Changing Our Moral Consciousness, One Heron at a Time

Update, May 1, from ClimateProgress.org:

Oilpocalypse Now: WSJ reports BP oil disaster may be leaking at rate of 1 million gallons a day

Opinion, by Dorothy, April 30, 2010:

The interconnection of all things, all life, sometimes knocks you off your feet. Or makes you cry.

I walked into my kitchen yesterday to thumb through our great little weekly newspaper, The Driftwood – the radio across the room playing coverage of the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I read the story on Page A4 about war historian Gwynne Dyer‘s visit here Sunday – Climate Wars: a “Dyer” warning, by  Pieter Hofmann.  Dyer is the author of the book, Climate Wars. He spoke to a packed audience, emphasizing that to prevent resource wars, we must stop global reliance on fossil fuels. [Click on the title above to read this interesting article.]

Great Blue Heron

I finished reading Hofmann’s piece and turned to page 5. There, sandwiched between a piece on the “tennis fracas” and another on the near completion of a health-care report, was this story:

Heron euthanized after pellet gun attack, by Sean McIntyre.

I heard myself cry out in grief and realized that tears were streaming down my face. I was stunned. The bird had been found in my own neighbourhood, still alive, but with its spine fractured. There was no saving it.

And there will now be no saving countless wild birds in the refuges along the Gulf Coast.

The slick of heavy crude oil from the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded a week ago has now reached the shore of Louisiana. It will contaminate the reeds and grasses of marshes all along the Gulf Coast and will be impossible to remove…

…ever, according to Robert Kennedy, Jr. interviewed today on CNN. Speaking of this environmental disaster, potentially the worst in American history, Kennedy was close to weeping himself.

Two hours ago, Kennedy filed a lawsuit against BP. Here’s more about this:

The leak was misreported in the media days ago when it was thought that only 5,000 gallons were spilled per day, and it turns out the oil is leaking at more than 200,000 gallons per day and being blown to the south coast shore of the USA.

The suit represents the fishing industry, and the first suit was filed by 2 commercial shrimpers from Louisiana. Research and experts have said the wetlands will never be rid of the oil – ever.  This means the wetlands will be poisoned with oil that cannot be removed at any cost, and the clean up alone after the oil is stopped will be into the billions and billions of dollars.

Click here to read more, and here is the Filed Class Action Lawsuit.

Kennedy asks you Support the: Water Keepers Alliance Organization for Enforcement of Environmental Law in the US.

I’ve just made my own contribution, for my heron and for herons everywhere, victims of society’s criminal and wanton carelessness for our environment and for humanity.

One final thought: President Obama has referred to this oil spill as an incident of “national significance.” Wrong, Mr. President.

It is a monumental environmental catastrophe. Obama should show an appropriate sense of outrage and be willing to speak out forcibly and honestly. And he cancel any further plans for offshore drilling. Completely. Permanently.