I’m a beach person. I love the beach, listening to the waves crash, the smells, the vast open space of the water, and the beauty of the sunset as it hits the water. I love seafood – grilled shrimp, crab legs, lobster, etc. I see it as a thing of the past – who wants seafood drenched in oil?
I know I’ve been going on and on about this oil spill. But the beaches I love are in my southern states. I enjoy going to Orange Beach, San Destin, Pensacola, and Dauphin Island. I’m wondering how long it will be before these areas will ever be the same. Will wildlife recover? Marshes survive? Marine life survive? I don’t know, and I know no one else does as well. The news reports are saying it’s the worse oil spill in U.S. history and the sad thing is it’s not over.
Seeing the pictures of seagulls, hermit crabs and birds covered in oil, brings tears to my eyes. These creatures have no idea what is going on and why it’s happening to them. I’m sure they sense fear and are bewildered wondering why and how.
I don’t know what it’s going to take to fix this mess, stop it, clean it up, and make sure it NEVER happens again. Every group, every force we have, every environmental group, governmental group, needs to make sure there are laws, regulations, fines, etc enforced to make sure our beaches, waters, wildlife, marine life, etc is never in this position again. Preparedness – where was it?
I hope the other companies drilling for oil in our Gulf learn from this bad situation. Take preparedness action, take your job seriously, and make sure we never have this happen again. I don’t have the answers or the solutions; I just know the fallout of this spill will carry on for a long time.
I want to walk on the beach, feel the sand beneath my feet, the breeze on my face, white seagulls diving for fish, hermit crabs crawling on the beach, and the smells of the ocean without the burning sensation of oil all around me.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Fowl cries help...
I’m a bird in the vast sky – I fly from ocean to ocean seeking food. As I flew across the Gulf, I noticed so many fish lying on the top water. Eureka I thought, wow – fish everywhere waiting for me. As I dove down to grab a bite, I in turn was grabbed by a slick wet thick dark mass. I panicked as I tried to free myself, but to no avail. It was thick like glue and soon was stuck to my feathers. I cried out a warning to my friends above me, do not come near – the ocean is full of death.
I could see the shoreline in the distance and the waves carried me away. I struggled to free myself, but nothing could free me from this dark mass. I could hear people talking nearby and heard them say words of an oil spill. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew the Gulf was not the same. As I drifted towards shore, I saw people looking with tears in their eyes. The thick mass had reached the shore, the sand glistened from the oil, the marshes were slowly dying, and you could see the destruction all around.
I don’t understand why someone would do this; it doesn’t make sense to me. I’m just a bird in a vast blue sky, but now I’m stuck in a dark mass of oil. Help me to understand, save me and my friends, fix the waters and fix my habitat, because this is MY home. I’m meant to fly, not drift in this dark mass – make my waters livable again.
I could see the shoreline in the distance and the waves carried me away. I struggled to free myself, but nothing could free me from this dark mass. I could hear people talking nearby and heard them say words of an oil spill. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew the Gulf was not the same. As I drifted towards shore, I saw people looking with tears in their eyes. The thick mass had reached the shore, the sand glistened from the oil, the marshes were slowly dying, and you could see the destruction all around.
I don’t understand why someone would do this; it doesn’t make sense to me. I’m just a bird in a vast blue sky, but now I’m stuck in a dark mass of oil. Help me to understand, save me and my friends, fix the waters and fix my habitat, because this is MY home. I’m meant to fly, not drift in this dark mass – make my waters livable again.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Oil and water doesn't mix
I'm just a fish in a vast space - filled with water. Today as I swam, I noticed something different - something that felt strange & scary. I looked around me and noticed how it was affecting those swimming with me, they were having trouble breathing, and soon they floated to the top. I thought they were going to get a look at what was transpiring, but then I realized they weren't coming back.
What could it be? Who is doing this? And … why. I swam closer to the big objects in the water to see if I could find the answers. I heard people talking about an oil spill, I wasn’t sure what it meant but I knew it had to be the strange feeling. I heard them say it wouldn’t hurt the wild life, but I wondered if they had seen my friends floating nearby.
I hear talk of blame, I hear excuses, but it doesn’t change the feeling, it doesn’t bring back life, and I still see the dark ugly spill all around me.
I’m just a fish in a vast space, but this is my home these people have invaded, and it’s my home that’s being damaged. Do they care? Or is it okay to lose a few fish, a few birds, and other living creatures? It matters to me, this is my home – this is my vast space.
In preparing for seasons, we get ready. For summer, we make sure the air condition, the ceiling fans, and all areas of coolness are ready. For winter, we make sure we have fire wood; we make sure the heaters are ready to be turned on for the cold blistery days. For spring, we start getting ready for the upcoming summer months. There are still days we need the heat, and there are days we’ll need the AC. For the hurricane season, we prepare our evacuation routes, we buy bottled water, flashlights and all essentials needed to sustain us. During a tornado season, we ready ourselves and family by getting in a closet, having a radio tuned to the latest news and weather reports. To prepare us for an oil spill … where is the plan of action? What measures are taken and why isn’t there “OIL SPILL PREPAREDNESS MEETINGS”. It seems we have so many groups, so many plans, so many people – but no action of how to prevent such things, how to prepare for them, and how to stop them from happening.
We can’t always predict the weather, the path of a tornado or hurricane, but from past weather disasters, we’ve learned to be prepared, we’ve learned to be on top of our game and learned to take immediate action.
It’s time we learned from the weather. It’s time for a plan of action so they’ll be no more loss in the water. It’s time to take action. No more excuses – just get it done NOW.
What could it be? Who is doing this? And … why. I swam closer to the big objects in the water to see if I could find the answers. I heard people talking about an oil spill, I wasn’t sure what it meant but I knew it had to be the strange feeling. I heard them say it wouldn’t hurt the wild life, but I wondered if they had seen my friends floating nearby.
I hear talk of blame, I hear excuses, but it doesn’t change the feeling, it doesn’t bring back life, and I still see the dark ugly spill all around me.
I’m just a fish in a vast space, but this is my home these people have invaded, and it’s my home that’s being damaged. Do they care? Or is it okay to lose a few fish, a few birds, and other living creatures? It matters to me, this is my home – this is my vast space.
In preparing for seasons, we get ready. For summer, we make sure the air condition, the ceiling fans, and all areas of coolness are ready. For winter, we make sure we have fire wood; we make sure the heaters are ready to be turned on for the cold blistery days. For spring, we start getting ready for the upcoming summer months. There are still days we need the heat, and there are days we’ll need the AC. For the hurricane season, we prepare our evacuation routes, we buy bottled water, flashlights and all essentials needed to sustain us. During a tornado season, we ready ourselves and family by getting in a closet, having a radio tuned to the latest news and weather reports. To prepare us for an oil spill … where is the plan of action? What measures are taken and why isn’t there “OIL SPILL PREPAREDNESS MEETINGS”. It seems we have so many groups, so many plans, so many people – but no action of how to prevent such things, how to prepare for them, and how to stop them from happening.
We can’t always predict the weather, the path of a tornado or hurricane, but from past weather disasters, we’ve learned to be prepared, we’ve learned to be on top of our game and learned to take immediate action.
It’s time we learned from the weather. It’s time for a plan of action so they’ll be no more loss in the water. It’s time to take action. No more excuses – just get it done NOW.
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