Well, can we handle one more day on environmental issues? It was interesting yesterday after chatting about shipping causing double the Co2 released in the atmosphere as the airlines, I read on the BBC’s website that the actual amount of Co2 in the atmosphere has risen 35% more than expected since 2000. 17% of that increase was additional human inefficiencies. The other 18% is just another “hole in the dam” as I mentioned yesterday. It was due to the fact that the natural places the earth soaks up Co2 are well, getting full. Under healthy circumstances our oceans can soak up a good amount of Co2. Plant life takes up the rest. However these natural carbon sinks can only hold so much. In addition, other environmental factors can limit their ability to absorb gases properly. Interestingly according to Dr Corinne Le Quere of the British Antarctic Survey, an increase in winds in the southern ocean has halved the oceans ability to absorb carbon properly. Of course there is no way to predict what way things will go in the future, but you can certainly make a good guess.

What I find interesting is that just a couple years ago no one was all that concerned about the oceans ability to absorb CO2. In fact the bigger worry was the threat to ocean life that the additional CO2 presented. Of course that worry is still there, but now it seems this is just another animal in the face of a raging fire. I wonder if we could get FEMA to deal with that?

Read article at the bbc
Read 2004 article at Planet Ark

photo credit: Dong Ng/EyeExpress

Yeah, I know exactly how she feels. You listen to the forecast and watch a big surf roll in. You just have to accept you’re not going to paddle this day. Freya Hoffmeister has pretty much recovered from her injury and is ready to paddle. The gods however, have other ideas. As she says, paddling teaches you patience. In expedition paddling you learn to take things day by day, calmly and with prudence. Often reaching your goal has very little to do with you as a paddler. Success is in the lap of the gods.

For my part I only touched my kayak yesterday long enough to get it down off the jeep. Instead I spent the day getting work done and then enjoying a few hours walk in the calico woods. Each day I know I must get outside just for the sake of sanity. Most days I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do, I let my mood, ambition and of course the weather gods make those decisions. I just set my goal to get out. Even when the weather cooperates, there are days when I just don’t feel much like doing anything. I’ve paddled every little puddle around here a million times, hiked every trail, roamed every street. I sometimes have to find something to engage my mind just to get up the ambition.

Usually my camera comes to the rescue. Yeah, even that gets boring sometimes. I think to myself, “How many pictures of a bloody leaf could I possibly take?”. With the advent of digital photography, there is a glut of good and not so good photography out there. In autumn, getting a fair photograph of course is like shooting fish in a barrel. So i try to create challenges for myself, even if I’m the only one who cares. On yesterdays hike I set my Cannon XTI up with a fixed 50mm lens. Meaning, I have no zoom capabilities. You just look through the lens and see what you’re going to get. So basically YOU are the zoom. (If you want to get close to the ground, you get on your knees.) A fixed lens won’t let you be physically lazy. Crawling on the ground, going off trail, pulling the brambles off my pants and standing on tip toes makes me feel like a kid again just out playing in the back yard. I’m an explorer seeing the world through a little digital window.

The end result of course was muddy clothes and a gigabite of photographs. Most mediocre, some ok and a couple good ones. Out of the 194 photographs I took yesterday, only 35 are even slightly worth sharing and even 2 of those are just self portraits. Just a reminder that a good photographer takes a hundred shots to get that one good one. Here are the results of just one day’s hike through the woods. Click Here.

Well here’s something you don’t see every day. This photo is at the take out on the river. With the current up you just have to take advantage. Yesterday was one of those cloudy, cool, windy fall days that plays havoc with your moods. Still though, being on the water is as good a cure as any.

A sea kayaker a thousand miles from the sea is very pleased when the hometown river is in flood! Since the water level was up quite a bit i took my Alaw Bach out. As you know the Alaw Bach is really just a stretch white water kayak anyway! I was able to find a few nice rides on tiny surf waves and get in the middle of a little wave train and feel pretty good just staying upright. As you can see, the waves are not all that big, but combined with the speed of the current it makes for a good time.

For years there has been the occasional battles around here to create a helmet law for motorcycles. To this point the opposition has always been strong enough to hold off the laws. In the mean time of course there are plenty of examples out there why people should wear helmets when on motor bikes. Same goes for bicycles of course. Again, there is evidence out there that helmets make a difference. Now I don’t normally wear a helmet on a bicycle unless I’m on mountain trails. Then of course, I’m always wearing one. I’m sure there are others out there who feel you are totally irresponsible to ever ride a bike without one.

In paddling of course we can have very similar debates. In white water, it’s not hard to see why you should wear a helmet. Fast water, big rocks. . . There of course is plenty anecdotal evidence that helmets save lives. But what about sea kayaking?

These days, the safety conscious wear helmets not only for surf launch and landings, but also in tide races, in classes and even sometimes near shore in general. And you can certainly imagine situations where a helmet could save your life. Especially in classes where you have 17 foot spears flying around you at high speeds. Even in rescue classes where you are falling in, lifting and dropping boats, towing etc., Of course on the other hand most people do not wear helmets. Not yet. Anecdotally, I’d be more concerned with rib protection for surfs myself. Usually that’s right were that wayward bow goes.

The world of course is full of danger. Some of it can be mitigated. If there is evidence that people are actually being hurt or killed for lack of safety equipment, then by all means make a law. But you do have to be careful with how far you go. The only way we can find the line really, is by looking at the evidence. “Inherent danger” is a way too open ended reason to impose things on others. Look at it like this; On a calm sunny day a paddler is always at risk of being hit by a boat or jet ski. I think it would be fairly easy to find evidence that in many cases a helmet would have reduced the injuries in these collisions. If you accept that, then just the inherent risk says kayakers should always wear helmets. I mean, you just never know. Most would say of course that the probability of you being hit by a jet ski is pretty low. However it could be argued that it’s not such a low risk as to not wear a helmet anytime you enter the water. I’m not sure I accept that but. . .

There are times when sea kayaking that wearing a helmet seems reasonable. Surf is a great example. However, I wonder how many head injuries have actually been the result of surfing? Still, the risk is palatable. Wearing a helmet in surf is a prudent choice. When I batted the bow of a kayak away from my ear in Wales, a helmet seemed reasonable, though to be honest i never did put one on. In rescue classes, in calm conditions wearing a helmet never crosses my mind. Of course there is risk there as well. Are there any numbers? I’m willing to guess the actual number of head injuries in sea kayaking is quite small.

Personally I don’t come down on either side of the issue. I’ll wear a helmet when I see a higher level of risk, but I don’t wear a helmet every time I leave a beach either. For myself it’s an issue of personal judgment in each situation. Yet, I know too that there are plenty of people who would not agree with my assessment in each situation, and there are plenty of people who lack good judgment. Maybe the safest answer is to always where a helmet when kayaking. . .

What do you think?