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kambrielThe terrifyingly heartbreaking images of Gulf coast shore birds are starting to surface:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
This kind of suffering isn't going to stop anytime soon as the oil continues to gush every minute of the day and night. Even if/when they do get the source of the leak under control, what's already been put forth will leave a legacy we'll be dealing with ~ and more importantly, the animals of the affected areas will be dealing with ~ for many years to come.
For weeks now, I've helplessly wished I could tell the birds, the fish ~ all the wildlife in the area to swim, crawl, fly and get out of the way... to ~please~ not take a drink or a swim or a dive in that oily/sheen covered area. To try not to ingest any of those dispersed bits floating amidst the depths of the waves through their fragile gills. But for all of Nature's wisdom, we simply don't have the capability to "tell" them and give them that kind of potentially life saving warning. They're simply left to their own devices, and when faced with something they've likely never had any experience dealing with before, well... this simply isn't something that they tend to get to get a second chance to learn from once wings are coated and beaks are filled.
I remember when "spills" (though this isn't so much a finite spill as much as a continuous, ongoing gush) happened in the past and birds needed help, volunteers rose to the occasion. Like when the penguins had to have oil cleaned off of them, but that stripped their natural protective coating such that it no longer properly insulated them, so volunteers around the world made and donated miniature handknit wool sweaters en masse for them to wear in the interim, and it saved lives. Why has there been no such "call to action" yet with this disaster? Are volunteers being kept away because of toxicity levels? Does this have anything to do with the massive amounts of chemical dispersants which are being used? Is it tied in to stories of the hearty fishermen in the area who were hired for official clean-up purposes that we are now hearing of apparently falling ill with breathing difficulties, chronic coughs, nausea, etc... (from the oil, or again, perhaps the unprecedented amount of dispersants)?
Is there a reason we don't have a massive volunteer effort underway? Do we just passively wait for this to "be handled"? Because I believe if we were welcomed/allowed/called forth to do what we could, we as a people would. It's just so hard to sit back and "let" a tragedy happen, and know that lives are being and will continue to be lost, before our very eyes.
Updated post here w/info on how to help: https://kambriel.dreamwidth.org/229377.html
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
This kind of suffering isn't going to stop anytime soon as the oil continues to gush every minute of the day and night. Even if/when they do get the source of the leak under control, what's already been put forth will leave a legacy we'll be dealing with ~ and more importantly, the animals of the affected areas will be dealing with ~ for many years to come.
For weeks now, I've helplessly wished I could tell the birds, the fish ~ all the wildlife in the area to swim, crawl, fly and get out of the way... to ~please~ not take a drink or a swim or a dive in that oily/sheen covered area. To try not to ingest any of those dispersed bits floating amidst the depths of the waves through their fragile gills. But for all of Nature's wisdom, we simply don't have the capability to "tell" them and give them that kind of potentially life saving warning. They're simply left to their own devices, and when faced with something they've likely never had any experience dealing with before, well... this simply isn't something that they tend to get to get a second chance to learn from once wings are coated and beaks are filled.
I remember when "spills" (though this isn't so much a finite spill as much as a continuous, ongoing gush) happened in the past and birds needed help, volunteers rose to the occasion. Like when the penguins had to have oil cleaned off of them, but that stripped their natural protective coating such that it no longer properly insulated them, so volunteers around the world made and donated miniature handknit wool sweaters en masse for them to wear in the interim, and it saved lives. Why has there been no such "call to action" yet with this disaster? Are volunteers being kept away because of toxicity levels? Does this have anything to do with the massive amounts of chemical dispersants which are being used? Is it tied in to stories of the hearty fishermen in the area who were hired for official clean-up purposes that we are now hearing of apparently falling ill with breathing difficulties, chronic coughs, nausea, etc... (from the oil, or again, perhaps the unprecedented amount of dispersants)?
Is there a reason we don't have a massive volunteer effort underway? Do we just passively wait for this to "be handled"? Because I believe if we were welcomed/allowed/called forth to do what we could, we as a people would. It's just so hard to sit back and "let" a tragedy happen, and know that lives are being and will continue to be lost, before our very eyes.
Updated post here w/info on how to help: https://kambriel.dreamwidth.org/229377.html
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 03:53 am (UTC)Being an "environmentalist" is inherently a good thing. It benefits everyone if the world we live in is well taken care of. Our own health is directly connected to the health of the air/land/water that surrounds us since we literally ingest it into our own bodies every day of our lives.
Environmentalists aren't saying, "hey, let's do underwater drilling". The overwhelming preference is to focus on *alternative* fuel sources that are naturally renewable and able to be fully obtained here at home (wind, solar, etc...) instead of using something of finite supply that we have to go to such lengths to get at to begin with (whether that be far beneath the Earth's surface ~ either on land or underwater, or in the territories of foreign nations).
As cynical as I can be, ultimately I believe Americans *do* rise to the challenges that we are confronted with. I think for every person who is willing to sit back and complain passively, or try to blame those on "the other side", there is another who is willing to take their own time, money, and effort to actually do something when called on to help. Personally, I don't believe we should ever fully rely on government to take care of every problem that comes our way. Ultimately, *we* are our country, officials are simply there to represent *us*, and it's up to us to make it what we want it to be by helping each other (much like how people as individuals, not some inept government agency, opened their homes to the people of New Orleans after they had to evacuate post-Katrina) and by doing what we can, when we can.