Tag: Gulf of Mexico

Are You Mesmerized?

Are You Mesmerized?

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It is blowing like crazy at the Alabama Gulf Coast and I have promised myself that until it calms down I won’t go to the wildlife refuge. Every time I’m there and the wind has the surf kicked up a mist of wind-blown water and oil coats everything. I am no longer willing to breathe the toxic soup…no matter how safe the EPA, BP, NOAA and other involved officials say it is.

I am sitting at my mom’s on Mobile Bay watching white caps pound the bulkhead. This momentary pause gives me an opportunity to write about some things pounding in my head.

While driving down I-65 yesterday I was listening to NPR and heard a story on advertising and marketing. Did you know some corporations are doing studies with volunteers who lay in MRI machines and have their brains mapped while watching commercials? The corporations can then see which images and other content activate the desire and craving centers of the brain. They are then able to apply this technology to selling more products. In other words…they zero in on what makes us want more. They can activate our consumer drive to purchase more products.

As I was listening, I thought of petroleum corporations and how they have drilled into residents (pun intended) of the Gulf Coast that they must have the oil industry present to survive. It is so ingrained within the consciousness of the populace and workers that these folks claim that to live without the oil industry, in places like Louisiana and Mississippi, would mean certain death of a way of life to communities.

These same energy giants tell us that drilling for natural gas (fracking or fracturing) in Pennsylvania is safe and causes less global warming. That injecting toxins into the Earth in order to force gas up through shale is safe. They ignore studies like Cornell University did concluding that 8% of methane escapes into the atmosphere during Fracking and could cause more global warming than traditional coal burning energy productions. Yes, they wave their hands in front of our faces, in front of our senators and representatives (along with a lot of smelly money) and say….”You are lost without this. It is safe.”

As we look further, we see that we are also told that we cannot live without nuclear energy and that it is safe. Their hands wave to cover their smurks and to distract us from the truth.

As I was listening to a panel discussion Thursday night sponsored by Spirit of the Gulf Coast, I thought that we, as a global community, roll the dice with the planet…with our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren. Decisions are made to use these toxic processes, these risky energy productions all on the odds that the rare events such as the Gulf Oil Spill and the Japan Nuclear Meltdown won’t happen. Or if they happen the current policy-makers will be long dead so why be concerned?

This kind of irresponsibility must stop. We must look ahead to the future and make the difficult decisions NOW to switch to alternative forms of energy production. Instead of subsidizing the oil and gas industry, subsidize the solar energy production and wind energy production businesses. Instead of mass-producing toxic and dreadful energy sources that pollute and destroy, mass produce solar and wind energy components. Put the oil workers at the Gulf Coast in facilities that produce clean and renewable energy. Let them earn a living enriching the Earth instead of destroying it.

At some point we have to turn away from destructive, pollutive energy production. Why not now? What if we had done this in the 70’s when we had gas shortages? Just look where we’d be now.

Are you mesmerized? Are you awake? Are you willing to support clean energy now and stop believing the lies and waving hands that keep us in slumber and pose serious and real risks to the future of our kids and generations to come?

Breath of Spring

Breath of Spring

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The morning started with my usual walk down and back up the mountain. After breakfast, I was opening the door to the deck to add some orange peels to the ‘compost.’ I saw two turkey hens. Then four…no six….no eight! I ran and got the turkey call box my brother made. Just two tries and a resounding GOBBLE!!! came from another direction. WHAT?!!?! I tiptoed across the deck and beheld two beautiful, puffed-out tom turkeys strutting after the hens. All of this was happening within ten feet of my deck. I felt lifted by the beauty of the morning.

After bursts of energetic laughter, I came upstairs to work. But my thoughts turned to a beautiful connection I have made recently, another soul on the path of service to the Earth… and then to Joanna Macy’s words that I heard last night on the radio. It felt as if doors were flying open in my heart and mind with the fresh, warm, spring breezes.

I reflected back to last Sunday. I sat at my computer working on prints for an upcoming exhibit. I received a notice on FaceBook that Malidoma Patrice Some was speaking in five minutes at a local bookstore. After two minutes of arguing with myself about whether to go, it felt like hands pushing me out of my chair, away from my desk. I ran downstairs, leaving the printer working.

I arrived 15 minutes late but just in time to see him stand and begin his teaching. Many things he said spoke to me, especially about ancestors and remembering the help we have from the realm of Spirit. He said by virtue of becoming aware of Spirit, we are qualified to do the work we came here to do. We have to ask for help and be specific.

During the past year of documenting the oil spill and recovery, I knew that I was doing the work, was on task and fulfilling my purpose. But how far did the Work reach out into the world? Was anybody listening? So I decided to put into practice what Malidoma suggested and ask for help. I was specific about needing doors opened so the Work could move out into the world. That was a week ago.

