Category Archives: Sustainability

OCEAN-OIL Website Created for Gulf Oil Catastrophe

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Satellite photo of oil catastrophe

Satellite photo of oil catastrophe - one of the many photos available at OCEAN-OIL

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Boston University, Louisiana State University, and the National Council for Science and the Environment have created the Online Clearinghouse for Education And Networking: Oil Interdisciplinary Learning (OCEAN-OIL). The site, part of the Encyclopedia of Earth website, is open-access and peer-reviewed allowing scientists, teachers, and concerned citizens to make contributions.

OCEAN-OIL has three project goals: “(1) Spur activity to develop and share educationally-valuable resources; (2) Facilitate dissemination and adoption of these materials in education; and (3) Promote deep thinking about the relationship between humans, their needs and wants, and the Earth.”

OCEAN-OIL’s current resources include over 1000 articles on the oil catastrophe, an oil spill glossary, and resource links as well as many other resources.

The submission process to OCEAN-OIL for several of Umpteen Horizons articles relating to the gulf oil catastrophe has begun including our proposals to the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama (see below).

We will have an informal Future of the Gulf get-together on Thursday evening, 6:00 P.M., December 9,  at the Golden Corral in the Tillman’s Corner area. If you are interested, please email me at denton2100@gmail.com.

Future of the Gulf Community Brainstorm -Proposals for the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama

Ecological Needs 

  • Clean, restore, and enhance gulf and bays
  • Build and enhance 100 miles of oyster reefs and 1000+ acres of coastal marsh and seagrass – see http://100-1000.org/
  • Ensure that water, air, and food are safe with ongoing long-term testing – data should be fully and immediately available to the public
  • Develop comprehensive, fail-safe regulations to prevent future oil catastrophes – prevention is a great deal better than the cure

Coastal Community Participation 

  • Enlist local decision making and employment in coastal recovery efforts
  • Invest in coastal economic opportunities to support sustainable coastal recovery and enhance Alabama’s coastal areas and waters
  • Train south Alabama medical professionals to diagnose and treat environmental health conditions potentially related to the oil catastrophe
  • Immediate public transparency on all issues relating to public health such as the use of dispersants in area waters and the ongoing presence of oil and other health threats in area waters
  • Listen and learn from coastal communities in order to improve future responses to coastal disasters such as oil spills and hurricanes

Education and Support Initiatives for Oil-Affected Families

  • Grant full scholarships for children of low-income, oil-affected families to local universities, community colleges, or technical schools
  • Provide job training and a support system for coastal workers and others who have lost their livelihoods due to the oil catastrophe
  • Enhance science curriculum at all levels (K through college) to better appreciate Alabama’s coastal environment and to provide appropriate service-learning programs to support the environment (see service-learning resource center at the University of South Alabama http://caslce.usouthal.edu/)

 Coastal Fire Protection 

  • Develop a unified, comprehensive plan for coastal fire fighting resources
  • Several coastal communities need multipurpose fire engines with 75-foot ladders and with storage for water and foam
  • Fire and rescue response boat powered by twin engines and capable of pumping water from sea
  • New bunker gear capable of protecting the well-being of the firemen and providing self-contained breathing for firemen
  • Radio communications for hazardous-materials quick response needs that connect Mobile, Baldwin, and neighboring counties in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida

Proposals for the Coastal Recovery Commission of Alabama

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Kindra Arnesen speaking from the August 5, 2010 Buras Town Hall Meeting

Time for your voice to be heard!

Many families in coastal South Alabama depend on a sound coastal environment for their livelihoods. The coastal communities in south Mobile County have been assaulted by the oil catastrophe. Many families are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing oil catastrophe. These proposals provide needed tangible benefits for these communities.

The proposals have emerged from several community brainstorms held in Coden and on Dauphin Island. These proposals are sensitive to community needs and the goals of the Commission. The set of proposals are not meant to be comprehensive but to be included in the comprehensive plan being developed by the Commission.

