What is going on with this country?
above: Gulf of Mexico oil spill (space view)
In 1896 the first oil rig was put in salt water, off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA. According to the US government, about 1.3 million gallons of oil are spilled into the ocean each year by vessels and oil rigs. Right now there are roughly 210,000 gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico daily and it's only been spilling for a little over a week, started April 20th I believe, so that totals about 1.68 million gallons. Math is the shit! But oil spills are not the shit at all! They're actually really shitty. The people trying to fix it are looking for some switch to turn it off or something but can't get to it. Waaay nuts. And this is happening in a place that is incredibly rich in amazing wildlife like sea turtles, brown pelicans, and Arctic peregrine falcon which are all endangered or threatened, soon to be endangered. There are 400 species of endangered plants and animals in the Gulf of Mexico and 31 are off the coast of Louisiana where this is happening, but it will spread all over. Of course there are tons of people out there trying to clean it up, we're in the middle of an oil economy with a new puppet who just opened more coastline to offshore drilling on the eastern coast from Delaware all the way down to Florida, also in northern Alaska in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
above: Walruses chillin in the Chukchi Sea... or trying to.
What a shame. There are so many fragile creatures out there that are struggling so hard for their lives right now with the sea ice receding more and more every year. Walruses! Definitely my next painting. I could so use beans for my little brown walrus. Engage...tomorrow. I've drifted away from my point a little - what in the hell is this president thinking?!? There have always been problems with offshore oil drilling and it's not different now. There is no safe way to do it, no fool proof way whatsoever and when the things blows up or sinks there is no easy way to turn it off. Clearly there are some kinks and this planet shouldn't be a testing ground for crazy human obsessions, especially dangerous ones like fossil fuels.
Solar and wind are fully capable of getting the job done efficiently and far cleaner, it's renewable, the technology is there, it would provide jobs in turn help the local and national economy, local communities, and it's far safer! We have a voice and we need to tell the government what we want. Let's not just think about ourselves, but the future of the human race and especially the planet which has no voice.
TAKE ACTION! Because you care.
Sign a petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/continue-the-fight-against-offshore-drilling
or 2: http://takeaction.oceana.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=45
3...: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1488/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1522
Join the facebook group: 1,000,000 Strong Against Offshore Drilling - http://www.facebook.com/dontdrill
Blog about it, tell your friends, write letters, call your representatives, make paintings, write it on walls, take pictures, tattoo it on your face... anything you can think of! And send me pictures. greenearthalive@gmail.com People rule when they come together.
My references:
http://www.healthygulf.org/our-work/species-at-risk/species-at-risk-home
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Eco/bp-oil-spill-national-significance-obama-administration/story?id=10509844
http://www.livescience.com/environment/oil-spill-faq-100423.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/science/earth/31energy.html
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