A treehugger's dilemma...

My Favorite Beach

So...I've been preoccupied with the Gulf Oil Spill. An understatement. I have sent letters to congressmen and signed more petitions than I can remember...so please don't send me any more...I no longer remember which I've put my John Hancock on and fear I would compromise them by signing twice. Really.

On Saturday I am participating with the Sierra Club in the Hands Across The Sand event at Buckroe Beach. If you are knew to the Hands Across The Sand phenomenon, you can check it out on fb or visit  http://www.HandsAcrossTheSand.com/ . From 12 PM to 12:15 people across the globe will come together on beaches and parks and join hands to say no to near and off-shore drilling.

I am excited about being part of this, and it is my first event as a Sierra Club member. It is going to be awesome. But the decision to go came with a treehugger dilemma...I'd be driving an hour each way, using up fuel every mile.  And that's when I came up with one of my great ideas...why not host a gathering right here in Mathews...we have beaches. It seemed at first like a great idea...get more local support...increase some visibility...so I let my fingers do the walking and I signed up to host a Hands Across the Sands gathering at Bethel Beach. I should mention it was late at night. I am a nocturnal genius.

That night I went to sleep full of excitement...and then the dreams started...enter treehugger dilemma #2. Too many people...too many people leaving traces even well-intentioned people leave. And all this on my most favorite beach in whole wide world. I've been to alot of beaches...in Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Fiji, Italy, Greece. There was a time when I could say "Let's go to the beach" in six different languages. But, Bethel Beach has always been my favorite and has captured my heart more than any other...the chattering of the ospreys in their nest, the relentless breeze, the many orange and purple skies, and the way the beach is simply never the same one twice...it is all just heaven to me. So, the Leave No Trace educator in me just couldn't risk heaven. And heck, I had just helped clean up trash there with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation...why do it again.  I woke up early and emailed the Virginia coordinator of Hands... to say I'd reconsidered. I'd be attending the event at Buckroe. If you caught it at the right time you may have seen the Bethel Beach event on the Hands Across The Sand map. It was there for a few minutes. Really.

Bethel Beach saved, I was now back with dilemma #1...which I have solved in my tiny treehugging brain by making a list of all the things I will do across the bridge so that the fuel counts for more than one thing.  Trader Joe's for organic coffee that I can actually afford. Habitat for Humanity Restore Warehouse to look for some used windows and building materials. If you haven't been there it is worth a visit... My kitchen is painted with discarded paint that cost $ 1 a gallon, my back porch glassed with used windows and sliding doors which I never would have managed bought new.

Oh, and I am bringing trash bags...to help clean up the traces even well-intentioned people leave...at Buckroe this time. Saturday, June 26 at Buckroe Beach. Gathering starts at 11. Joining of hands 12-12:15. Come out and say no to near and off-shore drilling. http://HandsAcrossTheSand.com/

Sickened by the Spill

Anyone who knows me also knows that I have been deeply affected by the BP oil spill in the Gulf.  I am angry, bewildered, frustrated...on so many levels... for so many reasons that I have put off  writing about it for nearly a month.  I am no closer to being able to wrap my brain around this tragedy than I was in the beginning, but I am blogging on because I am hoping it will at least help me think it through.

On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire aboard the BP oil drilling platform, Deep Horizon, killed eleven workers.  It also resulted in a massive oil spill that continues to pump thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf daily.  I say thousands because noone seems to be able to estimate, with any degree of accuracy, the daily volume of spilled oil. BP now states that they are capturing 3000 barrels daily, but there is no estimate as to how much continues to spew forth.

Beyond the tragic loss of human life, the BP disaster will have far reaching consequences for the ecosystem along the U.S. Gulf Coast and it has already impacted residents who depend on a healthy Gulf of Mexico to support both fisheries and tourism. There are so many restrictions on fisheries at present, I couldn't begin to list them all...and despite reports of "clean beaches" tourism is down...so BP has now reportedly given 70 million dollars to the Gulf states to air commercials the company made to promote tourism.  It all makes me sick.

Today, I watched as BP CEO Tony Hayward had the nerve to tell the world that the environmental impact of the Deepwater Disaster would be "very, very, modest." Yeah, maybe in the U.K. The truth is he doesn't know, and I don't know, and I'd guess that most of the experts don't even know... yet. It could take decades for a full assessment...will we watch the marine food web unravel in the Gulf? Will it stop there? How far will the oil travel? Around the Florida Keys? Will there be gaps in spawning cycles? What about migratory birds? What about the loss of marine life we can't see? Oh, the questions are endless, and relentless...and by the time we might be able to see changes in numbers of endangered species, will it be blamed on something else? Endless, and relentless until my brain just wants to explode.

And then there is the BP Atlantis platform.  Just as dangerous, and again, without the acoustic control shut-off system...and that isn't all BP's fault. We don't require them...not part of the rules for off-shore drilling. Our rules are in part to blame. Brazil and Norway have safer rules. 

Our whole energy policy stinks.  We talk about clean energy, but it is just talk.  Instead of pushing through clean energy solutions, the President I've supported ushered in a new wave of off-shore drilling exploration just before the Deepwater incident. Bad timing clearly. I am angry. We are too dependant on fossil fuels. We are all to blame. My car gets good gas mileage, but I drive it too much. I haven't finished the glassing/insulating of my south facing back porch which could have provided some solar heat last winter. I am mad at me.

I have a whole list of idiots whose pictures I'd like to throw darts at: Tony Hayward (BP CEO already mentioned), Rush Limbaugh (for even suggesting that the Sierra Club should pay the clean-up tab), Lisa Murkowski (yet another Alaskan idiot, for derailing the move to increase fines for wreaking environmental havoc)...and yeah, I'm not real happy with my guy in the White House because I need him to take a stronger stand. If ever there was a time to cement a new sense of environmental obligation...this is it.

And then there is my beautiful Chesapeake, my home, my peace, my place like no other...and the thought of drilling off the Maryland/Virginia coast just scares me...and I am hoping those plans will not proceed, but they are far from being tabled...so stand up, my friends, and make your voices count. We could be next.

Angry. Angry and wanting something good to arise from the anger...So, I will complete the porch project, and when I finish paying off the Matrix, the next one will be a hybrid.  And I will have to make better lists so I don't have to drive to the same place twice. And I will keep signing petitions, and writing to our legislators about the need for clean energy, and about ending off-shore drilling.  We must fully understand the consequences of our mistakes...we can't continue to put our oceans and our planet at risk.