Where Wonders Surround You

Your car makes any map a Magic Circle. 

Between the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Ethyl Corporation published a series of advertisements, These Magic Circles, to promote their gasoline addictive products. Each advertisement included color photographs and a map, a magic circle, to encourage families to take road trips of adventure in their car to explore the beauty and wonders of destinations, including Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Chicagoland, and New England. The Magic Circle of Southern California encircled the Pacific Ocean beaches of Los Angeles and San Diego with the Mohave Desert, Salton Sea and the Joshua Tree Monument. During this golden age of freeway building, a full tank of gas with Ethyl additives was the family passport to driving pleasure and fun.

Nearly seventy years later, the beauty and wonder of the Southern California Magic Circle is changing rapidly.

Rising sea levels of the Pacific Ocean are posing a significant threat with increased coastal erosion and beach loss from higher waves and more frequent storm surges. This is especially the case in densely populated areas such as Malibu, Los Angeles, Newport Beach and San Diego. A study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that up to 67% of Southern California's beaches could be completely eroded by 2100 if the sea level rises 3 to 6 feet (0.9 to 1.8 meters) and human intervention is limited.

Considerable population growth and urban sprawl has created a car-centric culture that has long been synonymous with the identity of Southern California. This dependence on the automobile and the resulting traffic congestion crisscrossing the region is the primary cause of greenhouse gas emissions that are causing air pollution and rising temperatures. Due to this highway gridlock, housing and industry is being developed further and further into the desert landscape of the Inland Empire and beyond, requiring more and more electricity to be generated by natural gas and other fossil fuels, further complicating the increased levels of CO2 emissions.

As the development into the Mohave Desert continues to expand limitlessly, the western Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) ecosystem is under stress. With rising temperatures, altered precipitation pattens, wildfires and increased human activity, much of the current Joshua tree range may no longer be viable. A study by the California State Department of Fish and Wildlife suggests that areas predicted to be suitable for the western Joshua tree based on 20th century climate data will decline substantially by 2100 as a result of climate change, especially in the southern and lower elevational portions of its range.

Today, the Ethyl Corporation is one of five subsidiary companies of the NewMarket Corporation, specializing in petroleum and critical performance additives used in various applications, including space launch and military defense. NewMarket had consolidated net sales revenue of $2.7 billion in 2023. Over the past 20 years, from 
1984 - 2024, its stock price has risen 24,792%, from $2.11 per share to approximately $525 per share.

Where Wonders Surround You travels thru the conditions and consequences of climate change and global warming in the Southern California landscape.