Last night I went to hear Kerry St. Pe speak on the gulf oil disaster. Kerry is a marine biologist and the director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program. Not only is he a marine biologist but his family first settled in the estuary in the 1760s!. People came for the information but also to commune with others. We are anxious and grief stricken and stuck to our computer screens with not much else to do. Although the news was far from good, the chance to process it with others was. We are a volunteering bunch here was no opportunity to put our energies to work. We watch our screens.
Unlike before and after a hurricane, when there is plenty of work to do (and during as well, although that might consist of the heavy lifting of glasses) we can't DO much. Clean up poses serious health risks and they don't want us anyway.
We got a good education on how toxic this stuff is and a feeling that the hubris of man has allowed us to create technologies that can destroy what is not in our power to fix.
What I'll never forget is Kerry saying repeatedly, "We are losing our culture, we are losing our culture". It is different here and these differences need to be saved now, as well as protected and preserved.
Free buffet was served after. Nothing flies here without good food.
BTW-In the last three years BP has had 760 safety citations while Exxon has had one.
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