One fish, two fish, red fish … dead fish? Thousands of Louisiana residents are now facing that reality as the Gulf of Mexico’s steadily growing oil slick deals an irreparable blow to their fishing livelihoods. BP has finally been cajoled into setting up a $20 billion escrow account — the intent being to reimburse said fishermen and other victims of the Deepwater Horizon’s billowing plumes — but who is watching out for the “small” guys in all this?
No amount of money will bring back the myriad marine and coastal species that have been inadvertently slathered in this man-made mess. And even more regrettably, this isn’t the first time human activity has severely threatened life in the Gulf.
Beginning in 2007, scientists released findings that a “dead zone” was forming annually in the Gulf of Mexico, partially as a result of nitrogen-rich fertilizer runoff from Corn Belt states (including Iowa).
This hypoxic environment makes life in the lower levels of the Gulf nearly impossible and essentially creates “an ecological time bomb,” says aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
And thus we have come to the grim realization that no matter who you are — or where you live in the United States — you can’t walk away from the Gulf without feeling just a twinge of remorse.
The DI Editorial Board is not offering up miraculous cures to the nation’s ridiculous obsession with oil, nor are we going to compel you to donate to CNN’s relief fund. You’re not expected to dive into the black slimy mess, knife in teeth, and plug the spewing leak with your bare hands (though it may be worth a shot).
We’re not pushing you to send your extra hair as boom. And though the University of Iowa sent three researchers to collect samples from the wetlands to evaluate the usefulness of Spartina alterniflora in restoring these habitats, you needn’t bother donning your lab coat just yet. It would be nice if you spent an afternoon scrubbing petroleum-soaked pelicans, but we’re not even asking that much of you.
No, we have a bigger plan in mind, something more extensive and long-lasting than the vastest of Deepwater Horizon-esque spills: moving beyond oil.
The brainchild of the Sierra Club, Beyond Oil is a campaign designed to wean the nation off its decades-long love affair with all things crude. Pushing the president to write up a comprehensive oil-independency plan spanning the next 20 years, the project’s planned high point culminates in a July 4 sit-in on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, reported after conducting a tour of the wetlands: “It’s much worse than I thought … it’s much worse than the media have reported.”
His appraisal has not fallen on deaf ears. So far, some 15,000 people have sent electronic letters to the Oval Office, and that number is growing daily. Prompts from 15,000 is hard to ignore — almost as hard to ignore as the 36.6 million to 106.2 million gallons’ worth of oil the New York Times has estimated is seeping into the Gulf’s waters, sand, and ecosystem. Sheer numbers, in concert with incessant media coverage, are sure to provoke a strong reaction.
The Editorial Board can only hope that the reaction involves decreasing consumption of, drilling for, and bartering with resource-cursed countries for oil by 2030.
“The disaster in the Gulf. Foreign wars. Climate change. This Independence Day, tell President Obama we need freedom from oil” greets the website to its visitors. And though sending an e-mail to the president sure doesn’t feel as rewarding as soaping up a sea turtle, there’s one democratic axiom that sums up the importance of this small act quite succinctly: the power of the people.
The boom is in place and the matches are lit; the next move is up to you. To show your support, however minimal you may think it to be, go to letsmovebeyondoil.org to send your own letter to the president. You can also find ways to decrease your daily dependence on petroleum-based products and read updates direct from the scene of the slime.
“It’s an outrage — just another example that the price we pay for oil is too high,” Brune opined. This Independence Day, let’s turn the tides on Big Oil and off the “dead zone.”