I just saw this (via a local blog, Dwell Well) and I am speechless. Go HERE to get a visual of how big the oil "spill" in the Gulf really is.
The other day I was listening to one of my favorite pod-casts, The Story, and heard Riki Ott interviewed. She has a PhD in marine toxicology and she just happened to be a commercial fisherman in Prince William Sound 21 years ago when the Exxon Valdeze spilled its (relatively small comparitively) contents into the pristine waters of Alaska. She has spent the years since then involved first-hand with the cleanup and aftermath and says that 21 years later, you can stick your hand a couple inches down in the soil and come up with oil. Oil doesn't evaporate and it isn't going anywhere.
I can't even begin to imagine how this monstrous amount of oil is going to effect the fish, the birds, the marine mammals and the people who's livelihood depends on the Gulf.
It's not a partisan problem; you can't blame current or past presidents for this. But the fact that the oil companies were allowed to drill into the bottom of the ocean, reap billions of dollars worth of benefits without having a rock-solid disaster plan? That is just unforgiveable, and we must end the free-reign that the corporations have on our natural resources. If anything good comes of this disaster, let it be that we finally begin to stand up to the corportations and demand accountability.
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about me
- kate
- washington state
- I am a bleeding-heart liberal, smart-ass, book-loving craft geek. Married to the love of my life, mother of 1 smart, smart-alec 10 year old. I ran my first marathon at 44 and can't wait to run another.
4 comments:
I saw on the news this morning, an interview with the widow of one of the Supervisors killed in the explosion. He had gone home for a visit shortly before the accident and, many times prior to that visit, having expressed grave concern for safety on the rig, rules bent and ignored ( as per the BP Brass), he again told her of his concerns AND, wrote his will !( he was 35 yr old) told her how to perform many of his duties around the house -----basically told her goodby.
Of course he was not the only one----many experienced oil rig workers knew there were serious problems that would lead to just this kind of disaster. A British Petroleum officer, met with her shortly after the "accident" assuring her she would be well taken care of. Immediately after, they filed to be exonerated from financial liability in ANY respect.
If the "cap" doesn't work, this WILL continue for years.
Wow. That's incredible that he was so sure something catastrophic would happen that he wrote out his will. It makes me sick; this all could have been prevented.
Very sad. It breaks my heart what we're doing to our world and what we're leaving to our kids and grandkids...
I was about to blog about the oil spill too. Because I was there just a few months ago, and saw the area, it seems to really upset me, even more than it normally would. The thought of it getting into the gulf stream hurts my heart. If it gets into the gulf stream, it will go all the way around Florida, all the way up the east coast, and around Greenland to Ireland and England. And it will go quickly, that Gulf Steam moves fast. Sickening.
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