Roseate Spoonbill

Audubon Article about this beautiful bird

100,000 barrels a day?

I wouldn't be surprised.

Isn't this oil spill a worst case scenario yet?

Is it an Exxon Valdez every 2 days?

bottlenose dolphin

2 interesting stories about the dolphins in the gulf:

• an AP story about how they're swimming closer to shore to escape the oil
• a BBC video interview with a woman in Alabama who normally takes people out to see the dolphins in her boat .... her perceptions about their change in behavior

... are you sick of this?

deepwater corals

"Deep, cool water coral reefs were discovered not too long ago in the Gulf of Mexico.  While coral reefs are generally known to be in warm water locations, like off the coast of Australia, cool water reefs thrive in near freezing temperatures! .......... The Gulf of Mexico cool water coral reef hosts a virtual underwater world of corals, fish, crustaceans and anemones – all of which call the fragile reef home.  It lies only 20 miles northeast of the Deepwater Horizon, blown-out BP oil rig."

(read more of this article at PeachyGreen.com)

(completed shells page)

eastern oyster

state shell of the state of Louisiana

... it makes sense to me that it is a working man/woman's shell ...

black tea today

ELK asked me if doing the "oil spill animals series" was helping me.

It might not be really - but I also think ignoring it and pretending it's not my problem would really not help. I tend towards melancholy and my melancholy is really strong over this mess, but I'm going with it instead of trying to shut it down. I've learned through some bouts with depression that (for me) art and writing helps the most. Add vitamin D, B complex and guilt free naps to that too :)

My thoughts over the oil spill, so far, are these:

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, 

as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. 

I fear something terrible has happened."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi, referring to the destruction of Alderaan

we need to care about our waterways on a local and state level.

do you have a river or creek with storm water run-off?

if you do, you have a mini oil spill with every rain storm.

does your state economy depend on oil?

get creative and reject that lie.

there are many other industries.

big oil is just easy money.

if oil exploration is venturing into deeper and deeper water -

let the billions of profits be spent on making it safe.

in my opinion it will never be safe, 

no matter how much money is thrown at it.

this particular spill is potentially an Exxon Valdez every 2 days.

every 2 days for 175 days.

BP's environmental permit estimated a worst case spill flow at 162,000 barrels/day.

BP is moving 4 tankers into place with the capacity of siphoning off 80,000 barrels/day.

supposedly it is spilling at up to 40,000 barrels/day.

I think it must be at least double that much (given their new recovery plan).

if container ships drop an occasional container of sneakers or rubber ducks into the ocean and those eventually make their way to every single coast in the world, this oil spill will stain your beach - no matter where you live. 

on a hopeful note I will leave you with this thought from my friend Emily Dickinson:

"to make a prairie it takes one clover and one bee,

one clover, and a bee,

and reverie.

the reverie alone will do

if bees are few."

***

be sure to take tea with my friends listed in the sidebar today

I'm sure their tea is not as black as mine is today

another shell

the lightning whelk is the state shell of Texas:

"The carcasses of more than 35,000 birds and 1,000 sea otters were found at the 1989 Exxon Valdez site, according to its Trustee Council website, which estimated that the actual toll was "250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, up to 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs."

to date (56 days) this spill is roughly 7 times greater

and we're looking at another 3 months until the relief wells are done

... we're only 1/3 of the way through this thing.

(New York Times "New Estimates")

seashells

these are the state seashells of

Alabama (the junonia)

and Florida (the horse conch)