[saintpetegirl]

I still don't understand the "as long as *our* beaches are white and pretty - than every thing's ok" attitude.

If you are a tourist visiting here for 1 week in July, then returning home - that makes sense. Otherwise, I don't get it.

1. The entire health of the ecosystem is at huge risk in the Gulf, and has been for some time. Most people don't grasp the magnitude of what this means to the Gulf food chain, and the ecology of the whole region.

People need photos of sad events to understand the impact, or oil washing up directly over their feet. There is now a media blackout of active cleanup efforts - so you are unlikely to see more distressed animals on any the news outlets.

2. large marine animals (dolphin, manatees, sharks, sea turtles, etc. are all at risk throughout the entire Gulf Coast region. There are reports of Whale sharks congregating right off the coast of Sarasota. This is quite rare.

As a Scuba diver and huge marine animal lover - this would be fantastic news otherwise. These massive creatures are most likely running from the increasing dead zones in the Gulf. They are seeking air to breathe - and they are avoiding suffocation. This is horrifying.

3. Sea birds are are all at risk throughout the entire Gulf region. Untold numbers are dying as we speak.

4. Oil, methane gasses, and chemical dispersant mixes are constantly being flared/burned off our coasts on a *daily basis*. This process is ongoing and constant. Winds pick up the fumes and blow them towards coastal regions, depending on wind patterns. Where are the health impact studies for these burns?

5. What are the health impacts of dispersants on Marine life? And how are the fishing area closures determined?

These are just some of the questions/comments I have.

[personalensign79]

Originally Posted by GloryB

It really seems to me that most of Americans are totally missing the complete catastrophe the gulf states are facing. It isn't a political issue or an environmental issue.....it is a disaster that has the capacity of changing life as we know it and that particular change is not for the good of mankind.

Yes! I am noticing this too. It is so sad. I have many friends and family outside of FL and no one even mentions it. It's not in "my backyard" so some people don't care.

[lynne4t]

Originally Posted by personalensign79

Yes! I am noticing this too. It is so sad. I have many friends and family outside of FL and no one even mentions it. It's not in "my backyard" so some people don't care.

From what I hear, there are many in the country that don't care. However, in my personal experience whenever I bring up the oil spill to people I know, there's quite a bit of outrage and sadness. (I'm in Massachusetts)

Thankfully, there are people who are empathetic enough to take action, and many of them are not necessarily directly affected, they just realize that this belongs to us all.

[Texabama]

Watching the news last night - they have raised the estimate of the daily oil gush to 2.5 million gallons per day. That equates to an Exxon Valdez spill every 5 days !!!!

[ozlo]

Our beaches may never be covered in oil, if they just keep covering it up by dumping fresh, white sand over the muck like they're covertly doing in Pensacola now.

[KasperFile]

PENSACOLA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) – Chris Reid was pumped. After suffering through a few years of tight credit and the U.S. housing meltdown, the Pensacola-based realtor was ready to sell some beach-front property. Summer was coming and that is the region's busiest season.

All that changed after the April 20 explosion on BP'S Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which killed 11 people and burst an oil well, currently spewing up to 60,000 barrels of crude into the Gulf each day.

Now Reid is hoping for the best as she faces a catastrophe that threatens not only her livelihood but her way of life.

"We're water people," she says of herself and husband, Robert, who moved from the mountains to be near the shore.

"This is why we're here," she said, pointing at the Gulf from a vacant 13th floor condominium unit she's trying to sell for a client at the Portifino Towers on the east end of Pensacola Beach.

read more at source Spill spells more trouble for Florida real estate - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_oil_spill_realestate - broken link)

[fauve]

Originally Posted by mango23

You may not wish to believe this about yourself but have you cried today for the people in Haiti? If you haven't you are just normal not an ogre. We don't choose to bury empathy, it just wares down and we move on. If it didn't we would need to be committed or would always be suicidal because life would overwhelm us. Other people do care they just can't wallow in it.

I don't think everyone has empathy or are even born/raised with it. But the cure for the pain it can bring is to put yourself in a position to be able to help. Whether it is by writing a check, or going on a mission, or even something more direct. When we tried to buy hurricane shutters this year at Habitat Re-store, the standard sized shutters for sliding doors, over 1800 of them, had been bought and sent to Haiti to use as roofing. Someone who cared made that happen. If you can feel like you're helping in some way, empathy is so much easier to bear. Denying it, if you are naturally that kind of person, can lead to depression, etc also.

[fauve]

Originally Posted by personalensign79

Yes! I am noticing this too. It is so sad. I have many friends and family outside of FL and no one even mentions it. It's not in "my backyard" so some people don't care.

I am in South Florida and NOAA announced that we have an 80% chance of tar balls on our beaches by mid-August. But the people here seem disconnected as well. I believe there is a lot of denial and the implications so huge, that people just aren't accepting it as inevitable yet. It's still mostly someone else's problem to most people here.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by fauve

I am in South Florida and NOAA announced that we have an 80% chance of tar balls on our beaches by mid-August. But the people here seem disconnected as well. I believe there is a lot of denial and the implications so huge, that people just aren't accepting it as inevitable yet. It's still mostly someone else's problem to most people here.

Unfortunately, I think you are correct in your assessments.
I just keep on pushing away on Face Book about whats going on here, a lot of people DO care.

[stpeteguy]

A taste of things to come for all Gulf seafood.



YouTube - "Game Over"--Oyster Population Decimated By Oil