Let's Find the Spark and Fight Back: Gulf Oil Leak

“War is when the government tells you who the bad guy is. Revolution is when you decide that for yourself.”

As is apparent from my recent blog posts, I have been thinking a lot about the oil geyser in the Gulf of Mexico lately. Over the last week or so I've been so appalled with all that I've read that I couldn't find the heart to write a post about it. I do know, however, that even though there is decent media coverage of the disaster it is mostly local media and the vast majority of people are getting a watered down version of the crisis that is unfolding.

So, I'd like to begin by providing a few links to stories as well as to news sources where you can find information on the disaster.

Articles:

• Yes, Mr. President, It Was Your Katrina - Three Weeks Ago. Now it May Be Your Chernobyl By: Robert Redick http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/24-5

• Oil Oozing Up On Shore Despite Best Efforts Of BP, Coast Guard To Contain (PR) Fallout: http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/05/19/oil-oozing-up-on-shore-despite-best-efforts-of-bp-coast-guard-to-contain-pr-fallout/

• BP Witholds Oil Spill Facts--And Government Lets It: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/18/94415/bps-secrecy-keep-facts-on-gulf.html

• Norman engineer has own idea about how to stop Gulf oil leak http://www.newsok.com/norman-engineer-has-own-idea-about-how-to-stop-gulf-oil-leak/article/3462317?custom_click=pod_headline_national-finance-news

• CT inventor proposes solution to Gulf oil leak: http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news13241.html

Links:

• A livestream of the oil geyser: http://www.livestream.com/wkrg_oil_spill

• Coast Guard says "It's BP's Rules, Not Ours" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb4JWgUuSEE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2Fgreenman3610%23p&feature=player_profilepage

• Radio out of New Orleans talking about the spill and what is REALLY going on down there: http://www.wwl.com/pages/1050632.php

One thing that really strikes me about this whole disaster is that it seems most people are assuming that BP is corrupt and the government is in on it. Citizens who identify themselves as right wing, left wing, or just trying to survive know that the current system (call it capitalism, call it Western Civilization, call it anything you want) takes care of corporations more than it takes care of individuals. This is a given. The author Derrick Jensen asks this very question at many of his talks "How many of you think the American government takes care of people over corporations?" (Approximate quote.) No one ever raises their hand.

So, we are living in a system that doesn't take care of people. This system is quickly filling the gulf with oil, but this isn’t the first time the oceans have been killed by oil. There have been the obvious oil spills, but there are also the indirect effects oil has on the oceans. The pollution, the plastic, the wars, the global warming. Fossil fuels have been killing the oceans for a long time.

Citizens of the United States know that corporations are killing their land and their livelihoods (and even the people themselves in many cases like the cleanup workers in Louisiana getting sick: http://trueslant.com/allisonkilkenny/2010/05/26/oil-spill-clean-up-workers-report-feeling-drugged-disoriented/ )

So what are we going to do? Are we just going to sit back and take the abuse and watch as the planet and we are slowly killed off by profit-hungry criminals? Or are we going to fight? Fight for the land, for our rights, for the rights of non humans? How much sludge will it take on the shore before we not only admit that corporations are taken care of better than individuals but rise up and fight against that fact?

BP can kill an entire coastline and get no punishment, yet an "eco terrorist" can be sent to prison for 20 years for setting an empty SUV on fire. This is insanity. It's time to rise up and fight. Sure, boycott BP, boycott all oil. Demand that no drilling is opened up that isn't already open and that a plan be put in place for shutting down all offshore drilling practices.

But most of all end the system that is destroying the planet.

"A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government" -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Real Eco-Terrorists

Time to Take Action: The Gulf of Mexico Oil Leak

I know that when it comes to people who typically read this blog I will be preaching to the choir on this issue, but even the choir needs guidance sometimes.

The Gulf of Mexico is dying.

There, I said it. No, I am not exaggerating. It won't be long before everything in the Gulf of Mexico is dead. That is the future we are looking at right now, and a grim future it is.

So, what can you do? The answer, in a nutshell, is do SOMETHING. It seems to me that people on a national scale are doing relatively little to help with this unfolding disaster and to prevent future drilling that will inevitably lead to more disasters of this sort.

It isn't just citizens that are handling this poorly however; the powers that be are failing pretty miserably as well. I am including BP in the 'powers that be' category because, lets face it: the pockets of the power are oily with campaign contributions from BP and other oil giants.

So, as citizens of this dying planet we MUST stand up and fight for it. Protest, boycott, do whatever you have to. Offshore drilling needs to stop now. It is not the only horrible thing that the western way of life results in for the environment, but hey, if you are going to stop one thing at a time, it's a great place to start. Sign all the petitions you want, but until the people take to the streets nothing will change. Why isn't anyone furious enough to start marching? Let's march. I'll join. Will you?

Here's a website about actions taking place across the country on Friday, May 14: http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/category/front-page/

Okay, so you aren't the marching and candle light vigil type…I get it, but you can do your part too. And no, I don't mean sending your hair down to the gulf to help absorb oil (although it can't hurt, I guess). I mean that we can use our brains to help the situation.

