Penguin or Seagull?

By Steve Kelly

Go and read this article by Bracken Hendricks, Kate Gordon, and Tom Kenworthy:

Fix the Real Problem: End America’s Energy Vulnerability

And here's something Brian McLaren wrote:

An Oil, Slimy, Putrid Epiphany

Now here's a video that Cynthia posted from the Environmental Defense Fund:

Don't pass this by!

Please don't pass this by. Say a prayer and click on this link that my daughter AE sent me of amazingly graphic and sad images of the effects of the Gulf Oil Spill. David W. Dunlap also wrote this "Putting a Face on the Gulf Oil Leak."

Ho'opono Cleansing Prayer and BP oil spill

The more I read about and look at pictures of the effects of the BP Oil Spill Disaster, the more I feel like weeping. Hubris and greed of mankind are dramatically showing results these days. This is no doubt helped by me living on the Gulf of Mexico, though no obvious effects have reached south TX yet. They're coming. . . .

There are multiple sites to look at, but these two have offended me this morning, so much so that I've already posted them on Facebook, which is an easy "click" maneuver.

Miles-Long Oil Plume Approaching Underwater Canyon NEW ORLEANS (AP) Researchers say a newly discovered plume of thick oil in the Gulf of Mexico is nearing an underwater canyon, where it could poison the food chain for sea life in the waters off Florida.

That idiot Glenn Beck (who went to my high school in Bellingham, WA!!) is "orating" about the oil spill, saying it is no more than a "house fire"! Go here to read Steve Young's post on "The Huffington Post."

Feeling impotent in this situation, I am reminded of Marj Barlow telling us about her practice of cleansing news she reads or hears with the Ho'opono (Hawaiian) Way to Put Things Back into Balance. Marj said that when we know about a problem, it is our responsibility to "clear" it. So when Marj watches the news or reads the newspaper, she spends time cleaning whatever sad/bad thing she hears, sees, or reads:

1. I am so sorry.
   
2. I ask for forgiveness. (I ask forgiveness for myself, my family, my ancestors for contributing to this situation.)
3. Please forgive me.
   
4. I love; I want to love.

Marj said that the solution is to forgive and love. (So on my list to forgive are BP and Glen Beck. . . And maybe I could try to "cleanse" them??)

It is easier and quicker for me to rely on this prayer: Bless___________, change me. Still, the practice of Ho'opono melds into meditation and prayer.

We need much cleansing in ourselves and in our world!

Louisiana Marshes

The marshes of Pass a Loutre, La., are covered with oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Photo by Gerald Herbert, AP

David Schaper at NPR.org writes "Oil Cleanup Poses Risks In Fragile Louisiana Marshes," which is an excellent article.

"The thick oil can suffocate the canes, grasses and other flora, and toxins in the oil can also poison the plants, said Doug Inkley, a senior biologist with the National Wildlife Federation.

"'With this oil coming in, if it is severe enough to kill the plants entirely, then these plants are going to decay and basically you take away the entire root structure that helps support that soil, and with the waves and the weather coming in, virtually these wetlands disappear,' Inkley said."

I blogged about the disappearing marshland a few days ago, but that insight came from a book written even before Hurricane Katrina Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell. Now bayou disappearance seems much more likely and progressing faster (with the effects of the oil).

Go HERE to read (or listen to) the article mentioned above.

More about Gulf Oil Spill

The United Methodist Church General Board of Church And Society has compiled an excellent resource of prayers and resources about the Gulf Oil Spill.

Go HERE, which also has the following prayer:

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Creator God, author of life, source of all meaning, you made a universe of infinite complexity and beauty and entrusted us humans with the care of a tiny jewel called Earth.

With the passing of time we came to believe we were owners, not fellow creature dwellers, of this bountiful planet and its extravagant web of life. We have used God’s creation without regard for the impact our rapacity had on the other creatures with whom we share our earthly home. We have acted with craven disregard for complex ecosystems we barely understand. Our self-deception has led us to assume we have the capacity to manage environments we exploit to sustain lifestyles that defy the intrinsic interdependence of all life.

Now we face the consequences of our idolatry. We thought we were gods; but our recklessness has brought us to our knees, to ask for your mercy and forgiveness for the chaos we have brought about. We pray for the oceans and all the creatures that dwell in it. We pray for the forests and the abundance of life they nurture. We pray for the very air we breathe, now laden with the toxic gases we produce. We pray for our children whose earthly home we have so imperiled.

Loving God, have mercy on us, grant us forgiveness and the strength to make amends.

Amen.

The black overlay represents the extent of the 2,500-square-mile Gulf of Mexico oil spill, compared to the size of Manhattan

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/24/2010-05-24_paul_rademacher_releases_google_earth_photos_comparing_gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_.html#ixzz0p2yap0ez

Thousands of Gulf Oil Platforms

Approximately 4,000 active oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico
HOW MANY inACTIVE ONES ARE STILL THERE??

