The Carpenteria Seal Rookery

As I walked, I could hear the soothing sounds of the ocean, and smell the calming scent of eucalyptus. The breeze danced through the grove of trees that surrounded the sandy path. Emerging from the stand of trees, I crossed the railroad tracks, and found myself at the edge of a cliff from which I could observe an entire colony of harbor seals.

The Carpenteria Seal Rookery is one of four remaining rookeries on the southern California coast according to www.sealwatchcarpenteria.com. It was enchanting to watch as the cows and their newborn pups played in the sand and surf as the pelicans looked on from nearby rocks.

Conservenature.org reports that "the number of Harbor Seals that inhabit the Pacific coast has greatly declined in recent decades". Some of the biggest threats to these magnificent mammals are water pollution and people, and the seals at Carpenteria seem ironically juxtaposed with the many oil rigs off in the distance, and the activity at the pier nearby.



To learn more about what you can do to get involved in conservation efforts or to adopt-a-seal, check out the Marine Mammal Center. Additionally, if you are seeking to recreate the calming scent of a grove of eucalyptus trees, consider trying our Yuza Mint Energizing Body Butter!

Are there other animal conservation efforts that are near and dear to your heart? If so, please share them with us by adding them as comments to this blog.

Trash Talk

I was returning from taking my daughter to school last week when I heard the trash trucks rumbling down the alleyway from a distance. Judging from the sound, I had just enough time to get into the house, gather up the glass, metal, plastic, and paper I’d been saving all week, and bring it out to the container supplied by my municipality for recycling.

With all the items I’d gathered from the back porch in one hand, and a paper bag full of cardboard and recyclable paper in the other, I made it to the alley in the nick of time.

I’d just set down the bin of recycling next to the recycling can from the township and lifted the lid, when I realized all at once that the truck was for trash only and not recycling. Sigh of relief. I no longer had to hurry. At that same instance, the gentleman picking up trash picked up the recycling bin I’d just carried from the porch and dumped it into the trash truck. As he was lifting it, I managed a desperate “Wait, that’s recycling, not trash.”
He dumped it anyway, and a quick strong wind blew several papers out of the bag with paper recycling and scattered them on the ground between us.

“It don’t matter,” he said.

“It really does though,” I replied. “It does to me.”

As I bent down to pick up those few scraps, he knelt to help me, and I realized that I was crying. I didn’t look up as I thanked him, and he moved away as the truck proceeded to the next house, so I hope he didn’t notice.
In that one, less than 60 second exchange, I was shaken to my core and wondering if he was right. Do the efforts of one person, one family, one town, really matter?

I believe it matters. What do you think?

Amy Reinert 1975-2012

I lost my best friend last week to an aggressive cancer. She was 36. Amy was my inspiration from our duets in the elementary school choir, into high school biology and chemistry, through college majors in environmental studies, and in educating others to conserve the world for future generations.

She inspired me most by living what she taught, and through her desire to always keep learning. She volunteered in the Peace Corps, worked tirelessly as a high school teacher, camped often, sang loudly, played hard, loved deeply, and had such a hearty overwhelming laugh that it sometimes took over her entire being, forcing her to sit down wherever she was to recover.

Doing right for people and planet was second nature to Amy, and her passing has again inspired me to do more with the short time we have, to be a better steward of the earth. And so dear friends, I’m starting to again blog for betterworldbuys.com as one step in my efforts to make the most of each moment.

If you were fortunate enough to have known or encountered the lovely Ms. Reinert, I invite you to respond to this blog with some examples of how she has inspired you!

I’ll sign off for now with the quote Amy used to wrap up all of her e-mails…

“Now I see the secret to making a good person:
It is to grow in the open air and eat and sleep with earth”
-Walt Whitman

For all you have inspired me to be and do Amy, I thank you.