Oil spills galore
When an offshore drilling rig sank in The Gulf of Mexico last week it was anticipated that the flood of oil that was entering the surrounding waters could be controlled. Initially experts believed only 1,000 barrels worth of oil a day would leak out, an amount they deemed manageable, and that they felt could be contained.
However, after the flow continued at the same rate for some days and the wind turned to blow inland, test sections of the slick have been set on fire in an attempt to burn off the oil before it reaches the shores of the surrounding countries which, if it does, would cause unprecedented environmental damage.
The major area that is of the most concern for conservationists is that of the Mississippi Delta and the Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, an area which contains some 40% of the US’s wetland breeding grounds for fish and birds.
President Obama has been briefed on the situation and he has offered the service of the defence department to help control the spill.
However, one is left thinking, with increasing pressure on the G8 countries to reign in their carbon emissions for the sake of climate change, surely our greedy drilling for oil should fall into a similar bracket, and more restrictions on hunting for fossil fuels need to be made?
No there aren’t oil spills like this every day, but they are becoming more frequent, and the catastrophic environmental effect that each spill leaves behind scars our planet; our home, more violently than 5 years of carbon emissions.
Surely this is something worth thinking about?
Contributed by Jenny Wren-Charlton
