Thursday, February 10, 2011

We May Never Know The Full Damage Of The Gulf Oilrig Disaster

By Dean Prater


In April of 2010, a tragedy struck the planet that we continue to be reeling from: the Deep Horizons oil spill inside the Gulf of Mexico. The episode was the result of a leak from a British Petroleum (BP) oil rig that experienced a malfunction which caused it to gush oil into the Gulf of mexico and even at this moment, we are attempting to clean up the disaster. We'll have a look at how things are continuing 10 months after the leak began and 7 months after it was capped on July 15th, 2010. We'll take a peek at the devastation this environmental disaster has caused on our surroundings, in addition to what individuals are doing to try and help not just to human beings, but the other lifeforms that share Earth with us.

Possibly one of the most visually noticeable effects of the Gulf Oil Spill has been the sights we observe on the news broadcast involving animals injured by the toxic crude oil. Reported by Wikipedia, it's estimated that a full 53,000 barrels' worth of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 3 months the Deepwater Horizons oil platform was leaking. Therefore practically 5 million barrels of oil escaped into the gulf. During the process, animals of every type were poisoned and therefore died in record numbers, washing up along the beaches of the Gulf. Countless more have been injured by the poisonous waste and they continue to be cared for in the hopes that they will be rehabilitated.

According to a recent story contained in the Tween Tribune (http://tweentribune.com/content/cleanup-continues-oil-damaged-animals), efforts are continuing for rehabilitating sea turtles, egrets as well as other creatures that might be unable to stay alive in the wild without human intervention. The price of these rehab efforts have run above half a million dollars, paid for by BP, so far. Keep in mind that this same oil is used to produce not only gasoline, but also plastics.

Some estimates place a large number of animals dead, as reported by LouisianaToday.com (http://www.todayslouisiana.com/gulf-oil-spill-cleanup.html) with no living animals within an 80 mile radius of the oil platform at present. Once you take the time to think about all of the birds, seafood and reptiles that exist in a typical mile of open ocean, you will get a sense of the death rate. This one incident genuinely needs to serve as a reminder to most of us as to the importance of selecting green bags and attempting even the tiniest things to try to help our natural environment.

Animals including shrimp, crabs and marine seafood are a large part of the Gulf region diet plan and without being able to harvest these creatures, loads of bistros must promptly close down. The shortage of visitors within this tourist heavy locale really hurts the economy and, as blogger Alexander Higgins identified (http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/09/29/video-dangers-lurk-beneath-surface-gulf-mexico-6102/), the risks continue to lurk beneath the Gulf's surface.

We consumers actually can do something to help our environment. Once we choose eco shopping bags, we aren't just reducing garbage now, we are reducing dependency for the very oil which is needed to create these bags. This really is one little move forward towards a cleaner planet any of us could certainly do.

As you are able to see, the Gulf Oil Spill's devastation is having lasting impacts. We still fight the spoiling of our planet, but on the optimistic side, we could all accomplish something to help fight the catastrophe from ever occurring again.




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