“The biggest ecological disaster in history”
Here on the sunny beaches of Florida where I sit, gazing out at pristine Gulf Beaches and blue waters, one would never suspect that a black, cancer lurks over the blue horizon.
My beach is preparing this Memorial Day for festivities on the beach. There is a bandstand, vendors booths and a planned midnight fireworks display that occurs right off my front balcony. There is no sign of disaster.
All is quiet like in the hours before Pearl Harbor. People are sunning on the beach, the sky is perfectly blue with a few wisps of white cloud. The sea is like a lake.
You will forgive me for believing as I do, that in this moment all is well on the Gulf.
As proof of this well being, as I write, I see brown pelicans flying in formation. If you have seen brown pelicans fly you will know that they fly on wind currents with military precision. With skill surpassing any human pilot, they perform death defying dives, with bombing accuracy, nose first into the sea.
I bet I can count six species of plover, heron, egret, and terns right now without getting out of my seat.
So what was that about cancer lurking out there? Is it a mirage?
I am afraid not. The signs are everywhere. The local health food store is collecting supplies for the Bird Sanctuary. It seems that Dawn washing liquid cleans fouled feathers. The call is out for human and animal hair donations. Did you know that hair clippings soak up oil?
What is not being handed out, is respirators. Thats just a fancy word for gas masks.
You see up in Louisiana, a few hundred miles from where I sit, the biggest ecological disaster in history…. I am sorry, let me rephrase that, THE BIGGEST ECOLOGICAL DISASTER IN HISTORY, IS IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT.
BP, the British Petroleum Corporation that is responsible for this disaster, is as deep into loss control as the fragile coastal breeding grounds of Louisiana are into death.
That’s right folks. They are dead. They can never come back. Well never may be too strong a word. Lets just say when my kids have children, my grand kids will not see life there.
You see it has taken a millennium for the brush to seed and grow in the salty coastal marshes to the point that there are huge “prairies” of salt tolerant plants. The roots of this brush are mangroves, an endangered bush whose roots hang in the water like the tendrils of fire works on the Fourth of July. They are safe refuge for small critters (a nursery for fish), and they harbor spawning fish, crabs, shell fish, oysters, and plankton. They are the nesting ground for many endangered fowl, from pelicans to eagles.
It is the cradle of life for the entire Gulf and beyond into the Atlantic Ocean. This is Gods incubator for the seas. (Gods incubator is covered in oil).
BP figures that if the word gets out how toxic this mess is, then BP will be facing potential lawsuits for years to come! So along comes BP’s coporporate liability limit men in their $1000.00 suits.
They have determined that if anyone is seen wearing a gas mask at work while cleaning the spill, that will prove that the workers are working in a highly toxic, cancer causing, environment. BP needs to create the appearance that everything is fine and safe and that working waist deep in oil sludge and gasoline fumes is just hunky dory. Its no worse than sunscreen and a day on the beach.
Today, BP is still pumping millions of gallons of poison on top of millions of gallons of toxic crude oil into the Gulf.
I sit here on the beach and weep for the sea turtles and the dolphins and the whales, and I wait for tonight’s fireworks on the beach.
Sincerely
Jeffrey Solomon
PS: here is a video you may want to view http://www.brassche cktv.com/ page/852. html
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My latest letter to the White House…
I campaigned for President Obama. I am an advocate of alternative energy. I don’t own any stocks so some may consider me ignorant to the ways of power and money.
I am asking that President Obama use the power of the United States government to keep this oil from destroying any more of our fragile gulf ecosystem. I am greatly disenchanted with this oil spill and how it is being handled. I feel that not enough was done or is being done.
There is too much concern regarding future litigation; present cost is guiding decisions to control this oil spill. What is the dispersant? Why aren’t we demanding to know what they are using? Politicians aren’t talking about it.
Politicians are politicians because somewhere along the line some oil money got them there. Every politician in office today is there because of oil money. (and coal money). I dare you to prove me wrong.
Yes, I’m angry, very very angry.
Give me my faith back in this administration and provide some results to Americans that we are truly proud and powerful to do what is right. Not just bumbling through other countries with destructive power.
Please keep this place clean for those who will come after we are gone.
