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A Quick Trip to Mississippi
For some reason, my wife’s triathlon got cancelled over the weekend. Since we both had taken the week off, we decided to do a road trip instead. She wanted to go to the beach and found an inexpensive Airbnb™ in Gulfport, Mississippi.
We had not visited Mississippi before, so this was an adventure. Unlike a certain other state, there were not signs at the border glaring out unenforceable diktats written by semi-literate government employees. Still, there are strict rules at the beach:
As you can see, the citizens of Harrison County were carefully avoiding groups of TEN(10) TWENTY(20); there were probably not twenty people within a mile of us on a perfect autumn day with temperatures in the mid-70’s:
The debris you see on the beach is mostly wood fragments mixed with shells and feathers:
There are also a lot of grey pebbles:
These have the consistency of Silly Putty™ but crumble into sticky goo when squeezed. This is oil, the remains of the Deepwater Horizon spill from 2010.
What is missing from this little beach survey? Can anyone guess?
Plastic.
The oceans are supposedly in the midst of a plastic apocalypse, with beaches being buried in waste and huge numbers of birds, turtles, and other sea creatures dying. Yet there is almost no plastic waste washed up on the beach here. Gulfport is only about fifty miles from the mouth of the largest river in North America. None of the five US states on the Gulf of Mexico have banned plastic straws; I don’t think Mexico, Cuba or Jamaica have, either. Oil obviously stays around for a long time. Where is all the plastic?
There is litter, of course; you can see a piece of it under the warning sign. A lot of it is plastic. But none of that comes from the sea.
Speaking of straws, during a quick survey of the beach I saw two. In the same area, I found eight discarded face masks and two disposable gloves.
On Thursday night, we visited a brewpub that had a full bar. There was a sign at the door warning everyone to wear masks, and the staff were all masked. But when the live music started, I looked around and all the masks were off. I guess the Mask Stasi get off at 7:00 PM. I also noticed that the place was packed; all of the folks, Black and White, young and old, gay and straight, were laughing, talking, playing games, dancing, and listening to the music.
It was like 2020 hadn’t happened.
Published in Environment
Jose, I wonder where those wood fragments come from. I’ve never seen that particular kind of beach debris before.
Nice looking white sandy beach.
I enjoyed your upbeat look at the bar scene.
Didn’t a hurricane come right close to there in the last week?
We were there right between two of them.
I really don’t know, though I see the same thing on Texas beaches. Maybe from the jungles of the Yucatán?
We love Gulfport. It doesn’t have the surf that we love on the New England Atlantic side but what a nice easy going place. Fall beach is great. Lucky you. But too bad about training and then no race…… I think the plastic is lurking closer its primary source: in the Pacific near (very quietly) China.
I concur about the plastic. This is Sandy Hook, NJ. Just south of Manhattan and the entrance to NYC Harbor.
Glad you had a nice trip. Unfortunately, I only like masks if worn in a hospital type setting. I have not and will not go to an establishment that makes its staff wear masks because the food is not good or the state says so. If it means never going out to dinner for the rest of my life (I’m 64), then so be it.
South Dakota was pretty laid back too. Although nearly every business had a “Masks required” sign, there was no strict enforcement.
Anecdote: My wife went to one local store, and they actually had a guard there to strictly enforce masks and distancing (“Stand behind the line. Behind the line!). My wife was warned, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying due to the mask. No, it’s time to drop all government-mandated rules and let individuals and businesses decide if they want to continue this illusion of safety . . ..