Zen & The Environment
part II

There is nothing better than moderation for teaching people or serving Heaven. Those who use moderation are already on the path to the Tao. ...Lao Tzu







Now there are many parts to environmental awarness. There is the cleaning of your porta-potti on the dock, there is the leaking oil from your motor, there is throwing stuff overboard.
I have been shocked to hear sailors doing all of the above. I have been known also to throw small food bits overboard. My feelings are the fish, ducks, something will eat it. If not, it will return to the nature. However plastic bottles, foam cups and such WILL NOT. Beer cans floating in the marshes are also not a good thing. Do not get me started on the plastic beer can/soda can wraps, that stay around forever and get fish and birds caught in them. These are things we ALL should be aware of, we who call ourselves sailors, who use the wind and talk about powerboaters, need to be more aware, do our part and set examples. The sea, the water ways are our home, they are us in the liquid state. To disrespect, it is to disrespect ourselves , our home.
However this is about waste, not the dumped kind, but the limited resource kind.


So as I was saying. I was at the marina on Sunday. Doing some work on S/V Zen. I was finishing some sanding work on the bow. It took me about 4 hours to finish up. It was a fairly pleasant day, other folks were out doing their boat stuff as well, including a guy a few slips down from me washing his boat.

It is my habit and training to be aware of what is going on around me and make some type of mental note. So I get on to the task at hand, sanding. I practice doing the Zen thing making big thing small and using mindfulness on the task at hand, not thinking about getting it over, but getting each small section done correctly. Time moves on. I take a break after about 1 hour. I notice the guy is still washing his boat...more like rinsing

I go back to work, small sections...I am about half way done, it is a good 1.5 - 2 hrs later
Guy is still washing...hmmm ok, he is also practicing mindfullness I tell myself and he also is focusing on the small things not the big job. I go back to work, another 1/2 passes, I still see him rinsing, my focus is slipping now. I notice he is rinsing the same spots again and again. To be clear he is not washing he is rinsing, there is no soap or scrubbing involved there is just water being sprayed. So now I am watching more... as gallons of fresh water are being sprayed on the same areas for another 1/2 hour. Now perhaps I'm overly sensitive having gone through a drought here in CA and also thinking about water that is needed on a long ocean passage is LIFE. However this seems WASTEFUL. Three hours of running water just to rinse down a boat. I notice he is looking at little spots and not taking a brush to clean them just turning the hose on them and standing there. Hmmm should I go say something, something smart and make an enemy, or let heaven issue it's own balance. I notice others go by he speaks to no one... not a friendly type , I note.
I figure time to take a break stretch my legs, etc. I have now finished sanding and applying the TeaQua and need to let it dry before putting on the second coat. So I head down his way to see how dirty this boat is that needs 4 hours of water to clean it. Nothing special, no caked on mud, no oil spots with stuck on seal poop, no globs of sea weeds growing out of the hull, at least on top, no garden flower boxes that needed to be watered, just your basic boat hull, it was your basic post dirty ( I looked at it last week on my walk ), that should have been cleaned and done in 1- 1.5 hour tops. This guy was just your basic water waster, those who use the water hose for every part of cleaning ( like using the water hose to sweep the driveway not a push broom). He did have a brush & bucket through I do have to say, it was tucked neatly out of the way, not to interfer with the water pressure doing it's job. Todays washing lesson from a big boat sailor, after your basic soap down, one needs to spend the next 3 hours getting every drop of that nasty soapy stuff off your hull.

Doh, silly me, it is the 4th of July on Tuesday, he like so many others who do not move or visit their boat for months at a time will most likely be down on the 4th for the show. Him and his hunting buddies from the gun club, ( I saw the shirt) One can not have it look like it has not been moved in 6 months ( which it has not been) , what was I thinking. ok my bad.