Order anything from China lately? How about a pair of pumpkin stud earrings?
Just kidding! They’re just seeds. Seeds you didn’t order. And they’re showing up in your mailbox after you order random stuff online. And they come labeled as jewelry such as “pumpkin stud earrings.”
At least the package that arrived on Mike Brown’s Santa Maria doorstep did. He had ordered seeds through an e-commerce platform called Wish to plant in his backyard. And these were indeed seeds, just not the ones he had ordered—and the package also included Chinese writing!
Ooh. Suspicious.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture put out a call for these unsolicited packages so it can test the contents for nefarious-type things. You know, pathogens, pests, and potential agro-terrorist intentions (Who knew that was a thing?). Agricultural Commissioner’s Offices in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties have received about 20 reports apiece so far.
At this point, 22 states have reported the packages. As have Canada, Australia, and countries in the European Union.
The USDA thinks it’s just a “brushing scam” to pick up more business. Although I don’t really understand how scammers can boost sales by mailing random unbranded seed packets to unsuspecting victims. It sounds weird.
And you know what else is weird? The fact that it’s apparently illegal to import the “true botanical seed” of a potato into the U.S. from anywhere other than Canada and certain areas of Chile and New Zealand. The more you know, amirite?
I know that’s how Lions Peak Vineyard owner Jennifer Soni probably feels. When the Solvang City Council decided to close Copenhagen Drive to vehicle traffic earlier this year and give that space to COVID-19 affected restaurants and businesses, she called the effort “pathetic.” Because that’s the kind of language that people in Solvang use during City Council meetings.
But boy did she change her tune!
“I really hope that we continue with what we’re doing on Copenhagen because I have so much positive feedback on the weekends from people that come here,” she said during a recent council meeting.
Turns out some business is better than no business! Who knew?
Well ExxonMobil certainly knows that. For four years, the oil company has been begging Santa Barbara County to allow it to truck oil along highways 101 and 166, because the Plains All American pipeline that carried oil from ocean to land ruptured and has yet to be fixed. ExxonMobil really wants to be able to open its drilling operations back up because, you know, it wants to make money. Duh!
Man. It’s truly mind-blowing how slow the county’s planning process is. I had completely forgotten about this, but in July, the county released the final environmental impact report for the proposal. Get this: The environmentally superior alternative is to take trucks off the road when it rains! Ha!
Those rainy season oil truck accidents are ruining the environment, I tell you. Katie Davis with the Sierra Club’s Los Padres chapter said trucking is the least safe way to transport oil.
Oh. Then I guess we better get that pipeline back up and running again then, right?
The canary knows that everything we do is bad for the environment. Send thoughts to [email protected].
