The National Hurricane Center is watching a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea. This system could develop into a tropical storm and enter the Gulf of Mexico next week. The effects of any tropical storms or hurricanes on the oil eruption, gulf environment, capping efforts, and clean-up efforts are anyone’s guess. Predicting the number of hurricanes is hardly an exact science, but published predictions for a hyper-active hurricane season are rattling nerves already exhausted by vacations lost, jobs lost, habitats lost, and lives lost.
Hurricanes are just part of life, but the prevention of future oil spills can be accomplished with sensible, courageous decisions.
Hands across the Sand
This Saturday, June 26, all across the United States, Hands across the Sand events will take place. Hands across the Sand is an event for people who want to say “No” to off-shore drilling and “Yes” to cleaner energy alternatives. It’s not for everybody. But for those who support this message it is a collective opportunity to make their voices heard. If you agree with this message, please come, bring family and friends, and make your voice heard!
On Dauphin Island, people will begin gathering at the public beach around 11:00 AM and will join hands for 15 minutes at 12:00 noon.
Saturday afternoon, in the Mississippi Sound just north of Dauphin Island, my brother, Joe, and I (in his boat) passed through sizable areas of surface oil. Click pictures below for larger, more detailed images.
Surface oil in the Mississippi Sound north of Dauphin Island, photographed on June 19, 2010
In Katrina Cut, despite oil in the water just to the north, larger fish and birds were having a feeding frenzy on smaller fish.
Large fish and birds feasting on smaller fish in Katrina Cut, photographed June 19, 2010
Katrina Cut has become rich natural wonder since Hurricane Katrina opened it. But to prevent oil from passing through it, we are now going to fill it in with rocks and sand. Sadly, the oil has now entered the Mississippi Sound not through the cut at all but from the west.
Bird and fish feeding in Katrina cut, photographed June 19, 2010
About 40 minutes later, quite close to the feeding birds and fish, we saw a large area of approaching oil only 25 yards from the Dauphin Island beach. This oil also threatens the shores Bayou La Batre, Heron Bay, and other coastal communities.
Surface oil entering clear waters near Katrina Cut, photographed June 19, 2010
Check out our new In Touch tab at the top of the web page.
Pond with unexpected floral display, photographed June 12, 2010
First thing this morning, my son, Edward says, “Dad, have you seen the pond this morning?” Looking out the window, needing encouragement but expecting the worse, I saw a dozen water hyacinths in full bloom and three water lilies blooming too. Wild flowers were blooming around the pond as well. Wow!
Work, patience, nourishment, good habits, and thoughtfulness had helped those flowers bloom. Like flowers, we and all those close to us need encouragement to grow into the unique, beautiful persons that we are.
I wonder how often the oil spill workers are encouraged. Most days they perform extraordinary tasks on our beaches in the scorching sun. With their hard work, many of the worst areas have been big-time cleaned. The oil eruption continues to cause serious problems, and more problems are still to come, but each day steady progress is being made on the beaches. Yesterday and today, I saw several encouraging signs of life too, a sea turtle swimming up and down in the waves, beach grass swaying in clear water, egrets feasting on minnows in tidal pools, …
Encouragement is not meant to be a nice idea. We either do it or we don’t. We either experience it or we don’t. Encouragement takes work, patience, nourishment, good habits, and thoughtfulness. Encouragement can be experienced by inviting friends and needy ones over for dinner, spending time with children, doing something special each day with your spouse, calling a friend, smiling, volunteering, supporting the works of others, prayer, being appreciative of oneself, … With steady effort, encouragement can become second nature to us and help us stay afloat like the sea turtle in the waves of life.
Fisherman on water and rocks near Dauphin Island, photographed June 11, 2010
Simon was a fisherman. Like Simon many of us have job titles too. But we’re more than that. When the fish seemed gone, Simon had an amazing friend who said that from now on he would be a fisher of people. Simon asked his friend to leave him, but his friend assured him that nothing could keep him from being who Simon was meant to be.
About a week before the Deep Water Horizon oil explosion I had a dream. In the dream, I was at a meeting where we were all asked to introduce ourselves. When it was my turn, I went through various job titles I had held in the past and sat down. But the person leading the meeting responded, “That so lame!” because I was so much more than that. Her words did not make me feel bad at all, but rather I felt like a new chapter in my life was about to open.
The impact of the dream woke me. Sitting up I realized clearly that Life is about everyone. God is in love with each person. Each of us is needed. Each person has a mission! I realized that to avert disasters, we have to work hard, we can’t stay lame, we need to be real, who we are, who we are meant to be. Each of us defines this for ourselves, together we need to heal ourselves, heal the world. Now is the time. Act.
Of course, we feel shackled, lame, powerless … at times. We wonder “How can we do what we’re supposed to do?” But children seem to get at the heart of the matter often. “Momma, we need to stop picking up shells and pick up oil.” “How are we going to save all the sea animals?” In spite of the storms around us, each of us is called to make everything we touch better, we are called not only to walk, but to walk on water … to walk according to what is imperishable within us.
Britt Nicole singing her song Walk on the Water
Thousands of people last year were walking the beaches of Dauphin Island and other Gulf Coast locations. The oil eruption continues to flow while the flow of people to our beaches has all but stopped. An upcoming event may change that at least for one day.
Hands across the Sand is an event for people who want to say “No” to off-shore drilling and “Yes” to cleaner energy alternatives. It’s not for everybody. But for those who support this message it is a collective opportunity to make their voices heard.
On June 26, across the United States, in over 30 states, Hands across the Sand events will take place. On Dauphin Island, people will begin gathering at the public beach around 11:00 AM and will join hands for 15 minutes at 12:00 noon. The Dauphin Island event will proceed as planned unless the public beach is closed to the public at that time.
Blogkeeping Notes:
You may want to use the “Posts,” “By Email,” and “Comments” buttons at the top right of this blog’s web pages to receive emails or feeds of new blog posts and comments.
You may also want to share this blog with your friends (it would help this blog a great deal). To do so click the “Share / Save” button found at the bottom of the blog’s posts. This button allows you to use your email or other services like Facebook, Twitter, … to introduce your friends to this blog.
The National Hurricane Center is watching a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea. This system could develop into a tropical storm and enter the Gulf of Mexico next week. The effects of any tropical storms or hurricanes on the oil eruption, gulf environment, capping efforts, and clean-up efforts are anyone’s guess. Predicting the number of hurricanes is hardly an exact science, but published predictions for a hyper-active hurricane season are rattling nerves already exhausted by vacations lost, jobs lost, habitats lost, and lives lost.
