I remember the eruption, too, though i was far, far away. I’ve experienced firsthand hurricanes, sink holes, earthquakes, tornadoes, sand storms… I have the greatest respect for Mother Nature’s power.
Until your post, I hadn't thought of the Mt Saint Helens eruption in a long time. And it was such a huge event, too. Sometimes I think we have selective memory, and we forget the very things that we'd be wise to remember. Nature, no matter how smart we think we are, has her own rhythm and cycles. The survival of the human race depends upon how we live in harmony with her. The dominance/dominion thing over nature really doesn't, and won't, work. Nature is fine, but we have a lot of work to do on ourselves, how we treat each other and how we treat our home. Great piece, Kert. Thank you.
I love this reflection, Stephanie, thank you. The geology of the planet, when it “awakens,” reminds us that Mother Nature is more than just the biology that lives on top of the earth’s crust. Most of the human impact is on that biology, especially of the self-inflicted kind that we too often want to ignore or use as political gamesmanship. I don’t know that we know for certain the human impact on the planet, aside from the biological impact, of things like fracking, extracting coal and crude, mining, excavation, and mountaintop mining. I view it as the intentional scaring of Mother Earth. We can’t seem to stop ourselves from erasing the beauty that is the pristine earth. Humans are the only species that willfully despoils our home. Life, though, will go on without us at some point. And balance will be restored.
I was down in San Diego, I remember it well. And I still do think of it from time to time. I don’t remember any ash making it as far as us. But I do remember hearing reports of it going pretty far, I guess we were the wrong direction.
I was really hoping you’d mention how it affected the soil and crop yield. Because I know of people adding ash or charr to soil, so glad to hear that was a positive, like a giant free fertilizer delivery for everyone, that also happened to be quite messy to the non field areas.
What was it like walking home from church? Or driving…and being outside? How difficult was the cleanup?
I lived for seven years on the Big Island of Hawaii, so I definitely share that sense of being in the shadow of the boiling mountain. We had eruptions when I was there with whole house neighborhoods being slowly run over by the lava, the lava would be on the ground not over the house but the heat of it would just ignite the house and it would burn down as the lava kept moving slowly…so people had plenty of advanced warning to evacuate. Roads and beaches disappeared. A really favorite family beach for locals for generations just went away now covered by lava rock. I’ve seen the lava glowing at night coming down the hills. And all year long with ebbs and flows there can be stuff in the air called vog instead of smog, the v for volcano. There’s a daily vog report to let you know how the air will be. I kind of miss being near the volcano, but not so much the vog. I’ve also lived in cities with bad smog and definitely don’t like both, but the vog seems the more natural of the two and it comes with beautiful Hawaiian island life.
This comment, Jeffrey, delights me to no end!!! Thank you for adding additional depth and experience to my humble post. I think more people should study geology—it’s so fascinating to learn how the earth’s internal physical structures work and move. One of my geology professors, on a tour of our state to look at geological features, said if he had his druthers, he’d “remove all this biology so I could see the beautiful geology.”
Once the worried farmers understood from the scientists how the ash would eventually benefit the soil and crops, they simply went on with their normal farming. Now, we didn’t get so buried that our crops were suffocated—that year, we were glad for the rains that did come to wash clean the leaves. Other than that, I know we didn’t experience any decrease in actual yield that year. And because interest was high for the next few years, we did track yields that did indeed increase.
After church that morning, that was the first time we began to notice we were really going to get a thick coating of ash. At first, no one knew what to expect. I remember walking out to the car, as the sky was still getting darker, and the adults began to realize they shouldn’t use the wipers or wipe the ash off of the cars because of the potential abrasion. And then the realization of ash in carburetors and radiators. My dad drove home carefully (we lived only two miles from church). I remember as well the eerie silence.
You enriched my day today with your own reflections. Thank you. Seeing the lava eruptions on Hawaii would be awe-inducing—especially at night and near the ocean. Mother Earth in all her awesome magnificence.
My dad was from Seattle along with other family. I still have his large photographs of Mt. Tahoma (Rainer). He hiked up to get the same shot over 3 seasons.
Somewhere we have a Mt. Saint Helen’s sample sent by my aunt.
This is fascinating, Kert. And also thought-provoking.
My husband grew up in Portland and was visiting his family the week before the eruption. His parents' neighborhood was covered in ash. What an experience to live through.
I remember the eruption, too, though i was far, far away. I’ve experienced firsthand hurricanes, sink holes, earthquakes, tornadoes, sand storms… I have the greatest respect for Mother Nature’s power.
