Sobering Earth Day

If we are forced, at every hour,
to watch or listen to horrible events,
this constant stream of ghastly impressions
will deprive even the most delicate
among us of all respect for humanity
--Marcus Tullius Cicero

You live like this, sheltered,
in a delicate world,
and you believe you are living
--Anais Nin
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Just on time for Earth Day, an massive oil rig suffered a blowout and sank in the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday night, probably leaking 8,000 barrels of crude oil a day with 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel on board (Burning Oil Rig Sinks, Setting Stage for Big Explosion.)

The focus is on the 11 men probably killed (115 were evacuated), but few are speaking of the environmental impact (As Oil Rig Sinks, Hope Fades.) Oily water is less sexy than dead people. However, since President Obama just gave the go-ahead to drill off of our Florida coast (something even President Bush refused), this aspect deserves far more attention than it is getting.

Sadly, the ramifications are usually only known by the science geeks or serious adventurists, whose hobbies will be impacted. Another accident at sea came earlier this month, when a Chinese-registered coal-carrying ship ran aground on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, destroying perhaps 10 miles of that World Heritage site, just before precautions to prevent such an eventuality were to have been put into place (Australia Rushes to Contain Barrier Reef Spill.) The wages of not taking precautions.

Sobering news for Earth Day 2010.

[Cross-posted at Big Brass Blog.]