Maggie has a clear recollection of her days as a young girl spending summers in Rehoboth Beach, DE. The ocean, the boardwalk, the rides, crabbing, and shucking lima beams. Great early memories!
She remembers the houses her family stayed in. Ocean block, front screened porches, no AC, only the breeze coming right off the Atlantic. It was heavenly. She can also remember those early mornings at dawn when barely awake, windows open, she could hear a faint sound in the distance approaching. The sound would quickly grow louder and louder as if it were going to come right through the windows and into the house. She would jump out of bed just in time to see a plane fly barely over the tops the adjacent pine trees. She can still remember the smell of the mist coming from the plane as it enveloped Rehoboth. The smell was not unpleasant and the sight of those planes skimming the treetops was amazing. She knew little about DDT at that time of her life.
Many might remember a slightly different version or recollection. You might have memories of a truck rolling down your neighborhood street spraying DDT and creating a cloud of unknown ingredients tagged the ”miracle cure.” Children jumped and played behind these trucks as they fogged the area, unaware of what was in the air.
Children were also gassed at local swimming pools, unaware that they were being sprayed with a dangerous pesticide. A number of neighborhoods named the misting truck “Smokey Joe” and when they heard the truck coming the kids would run towards its spray.
“Smokey Joe”
DDT in the 1940’s, ‘50’s, and early ‘60’s was used for mosquito control and researchers even thought it would combat the spread of polio. The claim that it cured polio was later found to be false once the polio vaccine was discovered.
DDT was banned in 1972 but other chemicals have taken its place. So, recently when small planes began skimming over our home at dusk in Sarasota, we were surprised to see this type of activity once again. No longer using DDT but another more human friendly (so they say) chemical, Florida is on guard against mosquito activity. There are currently, at last report, six cases of malaria in Sarasota and this is of concern. So much that Sarasota and Manatee counties have launched spray missions using planes and helicopters because of worries that more malaria cases will emerge.
It is shocking to see history repeat itself but it seems to be doing so in greater occurrence these days. Some days, we think that we are back in the 1960’s, now maybe the ‘50’s. It is hard to tell. We ask, could we as a country have taken a giant U-turn at the intersection of Life and 2023 when no one was looking?
And, at the same time, novel things are happening as well like the earth’s shifting axis due to ground water extraction and the current Gulf waters warming to 96 degrees. Some are calling this “uncharted territory.” Obviously, we are witness to remarkable happenings these days and, because of social and news media, we can experience them moment to moment – if we choose to.
We suggest for today that amid these changes, find yourself a happy place. Invite those you love and trust into it. Savor it, for we are at quite an intersection in time.
Looks like a Sci-Fi Movie!
News for Today – Aspartame is Out and Sugar is back In
