Jayzus

[filkertom]

By way of wcg, we see a very recent satellite photo of the oil slick from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill.

Comments

[lizziecrowe.livejournal.com]

Never thought I could get nauseous and stabby in the same moment. I was wrong....

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of oil.....

[tandw.livejournal.com]

Via Digby, tar balls on Key West beaches. (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/tar-balls-wash-up-at-key-west-beaches-693727.html) If these turn out to be from Deepwater Horizon, well...just how many ways are there to say "we're screwed?"

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking scheduling that Time Share we inherited in Florida is going to get a lot easier for the next couple of years. An we'll be able to do oil changes on the beach!

[ash-blackwell.livejournal.com]

I used to live down there and have been watching this closely. Dr. Masters at WUnderground (http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html?entrynum=1484) has been posting a lot on the spill and Patrap in the comments has also been a good source of information.

[a-steep-hill.livejournal.com]

A simple message to everyone who reads this:

Please, please, for the love of life and hope for the future, hold this image in your mind every time you get in a car. Know that this is the cost of an energy policy which can be best expressed as "cheap energy at any price". Then call your congresscritter and demand that they raise the gas tax.

Many people want to be green, to be good to the earth, to save something for our kids, but want their energy, food, fuel and goods to be as cheap as possible. These are contradictory impulses. Renewable energy and energy efficiency CAN meet the needs of our civilization, but it WILL cost more. Either we pay the price at the point of use, or we pay the price, collectively, through disasters like this.

That is all. Thank you for your time.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Then call your congresscritter and demand that they raise the gas tax.

Not enough. Also demand that the extra revenue be funneled into improving public transportation, and redesigning city traffic flows to make them friendlier to bicycles, skaters, and pedestrians. And push for changes to your zoning laws that will allow people to live, work, and shop in the same neighborhood. This is much too large a problem to be solved by anything except a multi-pronged attack.

Not to mention that telling people "Don't use your car, for the love of the Earth!" without giving them any reasonable alternative (and in many American cities, there is NO reasonable alternative to the individual automobile) is a recipe for FAIL.

[a-steep-hill.livejournal.com]

Yes, to all of the above. An integrated solution is absolutely required. However, it starts with the price of energy: if energy is expensive (relative to history, anyway), solutions that use less of it will be in demand, and will be developed. If energy is cheap, then... nothing changes. If I was king of the world, I would do all kinds of things. But if I could change just ONE thing, I would make the price of energy go up by 5-10% every year, predictably, for the next 20-30 years. Lots of other things would change in response. (Many people would suffer, notably the poor, if that was all we did. On the other hand, vastly more will suffer if we do nothing.)

Also, note that I did not tell people not to drive. I suggested something far more difficult: live your life, drive as you need to (an unfortunate necessity) but never lose sight of the consequences of your actions.

It's a psychologically brutal discipline, but it does motivate change, and is not constrained by the practicalities of limited money or the need to get places. Go where you need to, when you need to. Just be mindful of the price, and let that mindfulness guide you in your ongoing evaluation of what you really do "need" to do.

[ldyerzsie.livejournal.com]

Raising the gas tax makes the buses more expensive to run, the prices go up, people stop riding and service gets cut.

Before you respond, I've seen it happen in Indianapolis over the last 10 or so years. It's to the point that not only is it nearly impossible to find a place to live that is along a bus line, but that, if you have paid off your car like I have, the bus and the car cost the same. And that's including my errands and driving to and from work.

Incidentally, I try to drive in the most economical and green way both when running errands and when I'm in the field for work.