Oil Spill

I can't really fathom the oil spill. For several reasons, I can't wrap my mind around it. I think part of that is some sort of emotional response my immune system impinges on me to keep my literal cranium from exploding into a fine pink, brain-colored mist, or from flying over to BP headquarters in jolly-old and raising the issue personally.

Part of it is not being able to comprehend the literal physics and physical size of the disaster. I understand that a methane pocket caused the Deepwater Horizon to explode and sink and that there have been half a dozen methods to stop the poisonous sludge from gushing into our ocean waters. By far the worst part of this disaster were the hard working guys who perished as generators and rigging exploded around them like the materialization of hell itself.

The ocean and its immensity have always frightened me on a primal level. Have you ever looked at a ship-wreck in dim, under-water light while scuba diving and not had the immediate urge to be topside? Throw in some barracuda and I'm officially soiling my wet suit during my hasty ascent. Not to mention we haven't explored more than about five percent of the ocean, one percent when talking about the sea floor itself (where I hear only the most terrible sea monsters prefer to spend their days). The National Ocean Service says that the vast majority of the ocean is dark, no light can penetrate below 3,000 feet. Dark AND unknown? No thanks.

The ocean's getting even darker, with oil. It's all I can think about, trying to comprehend how it happened, and more importantly, how the hell it will be stopped before the August relief-well dig completion. The worst part? There is not much I can do sitting here, high in the rockies, except send hair clippings for oil-absorbent buoys (done the day after I got my customary post-tour hair cut).

This sense of helplessness led to great satisfaction when I read this morning that the feds will be investigating both civil and criminal cases against BP. And while we are talking about the current administration (isn't this a music blog?) I'd like to say, unabashedly, that Obama is doing a good job. He's pragmatic, responsive, doesn't make America sound like a bunch of red-necks, and has pushed legislation through which will make Americans healthier and prevent bankers from getting too much wealthier. Bush sat on his ass while domestic issues like Katrina ate at the soul of our country, while lying to the public on the premise of starting wars of aggression, a war which has gone on to be the longest engagement in our history, unless you count the pointless, counterproductive money waste we call the "war on drugs".

As it turns out, nature herself might be the saving grace of this whole situation. While BP rejects inventors and scientists, the ideas of those who've known something like this was going to happen and put their dollars into stopping it, there is a multitude of thought and innovation being put into how to fix this. You can find it all over YouTube. But the real fix might be nature's built-in protections against oil which is, after all a naturally occuring substance itself. Scientists say plant-matter can recover from one good oiling, although the second or third will kill it off. Microscopic organisms in the ocean can eat oil particles. Warm sea water facilitates the evaporation of the oil off the surface.

In the interim BP needs to stop using environmentally harmful dispersants, keep the oil off the coastline and let nature do what she does with the thousands of naturally occurring oil leaks on the seabed floor all over the world.

If it is found that BP management was criminally negligent in their safety precautions, precautions protecting the very world which allows them to breath air, taste their caviar or feel the wind in their hair while riding in the Rolls, all while blindly preparing to decimate a region already embattled with nature, then heads should roll as an example that the Earth, our Mother, is not to be fucked with.