Until your post, I hadn't thought of the Mt Saint Helens eruption in a long time. And it was such a huge event, too. Sometimes I think we have selective memory, and we forget the very things that we'd be wise to remember. Nature, no matter how smart we think we are, has her own rhythm and cycles. The survival of the human race depends upon how we live in harmony with her. The dominance/dominion thing over nature really doesn't, and won't, work. Nature is fine, but we have a lot of work to do on ourselves, how we treat each other and how we treat our home. Great piece, Kert. Thank you.
I love this reflection, Stephanie, thank you. The geology of the planet, when it “awakens,” reminds us that Mother Nature is more than just the biology that lives on top of the earth’s crust. Most of the human impact is on that biology, especially of the self-inflicted kind that we too often want to ignore or use as political gamesmanship. I don’t know that we know for certain the human impact on the planet, aside from the biological impact, of things like fracking, extracting coal and crude, mining, excavation, and mountaintop mining. I view it as the intentional scaring of Mother Earth. We can’t seem to stop ourselves from erasing the beauty that is the pristine earth. Humans are the only species that willfully despoils our home. Life, though, will go on without us at some point. And balance will be restored.
I was down in San Diego, I remember it well. And I still do think of it from time to time. I don’t remember any ash making it as far as us. But I do remember hearing reports of it going pretty far, I guess we were the wrong direction.
I was really hoping you’d mention how it affected the soil and crop yield. Because I know of people adding ash or charr to soil, so glad to hear that was a positive, like a giant free fertilizer delivery for everyone, that also happened to be quite messy to the non field areas.
What was it like walking home from church? Or driving…and being outside? How difficult was the cleanup?
I lived for seven years on the Big Island of Hawaii, so I definitely share that sense of being in the shadow of the boiling mountain. We had eruptions when I was there with whole house neighborhoods being slowly run over by the lava, the lava would be on the ground not over the house but the heat of it would just ignite the house and it would burn down as the lava kept moving slowly…so people had plenty of advanced warning to evacuate. Roads and beaches disappeared. A really favorite family beach for locals for generations just went away now covered by lava rock. I’ve seen the lava glowing at night coming down the hills. And all year long with ebbs and flows there can be stuff in the air called vog instead of smog, the v for volcano. There’s a daily vog report to let you know how the air will be. I kind of miss being near the volcano, but not so much the vog. I’ve also lived in cities with bad smog and definitely don’t like both, but the vog seems the more natural of the two and it comes with beautiful Hawaiian island life.
This comment, Jeffrey, delights me to no end!!! Thank you for adding additional depth and experience to my humble post. I think more people should study geology—it’s so fascinating to learn how the earth’s internal physical structures work and move. One of my geology professors, on a tour of our state to look at geological features, said if he had his druthers, he’d “remove all this biology so I could see the beautiful geology.”
Once the worried farmers understood from the scientists how the ash would eventually benefit the soil and crops, they simply went on with their normal farming. Now, we didn’t get so buried that our crops were suffocated—that year, we were glad for the rains that did come to wash clean the leaves. Other than that, I know we didn’t experience any decrease in actual yield that year. And because interest was high for the next few years, we did track yields that did indeed increase.
After church that morning, that was the first time we began to notice we were really going to get a thick coating of ash. At first, no one knew what to expect. I remember walking out to the car, as the sky was still getting darker, and the adults began to realize they shouldn’t use the wipers or wipe the ash off of the cars because of the potential abrasion. And then the realization of ash in carburetors and radiators. My dad drove home carefully (we lived only two miles from church). I remember as well the eerie silence.
You enriched my day today with your own reflections. Thank you. Seeing the lava eruptions on Hawaii would be awe-inducing—especially at night and near the ocean. Mother Earth in all her awesome magnificence.
I remember watching the eruption on the news.
My dad was from Seattle along with other family. I still have his large photographs of Mt. Tahoma (Rainer). He hiked up to get the same shot over 3 seasons.
Somewhere we have a Mt. Saint Helen’s sample sent by my aunt.
Mother Nature is something else!
Amazing images and a great story of resilience and survival, thanks Kert.
Will we learn in time?
Our human hubris humbled?
Earth , our source, not foe.
The innings will end,
So to, the game. Remember…
We do not bat last.
~~~~~~
Life’s not a game, yet…
Mother Earth’s undefeated.
Her will prevails.
~~~~~~
It’s best we let go;
Our ego’s do too much harm.
Let Mother Earth lead.
This is fascinating, Kert. And also thought-provoking.
My husband grew up in Portland and was visiting his family the week before the eruption. His parents' neighborhood was covered in ash. What an experience to live through.