The Big Spill redux. Just get over it? I don't think so. No matter how the mass media tries to downplay the historic significance of this monumental environmental catastrophe the reality of the environmental damage that is taking place even as we speak belies the media's meta message that all will be well. Well, I beg to differ. Already, Louisiana's fishing industry has been all but destroyed. The oil slick has now entered the Gulf Stream, looping the oil around the Florida peninsula, threatening the Florida Keys and even the east coast beaches up to Miami and beyond (taking with it Florida's $60 billion tourist industry).
But this mega environmental catastrophe is not just a blow to the tourism industry (serious as that may be). It is a major wake up call to all of humanity. If we continue to poison the Oceans of the world at the rate that we are going we will in the not so long run be jeopardizing the whole planet's bio sphere. Earth is a water world (as every sixth grader should be able to tell you). Simply put, no water no life.
Are we human beings actually capable of killing all life in the Oceans? Don't act surprised. We humans have done a miserable job of stewardship of planet Earth. Not only are human beings capable of destroying our earthly environment, we have already inflicted massive damage. Whole habitats are being killed off, species are disappearing at an alarming rate. There are Sargasso seas of garbage and litter that literally stretch for miles in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Coral reefs are being killed and there are dead zones where algae blooms, feeding off the pollution in the waters of the world, have depleted water oxygen levels so that fish cannot survive. This disrupts the entire food chain leading to massive die offs as we have witnessed time and again.
All that said, the Earth is fairly resistant. Though we have abused our home planet almost beyond recognition, the planet has shown remarkable resilience or none of us would be here today. Human survival on planet earth is not guaranteed. The demise of the dinosaurs gives ample evidence that life on planet earth has always been something of a crap shoot. We owe it to our children and grand children to leave them a world that not only sustains human life, but the lives of all living things in the biosphere. We are capable of doing a better job of stewardship if we can summon the political will to do so.
Environmentalists are not just a bunch of starry eyed tree huggers. We must all become environmentalists if mother earth is to survive. We must all become Oceanographers and Marine Biologists. Save the oceans of the world! Save planet Earth!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
FACEBOOK FAN
It took me a while to become a fan of Facebook.com. At first blush I could not figure out its value, especially the practice of the seemingly purposeless accumulation of so-called "friends". To what end? To what purpose? And doesn't this collection of stangers called friends actually trivialize true friendship? Those were my thoughts when I hesitantly dipped my big toe into the Facebook pond. I have since changed my mind. Perhaps it is the outcome of having become more familiar and more comfortable navigating the site. It has become a means of locating people from the past (even the very distant past) and resuming some contact with them, reminiscing about "old times" and catching up on each other's lives.
Several days ago I even stumbled over the site a past girl friend of mine whom I thought was lost forever to the fog of lost romance gone bad. I hesitated for a long time before I finally clicked the mouse to ask to become one of her "friends". As of the writing of this blog I have not yet heard from her in any way. That is of course the beauty of Facebook. One does not have to accept such an offer of friendship. The request can be simply ignored and everyone goes on about their own business, chaulking up the experience to nothing ventured nothing gained.
On the other hand, by resuming some semblance of contact one leaves open the possibility of new possibilities; of new adventures yet to come; of rekindling an old extinguished flame. Had I chosen not to try to contact the lady in question (let's call her X for the time being) I would have foreclosed (perhaps forever) whatever new developments (or not) that might have resulted or could have resulted as a possible outcome based on having taken such a karmic gamble. In fact, in trying not to think about X, I was in fact obsessing about her. And it was affecting my work. My writing came to a complete halt. I was totally blocked unable to focus or take the next step. I was full of "what if" scenarios, worries and doubts.
I was second guessing my every motive, cross-examining myself as if I were a suspect in a crime. What had I done to be dumped by X in the first place (we are talking some twenty five or more years ago, though I still remember with crystal clarity just about every detail of the day she walked out on me). Did I really want to stir that pot of misery again? Did I really want to dig up and relive all that past karma?
The end result of all that hemming and hawing was that I decided that it was better to forge ahead, make the friendship request and wait for the results. I have resolved to be gracious and generous, forgiving and courageous in the face of yet another rejection if such was to be the case.
As all the results are not yet in I must say that not knowing what she is thinking is somewhat unsettling. But then I felt better thinking that now the shoe was on the other foot. Let X be the one having to make all the same calculations as to whether or not to resume contact with her Ex (one of a long line I must add in the interest of full disclosure).
At least I am able to write again and the blockage has been removed. Again the flow of words can resume. I am back in my element.
