Earth Blog: Ecocriticism and the Chesapeake Bay's Receding Shorelines

'Snake Lake' off the Chesapeake Bay, Fairhaven MD

When I was a child growing up on the Chesapeake Bay, I spent much time on the beaches and roaming the areas around it—forests, streams and rivers, clay cliffs or tall grass fields. “It is our nation’s largest estuary and is home to over 3600 types of species of plants, fish and animals”.  On any given day I could find sharks teeth, horse shoes, crab, jellyfish or see stingray in the water. Also seen daily were the large amounts of birds that resided near there; my favorite being the Blue Heron and Swan. We spent time crabbing and swimming in those waters and when mud tides came we would walk a mile out in the mud with it squishing between our toes, fascinated by that underwater world. 

Satellite view of Fairhaven, Maryland

When I went back there as an adult one of the most alarming things I noticed was the disappearing beaches. John boats and sail boats used to lay in the sand but they now laid pulled up into the grass because the beach was so small. This was a stark contrast to years before. There was a photo Grandpa Becke had up in his kitchen of a wide, long beach from many, many years ago. I remember thinking, what happens when there are no more beaches?  Then I heard that real-estate companies were trying to buy up the surrounding forests around Fairhaven (our tiny bay-side town). It infuriated me. Of course, my reasons then were because of my attachment to the quaint, intimate-ness and beauty of its small neighborhood environment. I thought to myself, what would happen to all the animals that live back there? And all the birds that nest near the river’s edge in the woods? I didn’t know too much about Ecocriticism at that point, but even without formally knowing what it was, I knew somehow that something wrong was happening. 

In the Green Team by James Hopkins reflects on the Jonathan Bate, writer of Romantic Ecology. He says, “Wordsworth did not view nature in Enlightenment terms - as that which must be tamed, order, and utilized- but as an area to be inhabited and reflected upon.” Further saying how “he hoped human beings might see into the life of things, and reveal their place in a system of delicate relations between the human and the non-human worlds.” 

While reading those words I think about the Bay’s disappearing shoreline and land being devastated for residency—how that balance isn’t really being kept. Humans are building closer and closer to the edge of the bay and doing more and more damage to its “buffer areas”.  As scientists and activists in a documentary called “Weary Shoreline” (posted below) point out, “preserving forest cover and preventing construction on soils near the shoreline helps stop sediments, oil, and other harmful pollutants from draining into rivers and tributaries that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.”

Calvert Cliff Lighthouse Chesapeake Bay, Maryland

Not only will it be hard for those residents in the future when the shores continue to move with changing climates by this disappearing shoreline closing in on properties, but serious damage is being done to the waters of the bay. Somehow reflection on this delicate relation between the two worlds really isn't being treated delicately enough. 

Innovative Water and Wastewater Solutions

Ecocritcism literature may help to spread knowledge to people about the importance of paying attention the ecology of places such as this—a place that people and animals are continually drawn to for its lush, thriving and beautiful environment. Likewise, both will be negatively affected if we don’t start paying more attention to the needs of the Chesapeake Bay and its inhabitants, beyond human consequence alone. 

 

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Natural Wildlife Federation 2011. Global Warming, Effects on Wildlife and Habitat. Chesapeake Bay and Global Warming. NWF Web Page

Hopkins, James. In the Green Team. ASLE Ecocritical Library

Wickham, John. "Death by a Thousand Cuts": Chesapeake Bay's Disappearing Shoreline. Chesapeake Bay Action Plan

***There are a lot people who live near and feel passionately about the Bay and work to make sure it's treated correctly. A good place to go see these works or get involved is at Chesapeake Bay Program.

A Narrative: Childlike Wonder on Fire and Flame

There was a period in my youth when I was obsessed with fire. It wasn't a long period. It was that moment between childhood and pre-pubescence. There, stuck in the middle with a highly curious mind. I found a stash of match books. I would sit, lighting one after another on a speed bump in the road. I loved the chalky sound of a match swiping against the hard pavement, and how just before it would ignite, it would crackle and sigh simultaneously.  I’d watch the tiny white spark abrupt into flame. It started so quick, and ended too quick. Every time. I could never seem get a good enough view in time. I'd cock my neck to the side and hold the match upward, then down and watch the flame fight against gravity.  It never lasted long enough to satisfy my senses.

I’d watch the speck of white turn to auburn-like colors and mixes of oranges and yellows meshing together. The flame would seem to grow and melt down the wooden stick like lava made of cloud. I’d watch the tan wood blacken bit by bit. It was like the flame was some dark, hungry entity devouring a clean soul. It was amazing how even though it eagerly feed its raw appetite, it seemed to dance gracefully, softly while doing it.

Somehow right towards the end, as it trekked towards my finger tips, I could see it calming and speeding up at the same time. I wouldn't want to put it out but would feel this excitement, an urgency. And just as much as I loved how this somehow beautiful, powerful thing crackled into thin air, I also loved how the sound of air magically swallowed it in the end with a soft gush (to save my precious fingers of course). Just as thrilling was dipping the flame into a puddle and instantly hearing it's deflating, dissipating like a snakes slick hiss warning of tssss. 
I can’t tell you exactly why it was so mesmerizing to me. I didn't necessarily wonder about the science of fire or the reasons why it behaved the way it did. I was fully aware of the dangers and never wanted the flame to grow bigger. I simply loved the sensation of watching this fleeting thing coming into existence and just as quickly, evaporating into nothingness. It’s there, and then it’s gone. I simply loved the quick sounds that I had to strain to really store into memory because they were over as soon as they began.

Eventually though the stash of matches burnt out and I moved on from pyro days to other fascinating and curious things. To this day though, I still love lighting candles each night. Love the ambiance of a warm glow and the calm it exudes. My daughter asked why I had so many candles in the house, why I lit them every night and as I went around striking the match box and lighting each, one by one. I told her as I held it burning down the stick, "I just like them" and blew out the flame.