We recently visited the issue of dirty air, and how we might go about protecting what we need to stay alive.
We’d have to say that when it comes to which is more essential to life on this planet, air is the hands-down winner.
Humans need to breathe to stay alive, an immutable law of human physiology.
The waters at Goleta Beach have been off-limits for nearly the first half of 2018 due to heightened levels of various levels of bacteria including fecal coliform.
The potentially dangerous levels of bacterial contamination are vexing local government officials, who last week began demanding answers to why the water at Goleta Beach remains fouled, while similar beaches down the coast that were contaminated in the January rains have since cleared up.
The obvious reason for the lengthy beach closure is that much of the debris carried from the foothills to the Pacific Ocean was brought to Goleta Beach — including some of the mud that scoured Montecito and was trucked to Goleta Beach.
The mud trucked in tested positive for low levels of human fecal bacteria, and the enterococcus bacteria commonly deposited by seabirds.
Even the animal fecal matter that fouls the water is partially our responsibility, because of pet owners who allow their animals to relieve themselves outdoors, often in watershed areas, then don’t clean up the mess and dispose of it properly.
However, the test for all coliforms for Goleta Beach was lower than the state allows, by about half.
Mankind has many problems, but none that require action and solutions more than having clean air and clean water.