On April 20, 2010 a wellhead blowout on the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig is said to have caused an "oil gusher" that is rapidly contaminating the Gulf of Mexico waters and may seriously endanger oceans worldwide, as well as regional shoreline and land communities. Efforts to contain the spill were chaotic and unsuccessful until July 15, 2010, when the last of three valves was officially capped. Although we are now being told that the oil is rapidly vanishing, the BP Oil Spill is being referred to as the world's most serious environmental disaster. Read ocean writer Julia Whitty's article titled "The BP Cover-Up" here. (For NOAA Quicklook data click here.)
Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Your daddy's rich and your mama's good-lookin'
So hush, little baby, don't you cry ...
That's how the Gulf once was. What you see in the picture to the right is not a road ... it's a waterway in Louisiana, choked with the floating bodies of dead fish. Fish kill, it's called. They are not jumping any more. And it's not just fish. It's crabs, stingrays, eels ...
A "dead zone" is an area devoid of oxygen, giving rise to the die-off of plant and animal life. Agricultural run-off into the world's oceans, bringing soil and a variety of chemical residues (e.g., from fertilizers), can cause algae blooms, and these algae blooms can take up a lot of the oxygen in the water, starving other creatures of what most of the more complex life forms on this planet require to sustain themselves.
In the case of the Gulf (given the widespread dispersing of chemicals intended to "dissolve" the oil), it could be that marine life is reacting to the chemicals (by dying, thank you) or is being starved of oxygen because plankton blooms are taking over for various and sundry reasons. The fact is, things are not going well. Read more here and watch the videos below ...
This satellite image was taken on June 19, 2010 -- the same day Kindra Arnesen (see below) gave her talk. Click to enlarge.
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 Left: Oil reaches Louisiana marsh grass, May 19th Above: A weary pelican next to an oil containment boom |
 An oil-covered pelican, East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana (Click all photos to enlarge) |
See the oil and its effects in this video:
This first video shows oil on the sea floor at Fort Morgan, Alabama, and what happens when globs of oil wash up on shore. Important to remember: Oil and water don't mix ... until you involve chemical solvents and thinners.
In this second video, Dr. Chris Pincetich, a marine biologist and toxicologist, explains how a two-dimensional problem of oil sitting on the water becomes a three-dimensional problem involving the water column itself and all life in it when chemical agents like Corexit are used. Solvents penetrate biological cells from the bottom of the food chain all the way up.
The germ theory of disease has been pushed by Big Pharma for many decades. We have been taught to rid our houses of germs by using chemical cleansers; we take chemical drugs (pharmaceuticals) to treat illness and disease. But what if chemicals themselves are more harmful than "germs"?
Kindra Arnesen is from Venice, Louisiana. She comes from a long line of people who have grown up and worked "on the water." Her husband is a commercial fisherman. She reports here on the effects of the spill on her community, and her experience with BP as a concerned citizen. Kindra was given security clearances by BP to attend inside meetings and observe some of the clean-up proceedings.
Early July 2010 ...
Anderson Cooper reports on greatly restricted media access to the visible effects of the spill, and local outrage at what's looking more and more like major efforts to make a bad situation even worse ...
