Dear Mr. President,

I am a concerned citizen.

Seven nights ago, I stood on the sand of Marina del Rey facing the land. I looked into the sky. Black balls of smoke burst into view dressed in little pinpoints of colored light. The smoke was so dense it enveloped the light. “It’s fog,” someone called. “It’ll pass!” Behind me, a pregnant sea lion thrashed ashore with a seizure from a poison in her food.

How do I explain to the voice that calls, “It’ll pass!” that they can choose not to invest in the spectacle before them if they knew how the smoke might contribute to that sea lion’s death? How can I do this in the space of a moment?

Mr. President, your podium affords you a unique opportunity to cut through the noise at any moment in time. I request you to hold a Science briefing now for the nation, in which you are flanked by representatives from the NOAA, CDC, FDA and other scientific bodies. Let them pool their minds for an hour on your podium to get the word out in a concentrated way to us all. If they could clarify what the links in the chain are, of a heatwave triggering algae triggering neurotoxin oversupply in the food chain, some of us might listen. If they can tell us why securing air, water and food supplies for our children’s children requires us to work together now, all of us would listen. If you show us the numbers, we might act. 

After all, domoic acid is already being tracked through the food chain because it can poison us too. Marine veterinarians are treating the sea lions’ seizures with the same medicine our doctors administer to us.

I request the scientists to take questions. I will start. I would like to know what the fifty-year projections are for this poison’s expansion and contraction through our yearly food supply from the sea.

After all, Mr. President, eating food is everybody’s business.

Thank you for your time and leadership,

Stuti Mandala