As most of you have probably heard there is a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The news tonight said the oil rig is leaking 5,000 barrels a day or 210,000 gallons or the equivalent of 23 tankers. If the leak cannot be stopped it can go as high as 2 million barrels a day. Our beautiful Gulf is dotted with oil rigs. Some of you probably have figured out that I live in the South. Mobile, Alabama to be exact and if you have never been to the Gulf Coast you don’t know how absolutely beautiful it is. Our beaches are pristine white and the water is crystal clear blue. We have two fishing communities that still have not recovered from Katrina and now this. Our sister states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida are in this boat with us. If this leak gets worse our entire coast lines can be a risk. Unemployment here is 11% - that will probably get better because of this but the price is just too high. But the bump in employment will be washed out by all the businesses that will go under because of this. Our animals and sea life will suffer so much. It will take years for us to regain what we have now, if we can. However, there will be things that will be lost forever. I may not see it again in my lifetime.
There are already numerous people in all 3 states battling this; however, the weather is not helping we will have thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow and the water is so rough they are having a hard time putting out – sorry I can’t remember what they called them, but they look like really long canvas bags – I will just call floats. They are supposed to prevent the oil from getting to shore. The rough water will enable the oil to jump these. People are ready to start rescuing animals. How do wash the oil off of a dolphin or a whale or the fish, oysters and shrimp? How many birds and other animals will die before they can be rescued? The Gulf Coast is going to pay a high price for all the gas that we use with no thought to the fact that it is destroying so much of our earth. We are already losing so much in the production of more oil. If we used that same effort developing affordable alternatives and living more green we would not be destroying the beautiful creation God gave us.
We roll with hurricanes. That is Mother Nature, but this is because of man’s refusal to care for the world we were given and that just makes me angry. If we are not careful out grandchildren and their children will not have the abundance and beauty that we so easily take for granted. This will affect more than just the Gulf Coast; it will affect this whole country. BP oil will get their money back at the gas pumps. It is costing them $6-7 million a day now and price is going much higher because they will have to pay for the entire cost and for the businesses that go under. Gas pumps will be how they get the money back. The price is just too high.
It is my prayer that this will get people’s attention and makes then realize that with abundance and beauty there is an inherent responsibility to protect it at all costs. It cannot be replaced. The thought of what this is going to do to my home state and the entire Gulf Coast and all the beauty that exists here makes me cry. Cry because of the loss and the frustration because this did not need to happen. We as a country are better than this. We will lose things that will be gone forever. The price is just too high. The first price was the loss of the 11 lives that were on the rig when it exploded. Those lives are lost forever. For what? So that we can once again drive our huge gas drinking SUV’s and give no thought to conserving anything. The price is just too high.
Pray for us and start with the families of the 11 lives that were the first casualty of this horror story. As you go about your life give a thought to trying to live green because we can’t get in our SUV’s and go to Wal-Mart and buy another earth.
I don’t mean for this post to sound angry, but I am angry. This did not have to happen. Yes, let’s drill in Alaska and destroy that too. There are alternatives. We put a man on the moon – we can do this. The people need to start a grass roots effort to make government officials make alternative fuels a priority and not just give it lip service to get themselves re-elected.
God bless each of you and pray for us. Thank you.
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2 comments:
Frankly, I feel we should have always lived green!. This of course along w/other mishaps could have been avoided... As a friend told me, now we will bear the brunt of it... Higher prices for gas.. Greed is the issue and always is.. Lack of caring by the officials...It totally sucks.. Remember when santa barbara had their oil drillings in the ocean? The smell of oil as well as on the beaches were awful.. The ones who suffered were the wildlife and I am sure people did too due to the sludge..
I so agree with you! It seems everytime an alternative energy source is explored, people complain. (I sometimes wonder if the complaints are stirred up by the oil companies!) I know here in Maine there have been some wind farms constructed, but there are those who are protesting that they mar the beautiful scenery. Water power is on the decline because environmentalists claim that dams interfere with the spawning habits of fish, so dams are being removed. In reality, it is possible to construct fishways so the fish can bypass the dams. For as long as I can remember, and I'm old!, the car manufacturers have been talking more fuel efficient cars, but that isn't happening on any impressive scale either. I don't know what the answer is. My prayers are with you.
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