Deepwater Horizon is us

As horrendous as the Deepwater Horizon oil blow-out appears to be, the Gulf Coast has been under severe threat for many moons.

“The wetlands in the Mississippi River delta have been shrinking at a rate of about one football field an hour for decades, deprived of sediment replenishment by levees in the river, divided by channels cut by oil companies and poisoned by farm runoff from upriver. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita took large, vicious bites.”

If a football field an hour seems unimaginable, it is.

The moral of the story? We are all complicit in the demise of America’s wilds. It has become too easy to blame corporate behemoths or government ineptitude for what ails our nation. It is ourselves who fuel the flames of our own destruction – our automobiles, electronic toys, eco-tourism, 3-D infatuation, worship of celebrity, ad infinitum.

It is as if the American Dream turned on itself, devouring what nutrients were to be found. And we are left to sort through the detritus of what remains of our consumer culture.

The oil spill is not the last word. After the media has exhausted its coverage and sped to another breaking story, the noxious reminder of our shortsightedness will linger, like the gaseous stench from a bloated roadkill. But we will make our choices, always with an eye on the immediate moment, and travel on, until the next time.

WIll we learn from the experience? Look to the past for the answer….

posted by Mudd