Spillin' bout' da Spill

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

So... the oil spill. Having just completed an article about marine debris, with the leading culprit as plastic, I've remained inexplicably silent about the 5,000 gallons of crude oil that have been pumping into the Gulf of Mexico for the past 30 days and counting. What this disaster means to Gulf of Mexico wildlife and the environment can best be explained by photos, rather than words. The Boston Globe published a series of photos today and sliding through them, I was struck by this one of a young heron, crumpled in a soggy heap, surrounded by oil where oil should never ever be. 

The first thought that struck me when I heard about "the spill" was that we've left the keys to the planet on the kitchen counter and the teenagers made off with them. I dunno. Call me naive, ignorant, whatever you want. If we can't guarantee that disaster of this level will not happen, then we shouldn't be drilling at all.

I mean, here I was, obsessing with Andie MacDowell about all of our garbage and trying to shed some more light on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and now this. Now all I can picture is a horrifying Sci Fi film where Patch meets Spill. Wait a minute...polypropylene absorbs oil! This could be a match made in heaven!

For information about the impact of the oil spill on marine mammals and sea turtles, visit the NOAA website for daily updates. To donate $10 to support Gulf wildlife now, Text "WILDLIFE" to 20222.