Oil spill (i.e. soapbox)

(so don't read, if you don't want to, and I know I'm preaching to the choir)

As we all know, the oil gushing out of the earth in the Gulf of Mexico is creating a terrible environmental tragedy. Estimates of how much oil is leaking per day range by orders of magnitude, and due to the nature of the oil (which contains high amounts of gas), it is very difficult to measure flow using only video images. In addition to the oil, BP has been releasing a dispersant called Corexit that is a product from an older generation of dispersants that will likely be toxic to marine life. This is an important step because crude oil in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi wetlands can be extremely destructive, and can have effects that can last for decades. (For example, the Ixtoc I spill in the 1970's in the Western Gulf still has lingering effects in the relatively few wetlands it impacted).

Scientists that I've worked with and do very good science have found that there are plumes of oil deeper in the water column that consist of thin oil. Water currents in the Gulf of Mexico are extremely complicated and understudied, particularly in deeper waters, but is characterized by a Loop Current that flows in around the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, flows west, then north, then east and south out of the Gulf just south of Florida. Sometimes, that loop can also form a huge gyre into its own gyre that can move west. If this happens, a gyre flowing in the opposite direction can spin off and move south and west. Underneath both of these gyres are believed to be two other gyres flowing in the opposite direction. With oil in all depths of the water column from 1500 m depth to the surface layers, it's unclear exactly where all this oil will end up, although it appears to be in the Loop Current heading east towards Florida.

The Florida keys host large communities of corals and other animals that provide valuable habitat for fishes and other fauna. These animals are filter feeders, and thus will almost certainly be adversely affected by the both dispersed oil (dispersed oil is oil that has been broken into little pieces, which are less buoyant and more toxic) and by the dispersant itself. In addition to the shallow-water corals in the Keys, deepwater corals provide extremely important habitat for deepwater fishes and as a breeding ground for other fishes, and these are just as endangered.

So. Tragedy. Caused by (we'll see when the fingerpointing ends) lax oversight by the Minerals Management Service, shortcuts by BP and Transocean, and a desire for increased profits combined with a very bad assessment of the risks involved.

But also, caused by us. All of us. As a nation, the United States has not taken responsibility for finding alternatives to oil consumption. Why? Because we haven't pushed for it. It's easy to maintain our current lifestyles because the consequences of our actions are far away and seem surreal. The amount of oil pouring into the Gulf is a fraction of what we use every day. One depressing quote,: "As we watch a self-inflicted contamination that has no end in sight, consider this chilling arithmetic: One oil industry reporter reckoned that the 5,000 barrels a day (a conservative estimate) spewing 5,000 feet down in the gulf counts for only two minutes of oil consumption in the state of Texas." Maureen Dowd (haven't actually seen the numbers for this myself, but this IS chilling).

I'm hoping and hoping that we take this opportunity to make some changes. For another quote: "We've been putting it off for decade after decade after decade, and it is about time that we said to ourselves that we're ready to make a change on behalf of the future of our children and our grandchildren," Obama said." Good grief, I hope he actually meant that.

Because other people are way more eloquent than I am, here are some more (emphasis mine):

"If a bank is too big to fail, it’s way too big to exist. If an oil well is too far beneath the sea to be plugged when something goes wrong, it’s too deep to be drilled in the first place....

However and whenever the well gets capped, what we really need is leadership that calls on the American public to begin coping in a serious and sustained way with an energy crisis that we’ve been warned about for decades. If the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history is not enough to bring about a reversal of our epic foolishness on the energy front, then nothing will.

The first thing we can do is conserve more. That’s the low-hanging fruit in any clean-energy strategy.

It’s fast, cheap and easy. It’s something that all Americans, young and old, can be asked to participate in immediately. In that sense, it’s a way of combating the pervasive feelings of helplessness that have become so demoralizing and so destructive to our long-term interests.

People have talked about energy conservation for the longest time. But we have dawdled on making vehicles more fuel-efficient and weatherizing our homes and insisting that commercial buildings be more energy efficient, and so on. Turn those thermostats down a couple of degrees in the winter and up in the summer. Figure out ways to have a little fun while doing it." Bob Herbert

Alternative energy (wind, water, sun) isn't the only option here. A sea change (no pun intended) in every day decisions, entertainment and consumption would drastically reduce our energy needs. I know I'm guilty of as much as the next person - although we try to be careful with what we eat, what we buy and the extent that we use energy (electricity, hot water, oil, etc), we do travel a lot. But we need to find more alternatives. Let's give it a shot.

"For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea"
-ee cummings