Flotsam

According to an article in the Seattle Times,

“Millions of tons of debris that washed into the ocean during Japan's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in March — everything from furniture to roofs to pieces of cars — are moving steadily toward the West Coast and raising concerns about a potential environmental headache.”

That sentence brings to my mind the memory of an incredible sight I once saw many years ago. I was driving south on I-5 through Oregon, and at Grants Pass I exited I-5 and took US-199, the Redwood Highway, west toward the coast. Highway 199 crosses part of southwestern Oregon, enters California (and Klamath National Forest) and ends at the West Coast community of Crescent City, California. Once there I got on highway 101, the Pacific Coast Highway, to continue my journey south.

The Pacific Ocean and northern California beaches were to my right. It was night but a full moon made the beaches easy to see. I drove past mile after mile of beaches that were covered with all sorts of wood debris: lumber, pilings, portions of piers, etc. The beaches were piled high and it just went on and on like that, mile after mile, for well over a hundred miles. The sheer volume of debris was very impressive.

At one point I pulled my van off the road and went down to examine some of it. The debris had been in the water for a long time. It was very light; boards felt as light as if they were made of paper, rather than the other way around. There was no substance to the wood; you could ignite it with a match. I had several hitchhikers with me that I had picked up in Oregon, and we all marveled at it. I asked a local person I encountered on the beach about it, and he said it came from Russia. He said when they have exceptionally strong storms on the east coast of Russia, debris goes into the water there and currents bring it to the west coast of the US. I don’t think it happens very often. It might even be one of those so-called hundred-year events.

And now it looks like America’s west coast is about to get another pasting of flotsam, but this time it will be Japanese flotsam – who’s to say, perhaps even some parts of a Fukushima nuclear plant. So West Coasters, if you’re out walking on the beach and you come upon a huge pile of debris, and if you see this symbol on some of it …

Then don’t dawdle. Run away.