I am not an environmentalist. I am not a “touchy-feely, save the minnow” type of guy. I am just an ordinary citizen who loves animals, and is awe stricken by the beauty and power of the planet. I have been watching this digging up the Malibu Lagoon nonsense, and trying to figure out the point of the whole exercise. What makes this fiasco so fascinating is that there are no obvious bad guys. Everyone seems to want the best for the lagoon. The problem is that the animals seem to be happy! The ecosystem seems to be balanced, or at least that is what a number of experts have reported. The question, therefore, is why disturb the eco balance for a few years, spend $10 million, and hope that what comes out the back end is better than leaving it alone.
My usual rule of thumb is when the outcome of the argument is so inconclusive, or appears to have no reasonable merit, I just follow the money. Rhetorically, I ask who benefits from digging up the lagoon, versus who benefits from leaving the lagoon to Mother Nature? Not so rhetorically, Mother Nature has a history of doing a better job at saving the world than any “Save the Whatever” has had in saving anything. And not to be snarky, but this circus did start with Heal the Bay getting $750k. The problem with paying an entity to evaluate anything is that it tends to believe that if it doesn’t recommend change, whether it is warranted or not, it has not justified its compensation.
More significantly, in this very real and certainly scary economic crisis which has seen cuts in school budgets, cuts in police and firemen and threats of a tax increase, I wonder what planet the folks and legislators are living on who would protect such a budgetary line item while this enormous budgetary crisis is threatening to drown the state.
I can actually hear Nero playing his violin!
Why then, when the benefits of spending 10 million questionable dollars for this project, are these socially conscious, save the planet, sensitive boys and girls not worried that this is money being taken from basic needs of the people? As the old cliche goes, “When you’re up to your fanny in alligators, worrying about the quality of the water is not a good idea.” As you have guessed by now, I think digging the lagoon and disturbing the eco balance for some academic outcome borders on stupidity. Hire 40 more teachers and save our future, and leave the lagoon to that Big Mother in the sky.
Carl Cusato