The thermometer registered 39 degrees when we (the Coastal crew) rode to Wilmington’s Banning High School at 6:30 AM this morning. However, the warm welcome of thirty smiling familiar faces quickly restored feeling to our fingers and toes.
The visit to Banning High School is my favorite part of the bike trip. The students there are sensitive, resilient, knowledgeable, and motivated to take advantage of all positive opportunities. They know all about environmental issues and pollution, but less from books, media, or hype. They know it from the diesel fumes in the air they breathe, and the oil sheen on their coast.
“Wilmington has the 3rd dirtiest air in the nation,” said one tenth grader, as he looked at the slides in our presentation. That statistic didn’t come as a surprise. Right next to Wilmington, the San Pedro Bay Ports are the two busiest container seaports in the United States and the fifth busiest in the world. The ships, trucks, trains, motorized equipment emit nitrogen oxide and particulate matter in a region that already has some of the worst air quality in the nation (Port of Long Beach, 2009). It is also where all CELP staff and students depart for their journey to Catalina Island.
But the students at Banning weren’t there to talk. They were excited to get out of the classroom and build a garden from scratch. With faculty members, Merina and Nicole Grant and the council of the high school’s Global Environmental Science Academy (GESA), we filled ten naked planters with broccoli, peas, strawberries, and herbs. For many of these young adults, this was their first gardening experience and they were excited to make it part of their legacy at the school. To them, these new plants represent a very small solution to the problems of our nation’s fossil fuel-based economy, located next door.
The other crew worked toward a better world inland at Crestview Preparatory School and Flint Ridge Sacred Heart Academy, where they gave slide shows, planted with students in school gardens, and presented a workshop on water quality.
We would like to recognize Gaye and Keith Simmons in Manhattan Beach for welcoming six very soggy cyclists, treating us like family, and feeding us the most delicious meal to be served yet on the bike trip. Thanks also to Owen Farcy in Newport Beach for making us truly feel like his home was ours.
Miles traveled today: 45
Flat tires: 2- Travis and Danny
Written by 2nd time bike- tripper: Lissa Eidelman
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