Yesterday, in Atlanta, I met with two of the guys that are participating in the Spirit of the Gulf Coast project. I thought I heard echos of universal laughter as we shared ideas about creating Work that moves out into the world to help people recognize the beauty of Earth and love our planet more. The two meetings we had caused me to return to Asheville later than usual. Because of this ‘divine timing,’ I heard an interview on NPR, while driving, with Joanna Macy that grabbed my attention. She said some of the EXACT words that Brandon and I had shared at our meetings. And to bring this story full circle, this morning I dove into Joanna’s website with an appetite like a starved soul. She shows the way to put into action what I have dreamed of and prayed for over the past year.

I feel as if I can breathe again. Spring has entered into my consciousness. I asked the ancestors to open doors and they were ripped from their hinges with joy and light! Joanna Macy says that we are experiencing The Great Turning, a point where people are awakening and turning toward caring and loving the Earth and each other. We are alive during this wondrous shift of consciousness. We are aware of the horrors being done to the planet now, and in the past, and we are coming together to make a difference. We are collectively beginning to realize, in the web of life, everything is interdependent.

For the doors that are opening, I am grateful. For new connections with kindred spirits, I am grateful. People are hearing the call to help the planet and we are finding each other. We are becoming catalysts for each other. Joanna said that this is a time to join with others of like-mind, to do what we cannot do by ourselves, to understand with others what we cannot understand by ourselves. I find peace in knowing just how true those words are as they echo through my mind, my heart, the depths of my being.

March 4, 2011–News from the Gulf, Part Deux

March 4, 2011–News from the Gulf, Part Deux

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Due to high winds and huge waves, I decided to visit the wildlife refuge again to document the process of sand migration as it applies to uncovering and covering the oil shelf that remains at the beach there. When I arrived cleanup workers were being called off the beach due to poor visibility and high surf…I suppose. After a few minutes my sunglasses were completely coated in oily haze.

As I walked, slabs of oil started to be uncovered. As well, the smell of crude oil was almost unbearable today. It reminded me of the summer when this particular beach was heavily oiled.

Over lunch, I chatted with a friend who lives locally. She said that many residents believe the oil is all cleaned up and all is well. It is difficult to believe that people who live along the coast actually believe the oil is gone, but I don’t doubt it a bit. The general consensus, nationally, is the oil spill is over. Media has disappeared for the most part and so the Gulf Coast is no longer news. However, the wildlife refuge beach is still covered in oil. And from time to time the huge shelf disappears, but eventually sand is moved in the natural migration process and voila! Oil emerges from its hiding place.

After my two hour walk on the beach, I neared the boardwalk to return to my car. The major part of the oil shelf was starting to be exposed. I walked on to my vehicle and as I sat and began to take notes, I glanced over to my cameras on the other seat. They were literally DRIPPING with the oily, brown moisture that was being blown from over the Gulf across the beach. I wiped my cameras down with a white napkin and the result was a brown, oily residue on the napkin. I hesitantly wiped my face with a clean napkin and had the same result.

I apologized to my body, especially my lungs, and realized how serious the situation still is in SOME locations. Maybe the chemicals are not as volatile, but if you can smell it and see it, does it not pose some risk? Of course, last year the beaches remained open while children romped in water highly contaminated with crude oil so I do not expect any beach closings at this point. If we all believed the BP web sites and tourist boards we, too, would believe that all is well on the Gulf Coast.

Walk with me…walk and see….I’m just saying…..

Dare to see the truth for yourself.

March 3, 2011…At The Gulf Coast

March 3, 2011…At The Gulf Coast

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The hoot of an owl in the woods across from the bay caused me to get motivated this morning. I got ready and headed to the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge for my first beach check.

As I turned onto Mobile Street, the ariel dance of two ospreys riding the high winds caused me to stop and watch their amazing flight. Further down the narrow road, tall, dried rushes rattled in the wind. Their chattering called me to my task today.

After I parked, I walked down the boardwalk toward the beach. Before I reached the shoreline, I could smell an occasional whiff of crude oil. Every time the waves are high, sunken oil gets loosened from the bottom and washes ashore.

The oil shelf that I documented in January is still present at the refuge. Sand has continued to cover it but it is obviously there. Workers were present as well, most doing a great job of digging up buried oil. I met two workers strolling with their pick-up nets, smoking cigarettes and deep in conversation–totally oblivious of the tar balls washing up on the beach. There were two crews of about eight people, supervisors, and the two women whose job appeared to be simply smoking and strolling.

The really encouraging thing at the wildlife refuge was a flock of about 25 sanderlings foraging along the tideline. I have seen very few birds there the past several visits so this was a really positive change. I also saw about eight pelicans flying offshore, two herring gulls, two ring-billed gulls, and one cormorant (flying offshore).

I noticed a gull eating one of the many crabs washed onshore. I was disappointed to see more dead crabs and crab pieces lining the beach. As I stood watching the gull ingest the crustacean, I was reminded how toxins travel throughout the food chain, throughout the web of life. None of us are immune.