Several days ago I even stumbled over the site a past girl friend of mine whom I thought was lost forever to the fog of lost romance gone bad. I hesitated for a long time before I finally clicked the mouse to ask to become one of her "friends". As of the writing of this blog I have not yet heard from her in any way. That is of course the beauty of Facebook. One does not have to accept such an offer of friendship. The request can be simply ignored and everyone goes on about their own business, chaulking up the experience to nothing ventured nothing gained.
On the other hand, by resuming some semblance of contact one leaves open the possibility of new possibilities; of new adventures yet to come; of rekindling an old extinguished flame. Had I chosen not to try to contact the lady in question (let's call her X for the time being) I would have foreclosed (perhaps forever) whatever new developments (or not) that might have resulted or could have resulted as a possible outcome based on having taken such a karmic gamble. In fact, in trying not to think about X, I was in fact obsessing about her. And it was affecting my work. My writing came to a complete halt. I was totally blocked unable to focus or take the next step. I was full of "what if" scenarios, worries and doubts.
I was second guessing my every motive, cross-examining myself as if I were a suspect in a crime. What had I done to be dumped by X in the first place (we are talking some twenty five or more years ago, though I still remember with crystal clarity just about every detail of the day she walked out on me). Did I really want to stir that pot of misery again? Did I really want to dig up and relive all that past karma?
The end result of all that hemming and hawing was that I decided that it was better to forge ahead, make the friendship request and wait for the results. I have resolved to be gracious and generous, forgiving and courageous in the face of yet another rejection if such was to be the case.
As all the results are not yet in I must say that not knowing what she is thinking is somewhat unsettling. But then I felt better thinking that now the shoe was on the other foot. Let X be the one having to make all the same calculations as to whether or not to resume contact with her Ex (one of a long line I must add in the interest of full disclosure).
At least I am able to write again and the blockage has been removed. Again the flow of words can resume. I am back in my element.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
DRILL BABY DRILL - THE BIG OIL SPILL
It must mean something that all that is now required to identify the disasterous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is to refer to it as the Big Oil Spill and everyone instantly knows what you are talking about. Wonderful. Glorious. I am so angry about this latest rape of nature that I can literally spit. Angry, frustrated and powerless. BP has made all of us into victims. Of course BP is trying to shirk the responsibility pointing to its subcontractors TransOceanic and Halliburton. Halliburton, Dick Chaney's alma mater. Might have known that sooner or later Chaney's filthy presence would make itself known in this latest disaster against the good and welfare of all Americans. Like dracula of old, only a wooden spike though the heart will rid us of his diseased presence.
Poor NOLA. First Katrina and now this latest travesty. How much bad news can a city take? There ain't enough blues or booze on Bourbon Street to wash away the tears that the loss of beach, marshland and marine habitat will cause. We are talking about the loss of an entire coast line, the destruction of flora and fauna on a massive scale; the poisoning of the water supply and food chain; the end of a waterfront, sea going way of life that can be traced back to the birth of the nation.
Will this Big Oil Spill prove to be President Obama's waterloo? Perhaps. Especially if the administration takes its eye off the ball and treats this catastrophe as just one calamity on a long list of calamities that need his attention. The solution to the crisis cannot be left in the incompetent hands of Chaney, Halliburton, TransOceanic or BP. It is time to call out the army, navy and marines; time to put the best minds and the best known expertise on the planet to work together to cap this runaway gusher a mile deep in the Gulf on the ocean floor. Big Oil Spill is a misnomer; It should be called the Big Oil Gusher, pouring 200,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf every day.
T.S. Elliot may have been so very correct to write that "this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper."
Poor NOLA. First Katrina and now this latest travesty. How much bad news can a city take? There ain't enough blues or booze on Bourbon Street to wash away the tears that the loss of beach, marshland and marine habitat will cause. We are talking about the loss of an entire coast line, the destruction of flora and fauna on a massive scale; the poisoning of the water supply and food chain; the end of a waterfront, sea going way of life that can be traced back to the birth of the nation.
Will this Big Oil Spill prove to be President Obama's waterloo? Perhaps. Especially if the administration takes its eye off the ball and treats this catastrophe as just one calamity on a long list of calamities that need his attention. The solution to the crisis cannot be left in the incompetent hands of Chaney, Halliburton, TransOceanic or BP. It is time to call out the army, navy and marines; time to put the best minds and the best known expertise on the planet to work together to cap this runaway gusher a mile deep in the Gulf on the ocean floor. Big Oil Spill is a misnomer; It should be called the Big Oil Gusher, pouring 200,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf every day.
T.S. Elliot may have been so very correct to write that "this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper."
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