Gulf Oil Slick

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Sabine Gallais

Look, it's pretty simple. The Gulf of Mexico as we knew it is now dead. And, we did it. The frustrating thing about almost any government response to an emergency is that it’s hard to tell if their incompetence is deliberate or intentional since they’re so good at both.

I don't need science to tell me that.

Okay no, you don't. But you DO need science to understand what impacts there will be and how serious they will be. You DO need science to understand the air hazard. You DO need science to predict the flow of oil. You DO need science to clean up the mess.

No, you don't need science to know that an oil spill happened and you don't need science to know that the government has bungled the response. But everything AFTER that requires science. People can pray for the oil to disappear from now until the Universe undergoes heat death in another 30 billion years or so and it won't do a damn bit of good. When this mess is cleaned up (and it will be eventually) it will be science that played a crucial part in that happening. When the Gulf of Mexico rebounds (and it WILL rebound, life has seen far, far, far worse than this in the last 4 billion years) it will be science that helps us understand what was preserved and what was lost. So in order to truly assess this event as it unfolds and all of its downstream implications requires science.

Oh and lest anyone say that science got us into this mess, not even wrong. The failure of the Deepwater Horizon was a failure of engineering, capitalism and governance but it wasn't a failure of science.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by dreadgeek

Okay no, you don't. But you DO need science to understand what impacts there will be and how serious they will be. You DO need science to understand the air hazard. You DO need science to predict the flow of oil. You DO need science to clean up the mess.

No, you don't need science to know that an oil spill happened and you don't need science to know that the government has bungled the response. But everything AFTER that requires science. People can pray for the oil to disappear from now until the Universe undergoes heat death in another 30 billion years or so and it won't do a damn bit of good. When this mess is cleaned up (and it will be eventually) it will be science that played a crucial part in that happening. When the Gulf of Mexico rebounds (and it WILL rebound, life has seen far, far, far worse than this in the last 4 billion years) it will be science that helps us understand what was preserved and what was lost. So in order to truly assess this event as it unfolds and all of its downstream implications requires science.

Oh and lest anyone say that science got us into this mess, not even wrong. The failure of the Deepwater Horizon was a failure of engineering, capitalism and governance but it wasn't a failure of science.

And we need to take the money needed to fund science more seriously in the US! For the most part, it is funded at educational institutions.. we all know what that means since the US has been in free-throw decline educationally in the global picture.

Then, there are the bought and paid for scientists by corporations like BP- if our scientific community were funded properly, this would not happen. Scientists would be well paid and remain independent.

I actually get a little angry when I hear the phrase... If we can send a man to the moon..... we haven't put the support into science (including what stem cells can help us with) since JFK made his moon speech in 1960!

Now, science is a big part of this, but, the three simple words... reduce, reuse and recycle are very important... and the first two are the most significant. Many people just figure, Oh, I can keep buying this kind of packaging, it now can go into the recycle bin. However, look at what gets tossed from that bin while the bins is processed at facilities and ends up in landfill because there is simply too damn much of it!

And public financed elections would go a long way to stop the greed based persuasions of our political system.

I actually do not buy we, the common people, have no say.... I refuse to be helpless and remain a victim. The people of the Gulf need our getting off our behinds more than ever... and this will have lasting effect on us all forever.

The local level of democracy right now (look at the people fighting for their shorelines, fish, etc. right now saying Fuck you, I am not waiting for a clean-up decision about my home!

Complacency and our own inaction in allowing the power structure to evolve and prevail is a big part of why and how these things happen. Are you contacting your representatives (yes, it does matter)? Do you support education in your own communities? Have you stood silent as positions in wildlife and forestry departments have been tossed? Do you ever volunteer for annual clean-ups of the preserves, etc. that you live near and enjoy?

You can't tell me that if scientists were part of the initial deep water drilling hypothesis and were respected in this country (and paid well and receive the funding they need to do research, without corporate bias), this would have happened. When top minds are owned by the corporate Wall Street driven entities, this is the result.

I can't tell you how many times I hear at city council meetings bitching about environmental impact studies, yet, when something goes wrong, the blame game starts. We can't have it both ways.

Sorry, I'm on a rant. I am so frustrated and just can't accept that we the people cannot change things. And I sit here wondering about the other oil rigs out there and when the next one will blow while I see multi-billionaire election candidates buying elected offices and no one seems to get that this is exactly why we are in this mess!

We need to change our priorities! No, science did not get us in this mess, the lack of support and respect for science sure as hell contributed to this, however! And hell, I am no hard-science wiz! Get science out of the clutches of politics!!