Good news! Sea World reopens today from 10-7 with COVID protocols in place. No roller coasters, but that puts focus back on the fascinating aquarium sea and freshwater life. There is even a baby orca, as I see in the commercials. Regardless what you think about keeping animals in captivity, the ability to see them up close helps us bond deeper with and care about them in a way that is different from seeing them in the media. For some of these getting that added support from us may keep them from going extinct.
The Birch Aquarium is closed for now, according to their website. It is hard to keep up with these openings and closings, for sure! When it does reopen, please go, if for nothing more than to be awed and blown away by the newest Seadragon exhibit. The Seadragons are weirdly beautiful, nature's adaptations at it's best. My other favorites are the cute seahorses, the Giant Red Pacific Octopus, and the quite realistic Kelp Forest tank, complete with wave action. Also, make sure you see the Flamboyant Cuttlefish. It is a tiny beautifully colored bundle of a creature that when it looks at you it REALLY sees you, in a curious manner.
Look here for a video of 1 year old weedy seadragons:
And, if you go to the Birch Aquarium web you can watch both the cams of the Kelp tank and the weedy seadragons, live!
Also, regardless of what you think about Trump, the results of the election was a huge win for the environment. From The Huffpost last year: The Trump administration on Thursday finalized a rule that removes federal protections from millions of acres of wetlands and hundreds of thousands of the nation’s streams.
The new rule, put together by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers, will serve as a replacement to President Barack Obama’s 2015 Waters of the United States regulation, better known as WOTUS or the Clean Water Rule. President Donald Trump made it his mission early in his presidency to dismantle the Obama-era measure, which had sought to clarify which streams and wetlands should be protected under the 1972 federal Clean Water Act.
While it COULD be a good idea to help the economy by rolling back expensive regulations, It is a really bad idea to sacrifice our clean water sources and, of course, the ultimate dump for all that questionable water, the Ocean. Nuff said.
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