I was a product of the 80s, which means I was a child in the
70s. The shark soundtrack of “
Jaws” still brings me back to that 1975 movie,
raising the hairs on my skin to prickle level. It made for 7 years of adult living
in Tampa and Clearwater (or trips to Ocean City, Maryland or any Caribbean
vacation) ones where I was scanning the shoreline on beach days, looking for
dorsal fins, and hearing that “Jaws” music in my mind.
I’ve never seen one.
But the music continues in my mind in certain circumstances.
During his humor-filled evening of frank conversation on
cartooning and caring for our planet, he shared with us some of the regulars that
are a part of “Sherman’s Lagoon,” the cartoon strip he’s been writing since
1997:
- Sherman, of course. A shark who is “not quite well-adapted to the real world…. The Lucy of “The Lucile Ball Show” or “Homer Simpson with fins.”)
- Sherman’s wife Megan. Again, a shark who is “very no-nonsense… the Desi of Desi and Lucy. The one who brings everyone back down to earth.”
- Hawthorne, the crab. “Always cranky and complaining… I think a lot of people can relate to someone like that.”
- Filmore, the sea turtle. “He’s the philosopher” and part of the comedic pairing as “the straight guy” to Sherman’s more dramatic side.
While “Sherman’s Lagoon” takes place in the ocean, Sherman
does travel to other habits, and has been to the Chesapeake bay a few times. Here
in the Chesapeake Bay area, the big issues tend to be “agricultural runoff,
loss of coastal habitat, and invasive species.”
Some of the more global marine issues he mentioned he’s
tackled in his 20-year stint of comic strip writing with a message include:
--More mindful choices when it comes
to menu items (addressing demand and the ultimate oceanic cost);
--Shark-finning (one of his more heavy
and difficult topics to cover);
--Ocean acidification of coral;
--Animal tagging;
--Climate change;
--Tracking a plastic bottle to the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Toomey mentioned he felt we were in a “sweet spot in time.”
With that comes optimism. He feels that there is a meeting of the technology,
the data and the ability to go forward to teach and take action. Additionally,
scientific facts stay measurable and hard to argue against. He sees us now as
the first generation (especially with rate of technological change) who will be
able to go forward now and into the next decade from now to be able to gather
and make sense of all sorts of scientific data. With the media as it is—meaning
we ARE the media during these social media days--we all are more able to talk
to the power than in the past. That means we can share the message, and do
something about it. This role of citizen scientists (and activists) aligns
itself very closely to SERC’s main mission.
He quoted Dana Meadows:
“We have
exactly enough time starting now.”
While he purposely mentioned he was not going to get
political (because all roads these days do seem to end up there), he feels that
we need to help people see that the vision of environmentalism is not just “old
hippies.” We need to take note of our former environmental (and Republican)
president Teddy Roosevelt is the one who began our National Park Service. It’s
the poets and the painters out there who have always held an appreciation of
nature. To really have your #eco message heard in this noisy world these days, you
need to make it so that everyone has a stake. It shouldn’t be a “Left thing” or
a “Right thing,” but something we all bring to the center, highlighting the
importance to ourselves, our children, and our future. “Environentalism is
really all about preserving things for future generations. It’s about sustainability,
it’s about the precautionary principle, sustainable business—these are values I
think both the left and the right can embrace.”
Getting everyone to the center
can be a tricky thing to do, but that’s where Toomey is in the “sweet spot…” as
humor has an amazing way of doing just that!
To see Jim Toomey in action…
Find his comics in
books & newspapers