I live on the Gulf of Mexico in Corpus Christi, TX, where we only see a few oil rigs out in the Gulf. It has taken this major BP oil spill and reading the book Bayou Farewell for me to realize the conglomeration maze of oil rigs, both in use and abandoned, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here is a little bit I read in Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell:

"While Louisiana's coast continues to implode, creating the fastest-disappearing landmass on earth, the story of its demise remains stubbornly unknown to most Americans. Likewise, what's happening out here in the Gulf, just beyond that same shore, goes almost entirely unnoticed. Thousands of acres of new 'land' are being brought into existence here, literally built above the water, a mass of solid structures so huge that if they were stacked end to end they'd stretch from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia. Instead of saving one place, we're creating another, developing the largest artificial mass of offshore property ever conceived." (323)

Tidwell also describes how deepwater extraction of oil became possible about 15-20 years ago (I'm raising the number from his estimate due to the 2003 publication date of the book):

"Deepwater extraction like this wasn't even feasible until ten years ago, when an evolved version of a technique called 'dynamic positioning' came into cuse. Declassified by the U.S. and Soviet governments at the end of the Cold War, advanced dynamic positioning was developed to allow nuclear submarines to remain perfectly still while firing underwater. A sophisticated onboard computer interacts with several thrusters (high-speed propellers) spread evenly across the sub's outer shell to constantly assess and compensate for waves and underwater currents. This same technique now allows oil-drilling rigs, whose legs could never extend a mile to the ocean floor, to literally float in the Gulf of Mexico, hovering almost perfectly motionless and so not upsetting the vulnerable drill stem. In this way, dynamic positioning has allowed the offshore oil book to keep right on rolling, shattering the old barrier of deep water and opening up a whole new realm of the offshore galaxy. These rigs can even survive hurricanes thanks to special longline anchors that secure them to the Gulf floor." (324)

While Tidwell was on the deck of one of these massive oil platforms, he observed:

"And now, as I walk along the deck that night, surrounded by the freakish spread of brightly lit platforms stretching to every horizon, I can't help but wonder what will be the unintended consequences of such aggressive oil exploitation, of so many new platforms made possible by dynamic positioning and directional drilling, technologies now as important to modern, oil-thirsty Americas as levees once were to survivla of colonial Louisiana." (325)

Tidwell, Mike. Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. NY: Vintage Books, 2003.

Wastin' Away Ditty

By Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Center for American Progress is where I found this cartoon. They have an interesting article about "Revitalizing Our Economy and the Environment."

Water of the World

When all the waters are polluted...
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

~ Cree prophecy

WATER BLESSINGS
From Gratefulness.org:
"As people grieve over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, our awareness of how precious water is becomes clearer and stronger. On Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers led prayers for healing for this vital resource, and A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L) offered water blessings and concerns from around the world via Twitter. Naturally, we wanted to share these tweets with you here. We invite you to join us in prayers and in taking great care with all natural resources, especially, at this moment in time, our waters."

Take a few minutes and look here at Water Blessings.

Bayou Farewell?

All the horrifying news of the OIL SPILL probably does not indicate the unknowable impact on the bayous of Louisiana, which are already disappearing at a rapid rate, as you can see in the above photograph.

A friend recently recommended the book Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast by Mike Tidwell. The topic came up because of the oil spill that continues to flow. I decided that I knew little about this area and ordered a used copy, which I plan to send to son BJ when I finish, as he is an avid fisherman.

I've only read 56 pages of the 344 page book and am already enthralled. It is well written, with vivid descriptions and stories of people the author encountered as he "hitch-hiked" on fishing boats through the bayou.

A Cajun shrimper named Tim reacts when asked if land is being lost:

"'Losing land?' he says. 'Losing it? Hell, here in Leeville we done already lost it. It's done disappeared. Look around.' He stands from his bucket and gestures up the bayou and toward the marsh grass and then over to the narrow ribbon of road that runs through town. 'Take a few steps off dat road and your foots in open water. De bayou's so big now it's startin to look like a lake and all the lakes and bays are startin' to look like de ocean 'cause dat's what dey're becoming. Dere is no more land left here in Leeville.'" (29)

When the author asks another shrimper, Wayne, "Is there no way to make the land stop sinking and eroding?", Wayne answers:

"'Sure dere is,' Wayne says, rubbing his silver bear with his enormous hands as his voice dips into sharm sarcasm. 'All you have to do is fill in all de oil-company canals, build up all de barrier islands to de size dey were a hundred years ago, and den let de Mississippi River flood again. Dat's all.'" (56)

"As conservationists, scientists, and public official make excruciatingly slow progress toward possible solutions, the marsh continues to disappear at a rate of 25 square miles per year." (57)

And I am wondering how this fragile landscape will survive the surfeit of oil coming its way?? (Let alone the people, animals, and fish)