The Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig, 50 miles off the coastal wetlands of Louisiana, exploded on April 22, killing 11 people. In future days we might refer to this as the "Earth Day Oil Disaster." The oil is now spreading into those wetlands. The satellite photographs show a whirlpool like a distant galaxy of oil on the water.
It's breeding season for the brown pelicans, reddish egrets, mottled ducks, and royal terns, all threatened species that raise their young on those barrier reefs, islands, low-lying wetlands. They're already crowded -- the wetlands and reefs have been disappearing rapidly. They're already stressed, threatened, diminished.
Last night I told Bob I thought it would be 42 days before the oil was capped; he says 90 days. [Later clarified: he said it would STILL BE FLOWING in 90 days.] I keep trolling the internet for something more -- a meaningful commentary, an in-depth report -- and all I find are the neutral work of reporters describing the grim mood in the coastal towns, photographs of the original explosion and the doomed birds, diagrams of the damaged well and possible strategies for capping or plugging or diverting it. And reader comments, by the thousands, most of them observing the conventions of RED versus BLUE skits -- a polarized set of insults even more reductionist than the old conservative versus liberal "debates."
What else can we do but worry, type insults to our perceived political enemies, and curse the oil industry?
I envision walking across the country to New Orleans, dressed in black, and beating very slowly on a drum with a brown pelican painted on it. I see baskets of oil-soaked crabs and oysters and dead birds delivered to the doorsteps of BP executives and dumped on top of the Sunday papers. Let's have a car-free day on the 22nd of each month for the next year. Let's boycott BP and send them personal letters scrawled by hand on pieces of paper torn from children's copy books. Let's all wear black every day until the well is capped. Let's all send five bucks to Louisiana Audubon. Let's demonstrate at our local BP stations.
What do we need to do as a nation? We need to make a commitment to carbon-free energy sources as serious as the commitment we made to World War II: every able-bodied adult participates, every industry has something to do, every aspect of daily life changes. We need to amend the Constitution to forbid corporate personhood. We need to take apart the oil industry. We need to do everything to conserve, everything to transition our energy sources, everything to bring manufacturing and food production closer to home. We need to consume less and get a lot more mileage out of every kilowatt, every calorie, every gallon of oil.
The oil flowing out of that well today is going to be in the coastal wetlands of Louisiana this week; on the East Coast of Florida in June; entering Chesapeake Bay in July. I fear we're going to loose some species from this. Others will go from hanging on to barely surviving. The fishing industry is going to take a several-year hit; some shellfish and fishing areas may never recover. The oil is on its way home to Washington DC, home to New York, home to the coast of Britain.
If this doesn't wake us up, what will?