BP and the US Coast Guard need to release to the public EVERYTHING they know about the current situation. The psi of the oil geyser (it isn’t a spill or a leak, a geyser is much more accurate) and all of the technical aspects they know about it. They need to let the public know everything so that the intelligent and educated public can work to come up with solutions. When this accident occurred BP had no plan A. When they came up with their impressive looking (but ultimately ineffective) funnel/containment vessel plan I thought it might work: it didn't. Now the plan is to shoot golf balls and torn up tires into the leaking area. I am no engineer but I'm going to go ahead and say that that probably will not work. I have yet to hear a plan C (except Russia's recommendation to use nuclear weapons). So, why not do more than just open a tip line for the public, how about actually providing them with information to come up with USABLE solutions?

I will end my written rant there, but below I've put pictures of the endangered species BP themselves listed in their Exploration Plan for this location (you can view it in its entirety here: http://www.gomr.mms.gov/PI/PDFImages/PLANS/29/29977.pdf)

"4.7 Threatened or endangered species, critical habitat, and marine mammal information
Twenty-nine species of marine mammals occur in the GOM. There are 28 species of cetaceans (7 mysticete and 21 odontocete species) and 1 sirenian species, the manatee.
Five baleen whales, one toothed whale, and one sirenian occur in the GOM and are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA):
-The Northern Right Whale
-The Blue Whale
-The Fin Whale
-The Sei Whale
-The Humpback Whale
-The Sperm Whale
-The West Indian Manatee

The sperm whale is common in oceanic waters of the northern GOM and appears to be a resident species, while the baleen whales are considered rare or extralimital in the Gulf. The West Indian Manatee typically inhabits only coastal marine, brackish, and freshwater areas.

Five sea turtles inhabit the waters of GOM and are listed as endangered: the Leatherback, Green, Hawksbill, Kemp's Ridley, and Loggerhead turtle. These five species are all highly migratory, and no individual members of any of the species are likely to be year-round residents of the proposed area of interest.

There are no critical habitats designated within the Gulf of Mexico for the threatened and endangered species above."

Obama: Breaking One Promise at a Time

We have all heard the mantra "save the whales", seen the grotesque images that are the results of whaling, and cheered on the fictional "Willy" as he was saved from whalers time and time again in the sequels to Free Willy…I have never met a person that has actually been FOR whaling. I think there are really not many people that are.

Obama said in 2008, when campaigning on a GreenPeace Candidate Questionaire:

As president, I will ensure that the U.S. provides leadership in enforcing international wildlife protection agreements, including strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling. Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable.”

— Barack Obama, March 16, 2008

Here is an excerpt from GreenPeace's response flier that explains the issue with whaling and Obama (the flier can be found here http://us.greenpeace.org/site/DocServer/Photos_to_Save_the_Whales_Toolkit.pdf?docID=521)

"Back in 1975, Greenpeace launched the world’s first-ever Save the Whales campaign. The images we brought back from our maiden anti-whaling voyage sparked an international outcry and moved a generation of environmentalists into action. Eventually, after a decade of intense activism, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) agreed to ban commercial whaling. That was 1986 and it was one of our greatest moments as an organization— it was also one of the greatest moments for activists like you.

We could lose it all this June.

In an altogether shocking move, President Obama’s delegation to the IWC has decided to back a plan that would legitimize commercial whaling for the first time since the ban was passed over 20 years ago. We simply can’t let that happen. President Obama needs to hear from Americans everywhere that we oppose this bad deal and demand that he lives up to his campaign promise to work to end all commercial whaling.

That’s why we’re asking everyone who cares about whales to take action and send a message to the President that supporting any deal that would legitimize commercial whaling is, as he himself said, 'unacceptable.'”

So, wait, you are probably thinking I must be kidding. Someone FOR whaling? That's unheard of…well no, I'm not kidding and GreenPeace isn't crazy. Here's another article on it.

Here is a statement from Edward Dorson (Edward Dorson is Director of Conservation Strategies for the Shark Research Institute) taken from the Huffington Post article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-muskedukes/a-sea-of-deceit-and-capit_b_551858.html Bold has been added by me.

A Sea of Deceit and Capitulation
by Edward Dorson
April 25, 2010

The trajectory of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting in Morocco this June, is on a disastrous course for the world's whales. A new proposal to resume commercial whaling will be presented at the IWC summit. Simply put, it's an awful deal. In order to foresee the fate of the whales with this proposal on the table, look no further than how all the marine species fared at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) last month, where each and every proposed aquatic species was denied protection. This was a Japanese orchestrated "victory," and the same bullying, vote swapping and "influencing" that Japan deployed at CITES to prevent marine protection is also entrenched to dictate the fate of the whales at the IWC.