My nicest surprise of the day came in the form of a US Fish and Wildlife Service employee I met at Fort Morgan. He was a great source of information about the efforts the USFWS is putting forth to ensure the protection of wildlife, especially endangered species such as the piping plovers that nest along the Gulf Coast. It made my heart lighten to know that tremendous efforts to coordinate between the USFWS and the cleanup crews are happening every day. These Wildlife Resource Technicians advise the cleanup workers, supervise the work area to keep them from nest sites and, if they are all as positive as David, provide a wonderful example in cooperation and patience.

One especially exciting observation at Ft. Morgan was the reappearance of ghost crabs. They have just started to show up again, since the spill, over the past two weeks according to the biologist I spoke with. GO GHOST CRABS!!!

After talking with the USFWS employee, I walked back to the beach access entry point and sat on the beach, enjoying pelicans and other birds interacting with the environment. After sitting for maybe ten minutes, a small group of bottlenose dolphins swam up just offshore. A large dolphin did a tail slap, some played around swimming pelicans, and then they were gone. There was one mother and baby in the group. The total number in this group has diminished since last summer.

The wind and waves were impressive on the Gulf beaches and Ft. Morgan was no exception. Fist-sized tar balls were washing up on the bay side as I walked along the shore, stirred from their slumber along the bottom.

It was good to see cleanup crews at each of the four beaches I visited today. Most were working by hand-cleaning the beaches. One area (Mobile St. access at Bon Secour NWR), had two tractors working with surface sifters…but I’m not sure that does much except take a few tar balls and grind the rest into micro-fine hydrocarbon globs.

Alabama Point, near the Florida line, looked good today. There was a variety of birds present and actively foraging. Johnson Beach, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, looked good as well. Of course all beaches have varying amounts of tar in the form of balls or, in the case of the Mobile Street access of the wildlife refuge, a very large shelf of mostly-buried oil on shore. And there is definitely offshore oil that gets regurgitated by the Gulf when the wind and waves are high.

The Gulf Coast is a place of immense beauty with an intensity that is so great at times, I have to just sit and breathe it in. Overall there is progress being made and it appears that organization between agencies, at least on clean-up sites, is better.

I still saw no live coquina shells in the tidal zone and this greatly concerns me since they are a staple of many birds. I have not seen these shells since the oil started coming onshore last year. Another concern I had today was for the abnormally large number of bird feathers, of various species, scattered along the beach at the wildlife refuge. I have never seen so many feathers at one location.

On my way back from the beaches I usually stop by a special place in Gulf State Park where a resident great blue heron lives. I discovered, in January, he has a severely broken/twisted toe and it appears that feeding is relatively easy at this spillway. He provides a sort of balm to me so I want to publicly thank him for accepting me into his realm and spending a few moments of his day in the presence of this grateful human.

We Are Masters of Our Destiny

We Are Masters of Our Destiny

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Contrary to what corporations and governments want us to believe, we have the ability to change the world. How sad when we see ourselves as victims….to oil/gas prices, to toxic spills, to a degrading environment. Often I have heard friends say, “I’m only one person…I can’t make a difference, so why bother?”

We have the power to change the world by the choices we make. When we infuse our day with conscious choices, we are influencing the direction of life on our planet. Our choices add to uplifting of the world or its continued degradation.

Nobody ever promised it would be easy. If the mass consciousness is suffocated with fear and anxiety, it takes a strong will to see through this fog and choose a different way. Honestly, it’s much easier to follow the status quo; however, the only way to create change is to actually be the change we want. Taking personal responsibility for every decision, every choice, is a key to creating positive change.

So what will wake us from our collective sleep? What will shake us from the illusion that we cannot make a difference? Another oil spill, gas prices over $5 a gallon in the US? More cuts to programs that add to our civility so more war can be waged over oil in the Middle East? A growing economic gap in the US between the top 1% of wealth-holders and the rest of us? More oil companies (and coal companies…let’s not forget them) telling our government what to do and how high to jump?

WHAT WILL WAKE US FROM OUR SLUMBER?

Each of us has our own, personal tipping-point. Mine was the Gulf Oil Spill. I stayed intentionally and blissfully uninformed of many of the horrors surrounding me….environmental degradation, wars, worldwide population explosions….and on and on ad-naseum. I cared but I did not want to be too informed because of the pain it caused within my mind and heart. But then, BP created an environmental disaster that hit home, literally. And my wake-up call came April 20, 2010.

The past ten months have been difficult as I have witnessed, first-hand, oiled beaches and water, sick wildlife, dead wildlife, and far-too-few clean-up workers removing oil. And now, dolphins aborting their babies and dying in record numbers. The research I have done has only increased my struggles to deal with not only this disaster, but worldwide apathy to the plight of our beautiful planet. The only way I find inner peace and calm is to actively be part of the solution.

It takes ‘muscle’ to remain aware because it is painful to stay informed. Are we willing to work hard to stay awake, aware–conscious. The more of us that make that commitment, the greater our world will be. We are the creators of our destiny.

“What kind of world do you want? Think anything. Let’s start at the start. Build a masterpiece. Be careful what you wish for–History starts now.” Lyrics from “World” by Five for Fighting