Worst US Oil Spill Since Exxon Valdez

Here we go again. Another oil spill. another coast line, more dead species and the cost - not only to our planet, but to our economies. What gives?

Last year in the sea between Timor and Australia a similar offshore oil rig disaster spewed slick into the sea. The devastation covered measured at least 85 kilometres.

A month ago a Chinese freighter crew tried to save some time by straying off course through the Great Barrier Reef. From its ripped open hull on the coral floor, two tonnes of Texas tea poured into the world heritage treasure. The year before Queensland endured a 230 tonne mishap.

This latest fiasco off Louisiana has some way to go before it reaches the 35,000 tonnes loosed in the Exxon Valdez incident. Still, eighty miles of greasy, life killing sludge isn't easy to dismiss. Sooner or later it will wash ashore and the people will be wondering if it is really worth it to take that kind of risk.

At the end of April it is expected to arrive on prime coastal wetlands landing wave after wave of petroleum tribute. Out of sight, out of mind. In a measure to minimise damage authorities have burned off some surface oil. Polluting the air, apparently, is not good. I suppose there will be plenty of accusations to throw around and some political anxiety to expect when the people actually start shampooing sea animals and counting the dead when they wash up on the beaches.

Surely, there will be other future environmental-economic disasters to cope with. Some probably much worse in terms of negative impact. Just how many more catastrophes can we absorb before it gets too unmanageable? When will we say enough of this "drill, baby drill" oil roulette mentality and really change to earth friendlier energy infrastructures?

I still find it unfathomable why Obama gave his blessing to increased offshore drilling when the answer is to put our labour into making renewables a reality as quickly as possible.

Without being too optimistic it is quite possible that the answer my friend it is literally and metaphorically blowing in the wind. There are a number of available local sources of potential energy to tap into, waiting for us to work out how to make it work. Self-sufficiency means we do not have to invade other countries to ensure sufficient supply of energy.

Is it me... I just don't understand, do I?

Mt Kosciusko - My Repose

Looking out from a trail going to Mt Kosciusko, the highest mountain in Australia, one can get lost even in one's thought. For as far as can be seen with the naked eye, there is only rocks and tussocks of grasses. On closer inspection there are lichens, mosses, many different types of grasses, bushes, flowers, and footprints of animals by the rivulets. Walking off the alpine trail feels wrong like trespassing. I worry about the damage caused from my heavy footprint. In this sensitive habitat one feels awe and respect for life on this earth. Rough cold winds swirl through cloudy landscape where the wiliest of plants and animals fend survival.

As sometimes I find myself stopping and taking note of flowers, rocks and animals, perhaps Wordsworth felt the same when he jotted out his poems. Despite not concurring with his sentiment of romantic nature, but I do feel reverence in human-less environments. His words:

I hear

These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs

With a soft inland murmur. Once again

Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,

That on a wild secluded scene impress

Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect

The landscape with the quiet of the sky.

The day is come when I again repose

Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey

Life is indeed fragile and beautiful. In mindful homage to my earth I am certain there is more at stake in this world than our comforts, alone.

Things I just don't get

Just when you think Obama does 'the principled' thing...

Tell me, what possible justification makes endangering our environment the right course of action when the responsible way forward is bleeding obvious? We must turn away from the independence of fossil fuels as quickly as possible before it is too late. Of course I know our world runs on it. But I just have to believe we can find a suitable solution that doesn't rely on putting crucial ecosystems at risk. There has to be respect, a way to live more harmoniously with our environment and each other.

Considering the repercussions that could eventuate from a significant environmental disaster, planning to drill off the US coast is a desperate act. All the money or power in the world isn't worth jeopardising our planet for. Last time I checked there was nowhere else to migrate to. Mission to Mars is still a fantasy. There are no other options. We either ruin where we live and destroy our future or change in order to survive. To me it is that simple. Terminate the source of what gives us life and the writing is clear; it's Jonestown and kool-aid again, only on a global scale.

I just can't get why so few people understand this.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-drilling31-2010mar31,0,4617559.story