The IWC proposal would actually reward the whaling abuses of Japan, Norway, and Iceland. This "compromise" deal allows whaling countries to continue killing for at least the next 10 years, with an unachievable requirement for reduced kill quotas. It offers no true enforcement, it can't hold the whalers to any promises, and it obviously undoes all conservation measures made since the 1986 declaration of a whaling moratorium. Furthermore, it would legitimize Japan's slaughter in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and promote a Japanese generated ploy wherein "Indigenous" whaling would apply to Japan's coastal whalers, allowing more killing of whales in the North Pacific.

Japan has unfailingly undermined every marine regulatory convention that may affect its ability to plunder the world's oceans -- systematically rolling back years of international conventions and marine protections. Removing the moratorium on commercial whaling would also remove the most recognizable boundary to Japan's hubris and greed, and would assist in the unrestrained taking of the less "cuddly" species such as the highly lucrative tunas and other fish species.

Japan wants a resumption of commercial whaling to divert the focus away from its unsustainable pillage of the seas. Whales are highly sentient beings, and, despite what Japan projects, they aren't universally perceived as a "product." From elaborate scientific study to casual observation, they've proven to be extremely social, communicative, highly intelligent, and able to feel intense emotion and pain. Japan realizes that if the killing of such iconic species is sanctioned, the remainder of what's left of aquatic life will be theirs for the taking.

A recent document by Professor Shohei Yonemoto, titled "Useless Research Whaling Should Be Abolished," gives his pragmatic perspective on Japan's ambitions of dominance of the dwindling life in the oceans. He speaks of trading off "research" whaling only to go unhampered in the whaling closer to Japan. In the last two paragraphs, Dr. Yonemoto reveals Japan's ultimate objective in relentlessly exploiting the more valuable tunas, sharks and other fish:

"It is said that eating whales is Japan's traditional culture. But this is a myth that was started through a PR company during the mid-1970s. Actually, whale meat does not sell well and there is surplus stock. If Japan proposes to the IWC to allow it to engage in coastal whaling in exchange for giving up research whaling, I expect the long-standing opposition to be immediately settled.

Currently, there is a growing trend for strengthening control over marine resources such as tuna on a global scale. Also in order not to raise questions over Japan's scientific data in international forums to discuss regulations on fishing of tuna and other fish, Japan should abolish research whaling as a government project."

Japan now has a formidable ally in its quest to lift the ban on commercial whaling: President Barack Obama. In the March intersessional IWC meeting, the Obama Administration was the chief proponent in advancing the plan to resume commercial whaling and is currently urging other nations to follow. This is clearly based on geopolitical maneuvering and Japan's leverage with our debt obligation; devoid of scientific or ethical consideration.

The U.S. position is a drastic departure from then-Senator Obama's campaign promise made on March 16, 2008, when he stated: "As president, I will ensure that the U.S. provides leadership in enforcing international wildlife protection agreements, including strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling. Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unacceptable."

As the current proposal is written, pro-whaling countries will directly benefit with a return to what was described by the president as "unacceptable" commercial whaling. Nearly 25 years of conservation efforts may be swept aside if former staunch allies of the whales, the U.S. and other nations following our lead, capitulate to Japan as they have indicated.

The president's unfulfilled pledge to "ensure that the US provides leadership in enforcing international wildlife protection agreements" could be achieved by compelling Japan to honor all the agreements it has broken with impunity. Japan has violated the Law of the Sea Convention, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

If the president truly wanted to see these agreements upheld, he could seek redress from the rogue whaling nations by using the sanctioning powers available under the Pelly Amendment against Japan, Norway, and Iceland until they stop whaling completely.

The president should be urged to be true to his word and protect the whales -- and not to insure their demise. Over 75% of Americans oppose the barbaric practice of whaling, and the U.S. government should mirror their demands. In order to fulfill his promise of "strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling," President Obama should be lending his full support towards the rapid passage of the International Whale Conservation and Protection Act of 2010, sponsored by Senator John Kerry.

Of critical importance: there's absolutely no method to kill a whale "humanely." An explosive harpoon is shot into them, they're then electrocuted through an attached cable, repeatedly shot by high caliber rifles, and drowned by being dragged through the water. Even with this torture, which wouldn't be tolerated in the most hellish slaughterhouse, it's not unusual for a whale to take over an hour to finally die. With a fiendish abuse of language, this atrocity has been labeled by pro-whaling states as "harvest" or "culling," and any dissent is dismissed as "emotional."

It's high time to make all whale species off-limits to slaughter and to acknowledge them as unique beings that are fully deserving of inherent rights. It's now been empirically shown that the cetaceans (whales and dolphins) possess such a high order of sentience that they can't rationally be designated as some "product" to be butchered, bartered, or compromised.

If mankind is going to continue in benefiting from the gifts that the ocean offers, we must recognize that no nation or cartel of nations should be allowed to dominate the seas and deplete its bounty at the expense of the future. Experience and knowledge are there to reveal the boundaries of not only sustainability, but of sentience and sanity as well. We must now realize that this threshold has been breached by Japan with its continuing assault upon the world's whales and its accompanying lust to eliminate what's left of the oceans. This must be stopped, not revived.