Ecological Needs 

  • Clean, restore, and enhance gulf and bays
  • Build and enhance 100 miles of oyster reefs and 1000+ acres of coastal marsh and seagrass – see http://100-1000.org/
  • Ensure that water, air, and food are safe with ongoing long-term testing – data should be fully and immediately available to the public
  • Develop comprehensive, fail-safe regulations to prevent future oil catastrophes – prevention is a great deal better than the cure

Coastal Community Participation 

  • Enlist local decision making and employment in coastal recovery efforts
  • Invest in coastal economic opportunities to support sustainable coastal recovery and enhance Alabama’s coastal areas and waters
  • Train south Alabama medical professionals to diagnose and treat environmental health conditions potentially related to the oil catastrophe
  • Immediate public transparency on all issues relating to public health such as the use of dispersants in area waters and the ongoing presence of oil and other health threats in area waters
  • Listen and learn from coastal communities in order to improve future responses to coastal disasters such as oil spills and hurricanes

Education and Support Initiatives for Oil-Affected Families

  • Grant full scholarships for children of low-income, oil-affected families to local universities, community colleges, or technical schools
  • Provide job training and a support system for coastal workers and others who have lost their livelihoods due to the oil catastrophe
  • Enhance science curriculum at all levels (K through college) to better appreciate Alabama’s coastal environment and to provide appropriate service-learning programs to support the environment (see service-learning resource center at the University of South Alabama http://caslce.usouthal.edu/)

 Coastal Fire Protection 

  • Develop a unified, comprehensive plan for coastal fire fighting resources
  • Several coastal communities need multipurpose fire engines with 75-foot ladders and with storage for water and foam
  • Fire and rescue response boat powered by twin engines and capable of pumping water from sea
  • New bunker gear capable of protecting the well-being of the firemen and providing self-contained breathing for firemen
  • Radio communications for hazardous-materials quick response needs that connect Mobile, Baldwin, and neighboring counties in Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida

These proposals will be submitted to the Commission this evening at the Bayou La Batre Community Center. This is a public meeting for the Commission to share its plans and receive input from the public. Meeting starts at 5:30 P.M.

Compassion is Every Breath

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With every breath we take, we draw life from the same atoms that have been shared by countless creatures, people, and prophets. We look around and see flowers, sunsets, birds, butterflies, and many wonders. No matter what we have done or not done, good or evil, we benefit from the sun and rain that nourishes the plants and fruits we eat (Matthew 5:44-45). Such is the loving generosity of our Earth and our Creator.
Mother Theresa photographed by Wikimedia-Commons User Túrelio.

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love" - Theresa of Calcutta. Photographed by Wikimedia-Commons User Túrelio on July 13, 1986.

As the Creator’s children, as parts of the Earth, just like the air we breathe, we are called to generously share our gifts so that life might be sustained, that justice might be created, and that peace might be restored. Our sharing, like the Earth’s sharing, must extend to everyone, even to those who ignore us or treat us harshly, just as we have ignored or harshly treated the Earth.

This revolutionary call is not about great individual heroic acts, but about us, plain everyday people, alertly respecting one another, hoping in one another, and acting wisely and generously together. It is the mustard seed growing. It’s believing in the great good of “small things” done “with great love” (Theresa of Calcutta). It’s acting without looking for any credit or reward, “do not even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:2-4). It’s each of us connecting our hearts to the needs around us and joining together so that each small breath and each small act works for the benefit of all.

If you’re interested in Alabama’s coastal communities and in the environment and you’re able to come, we are having a Future of the Gulf – Community Brainstorm this Thursday (October 28) at 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. at the Coastal Response Center at 7385 Highway 188 in Coden, Alabama. If you feel your voice is needed, please come and invite other interested persons, your voice is needed! Snacks will be provided.

Also if you have a minute check out Empower News (see tab above), it is really coming along. Thanks to Dawn McKinney, Rachel Guillory, and Mignon Denton for contributing to this effort regularly.

Disasters and Normalcy

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Local disasters grab our attention and bring disruption. To survive and help, we wake up, pull together, pray, and rearrange our priorities. But once the recovery is in sight, it’s back to “normal.” But our normal is disasterous too, doomed to perpetuate itself. Too often our normal means accepting that millions who lack quality opportunities never graduate from high school. Too often it means accepting that millions of needy people end up in prison and too often it means accepting that millions suffer alone.

About a week ago, I met a commercial fisherman in his sixties from Bayou La Batre. His father and his sons were fisheman too. He said, “Before this happened [the Deepwater Horizons oil catastrophe], I never realized how important and worthwhile the gulf is. I just took it for granted.” This fisherman’s honesty helped me see that we need a different kind of normal that is not blind-sided by disasters. We need a new normal where our priorities for people and nature are always ready and alert for disasters. Simply put, we belong to those who need us and we need to live fully and alertly for others. The call of Jesus still rings out, “Be awake!”