Category Archives: Oil spill

Hands Across the Sand – And Facts Across the Gulf

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Hands Across the Sand at Dauphin Island, Alabama

Hands Across the Sand at Dauphin Island, Alabama, photographed June 26, 2010 by Dawn McKinney

Federal gulf waters closed to fishing due to potentially hazardous conditions

Federal gulf waters closed to fishing due to potentially hazardous conditions

Surface oil in gulf pictured by NASA satellite

Surface oil in gulf, photographed June 19, 2010 by NASA's Terra satellite

 Theresa Robinson, Hands-Across-the-Sand participant, summed it up, “I’m into the positive direction of this. I know we can’t stop off-shore oil tomorrow, but I know we need to be moving in that direction.”

Consider the following facts:
• There are over 78,000 square miles of federal gulf waters closed to fishing. A large portion of that water has surface or sub-surface oil or both. The spill area if centered in Montgomery would stretch down into Florida, encompass Birmingham and Gadsden, and stretch into Georgia encompassing Atlanta and surrounding communities.
• Despite better technology including insulation and more efficient cars, Americans now use 50% more energy per capita than Americans did in 1950 (we can learn valuable lessons from those days).
• Domestic off-shore oil only accounts for 8% of the American liquid/gas energy consumption.
• Less than half of the currently erupting oil is being collected even with the cap in place.
• The oil wells are less safe than advertised.
• We do not know how to control or stop the current eruption.

So what can I do responsibly for our priceless gulf? Lowering my energy consumption or conserving helps. Recycling helps. Riding bicycles and using public transportation helps. Affecting public policy to support and invest in clean energy helps too.

The huge area of spoiled environments is home for sea turtles, dolphins, birds, fish, crabs, etc. How would we feel if the oil was erupting in our neighborhoods from Atlanta and Birmingham, to Montgomery, to Florida with no end in sight?

Today, I am so grateful to everyone who came to Hands Across the Sand, not just on Dauphin Island, but everywhere. It was great experience meeting new people and joining hands together for a new direction that needs to happen. We would love to have more pictures of our event, so please send your pictures to uheditor@gmail.com. Thanks!

Enthusiastic college students added much to Hands Across the Sand

Enthusiastic college students on Dauphin Island added much to Hands Across the Sand, photographed June 26, 2010 by Theresa Robinson

 

When Natural Disasters are Bad Enough who Needs Oil Spills

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Tropical outlook by National Hurricane CenterThe 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.

Oil Returns to Dauphin Island Waters

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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

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

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

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

Surface oil entering clear waters near Katrina Cut, photographed June 19, 2010

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Don’t let no Oil Spill Turn You ’Round

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Reddish and snowy egrets together

Reddish and snowy egrets weathering the oil spill together, photographed June 12, 2010, Dauphin Island

Today I was told, “This oil spill’s going to last for the rest of our lives.” Hopefully not, but one thing’s for sure, the human family has storms enough coming and brewing now to fill our lifetimes. “Constant vigilance!” as Mad-eye Moody vowed needs to be our motto too. In the last blog entry, I spoke of encouragement. But right now southerly winds are pushing the oil toward the Gulf beaches. Hurricane season is beginning with the warmest waters on record ready to fuel the cyclones. The economy worldwide is in disarray. So, ultimately, encouragement needs deeper roots.

That’s why, right now I’m humming African American spirituals which helped sustain deep encouragement in the midst of great trouble. “Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile …” “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen …”

The spirituals proclaimed a firm, rebellious hope as well. “Trouble Don’t Last for Always …” “Don’t let nobody turn you ’round!” And later, “Don’t let segregation turn you ’round!” Today, let’s say together, “Don’t let no oil spill turn you ’round!” Today, like before, for all our problems, let it be a hope held inside. A hope held in common. The spirituals did not offer a quick fix, but an intergenerational hope passed from the old to the young, from parents to children, from friends to friends. A hope engraved in hearts by generous service. A hope sustained by the winds of the Spirit.