“HAZMAT Surfing” Photos Predict a Poisonous, Dark Future for Our Oceans

When Washington-based photographer Michael Dyrland visited Los Angeles for a shoot, he anticipated surfing the open sea and riding the waves beneath the sunny sky. What he found, he admits, was not what he had hoped; after an evening of heavy rains, he was confined to the shore for days, the ocean contaminated with ten billion gallons of runoff composed of— as the photographer puts it— “sewage, garbage, oil, and shit (literally, human fecal matter).” Had he paddled into the water, Dyrland would have been vulnerable to staph infections, respiratory illness, MRSA, and Hepatitis C. Continue reading »