people fly from New York to San Francisco or vice versa over the course of a year but I know that me driving a Honda CRV is less than a drop in the ocean by comparison.
I came across these electric car plug-in stations on a recent trip to California. Sadly, there were never any electric cars parked there while I was around. And the trouble with electric cars is that while they don’t burn gasoline, you do have to be conscious of where the energy that travels down that plug is coming from. In California and Oregon it is probably mostly hydroelectric but in some areas of the country, such as New Mexico where I used to live, coal fired power plants still produce the bulk of the electricity that comes through that cord. We need a new paradigm, not more places to plug in our cars.
So, instead of staying home, instead of driving a Prius, I have decided to buy carbon credits to offset my carbon footprint. Carbon Fund.org is an organization which uses most of the money they take in to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation. All of which will do more for the climate than me staying home or becoming a vegetarian. For $150 I was able to offset my household energy use, my car, and my air travel. Since I had budgeted $250 I kicked in another $100 in hopes of offsetting someone else’s travel.
Do I travel with a clear conscience? No. My travel is still contributing to climate change, make no mistake. But at least I am doing something to help neutralize it. I’m thinking of putting solar panels on my roof next. And I promise that the future posts in this blog will be on a more positive note. Check in the week of March 28 for San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country.
Well, I did make it home safely, in case you wondered. I got into returning to the barn mode and didn’t take many photographs or do much touristing on the way home. I am still sifting through the images and hope to have a gallery posted on my website soon.
Today has been fraught with frustration. Largely because of my nemesis on the left here. I am still puzzling over how it is possible that I could pick the one day in two months that the cruise ship comes into Santa Barbara to be my one day to explore the city. Curses, curses, curses.
Well, I did make it to the courthouse in spite of them but before I had finished capturing it’s amazing beauty my battery ran out. And I immediately realized I had forgotten to charge the spare. So, one caution about the M3 is that it is a real battery hog and you may need three to get through a day of serious shooting. The tile roof shot is taken from the clock tower which also offers great views of the town.
s also impressed with this spiral staircase and the gallery was my first peek inside. Unfortunately the battery crapped out before I finished shooting the exterior.
possibilities but is losing its Funk to trendiness. I finally stopped into a wine tasting room for a little attitude adjustment. I did find a little funk, including this bicycle sign and its shadow.
And somewhere on my walk I found these stairs that spoke to me of the essence of Santa Barbara. I can see now that one or two days is not enough time to get to know this city. Guess I will just have to come back again, and again, and again. Don’t think I would want to live here though. SLO town is more my speed.
I had a busy day of touristing yesterday and was too tired to process any images so had to make up for lost time this morning. My first stop enroute from Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara was the Santa Inez mission in Solvang. There I found the kind of detail I love in the old missions. Solvang itself is fascinating with a Scandinavian theme but I decided to save that for another day.
beautiful of the missions and you can see that this may be true.
Roman columns and such. I don’t know if this is true but it does make some sense as this does not look very Spanish.
Sorry, I had to take a day off from the blog yesterday. I didn’t have many great pictures anyway because it was either pouring rain or we were inside. But today I had a chance to revisit the Sea Otter haunts in Morro Bay with the big girl camera and long lens. Pretty happy with the results. Here is a mama with her baby riding on her s
tomach. I think this one is about ready to solo.
uring down rain when we set out but by the time we arrived at our first destination it was clearing up but too muddy for our bird walk. So we proceeded on up the road to a less muddy place where we found few birds but lots of young male elephant seals separating themselves from the herd to avoid confrontation with the alpha males. This one won the prize for cuteness.
After a delicious lunch and a talk about whales we proceeded to the main elephant seal rookery where we found mamas and baby’s as well as alpha males and wanna be alpha males. This first shot looks like a slumber party of females without pups.
is one to prove it. Life is harsh on the beach though and the survival rate is not high. This fellow had been nursing but stopped to take a nap. We learned that the moms do not feed while nursing and lose 450 lbs before leaving the pups to wean. A newborn pup weighs about 75 lbs and grows to 300 lbs before Mom cuts off the milk supply.
But things got pretty exciting on the beach just as we were about to leave. To Alpha males, also known as Beach Master’s got into a fight over territory. It was still going on when we had to head out to our next appointment at the Natural History Museum in Morro Bay. There we saw a video about Humpback whales before proceeding to the Embarcadero for dinner.
It was another full day today starting with a bird walk at a place called Oso Flaco, or Skinny Bear. We saw Scaup, Ruddy ducks, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shovelers, a green heron, juvenile black crowned night herons, and white pelicans as well as some shore birds and a few black phoebes. The Ruddy ducks proved to be the most photogenic 
though. And then there was this marauding mammal that snuck into the picture.
butterflies but it isn’t going to happen tonight so this view of the clusters where they hang together will have to do for now though it is awfully hard to see that this is really a tree covered with butterflies and not a bunch of dead leaves.
Finally, we had lunch in downtown Pismo Beach and then strolled out on the Pier and around town looking at the shops and taking pictures of the signs. By this time I was almost too tired to enjoy it. The first picture here is an artistic look at the shadow of the pier against the patterns of the waves in the sand. The shorebird just ties it all together. Then we have a great painterly rendition of the Splash 
restaurant. Splash has been providing our catered meals throughout the week.
is is the sunset that was happening last night as I was finishing yesterday’s blog. This, by the way was shot from my hotel room balcony.
found 15. It was still pushing the envelope for the M3 and how I was wishing for my 150
ho actually showed up to try and steal the otters food.
it is located on an Army Base. Kudos to the Army for letting us get in. Unfortunately for me the mission is currently undergoing a massive rehab so the front gallery was all closed down. I did get a look in the chapel and around the gardens so all was not lost. The best part was meeting Rosario, the mission cat. He was very friendly and showed me around for awhile until I decided to go a different direction than he had in mind.
I understand that Native Americans were not treated well by the missionaries and I am not intending to glorify or romanticize them. I just think they are interesting. And isn’t most of history about some oppressor oppressing some innocent people? And how can we do better if we do not study the history that has gone before? And sorry, but I don’t think I should be held responsible for what my ancestors may or may not have done to your ancestors. OK?
OK soapbox moment over. The next mission on my route was San Miguel. Here I found
a classic gallery which seemed to cry out for black and white. And then I snuck around to the cemetery where I found this awesome gate.
I did eventually find lunch in a cute little seaside town called Shell Beach. The Shell Beach Brewery was in fact the name of the restaurant and they didn’t even mind that I ordered wine with my meal. Then I checked into my hotel for the next five nights. Check out the view from my room. If you like that wait till you see the sunset pictures I just shot!
But you want to see pictures. I finally had a chance for photo ops in San Juan Bautista, home of the first mission (of the same name) on my route. Unfortunately the place was overrun by school children. But I managed to sneak a few pictures around them. First this bench with turquoise doors and windows under the gallery porc
h. then of course the classic mission bells shot which I grunged up a bit using Topaz Texture Effects. The town itself was interesting and full of nineteenth century architecture. I may try to stop on my way back and see if things are a little quieter.
Next stop was Nuestra Senora de la Soledad where things were a little more in keeping with my idea of what a mission visit should look like. I especially liked the Gregorian chants playing in the background. This first image is of the chapel door. A complete restoration was required at this mission after having been abandoned for 100 years. The remains of the adobe walls of the original church have been given a roof structure to protect them from further decay.
the chapel. I tried a couple different treatments on this one. If you would like to see it in black and white go to