A picture taken Wednesday on Pensacola Beach in Florida's westernmost county, where the sands are as white and as fine as granulated sugar:
The Pensacola News-Journal says the beach, which was closed but has now reopened, looks much better today now that clean-up crews have scooped most of the oil up with shovels. But folks . . . this is just the beginning. There's a shitload more where that came from.
The PNJ quotes a local resident aghast at the scene:
"This is not just a body of water," she says angrily. "This is sacred. This is where we play as children. Where we learn to swim. Where we meet loved ones. Where we enjoy our grandchildren. Collect seashells, memories. Where the soul is replenished. This is sacred!"FYI - according to InfoPlease, this is how many miles of coastline, general and tidal, are now imperiled:
Estimates of how much oil has leaked into the Gulf to date range as high as 6 million barrels, or a quarter of a billion gallons. And counting.
The Exxon Valdez spill is estimated at 10 to 30 million gallons - far, far less.
2 comments:
My heart breaks when I see and think of the birds, turtles, fish and everything else covered in oil. I puzzles me as to why this isn't a wake up call to all of us?
Of course no surprise that every politican and judge down there is covered in oil money too. Pathetic.
The event is tragic in the most profound sense. Not only can all of our collective wishing, praying, efforts and technology not halt the spillage or repair the damage, but we are all still compulsively hopping into our gas-guzzling vehicles and getting on crowded highways, and using more electricity and heating oil and plastics, etc., etc.pretending there is no connection between the two.
And tragically, these behaviors are as difficult, or more difficult to stop than the erupting oil well. They are just "controlled oil spills" polluting our air and waterways all over the world, just more slowly and less visibly than a gusher.
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