I've been putting off writing this post for a week now. I've been avoiding it because the topic is too painful to fully comprehend. It is not on a family law topic, but it so deeply affects our family, our whole, Earth bound family.
A week ago tonight, my family and I were wrapping up our stay in San Destin. We spent the week there as I attended the Family Law Bar's annual seminar on family law topics. It's kind of a who's who of family law in Georgia.
So, Tuesday night, we took our last walk on the beach before we left for home the next morning. We watched couples walking hand in hand. We watched families chase crabs on land and in sea, often catching them only to scream as the crabs did their crabby best. We must have walked a mile east along the shore before we turned around and headed back.
And all the time, I tried to be mindful of what I was experiencing, the sound of the waves crashing endlessly on shore. The smell of the salty sea air. The feel of the sugar white sand beneath my bare feet and squishing between my toes, the water as it rushed to shore, sweeping over my feet and ankles. I tried to be mindful and to bore the experience deep into my memory. For I knew that far more likely than not, this was the last time in perhaps my lifetime, I would walk along these shores in this manner.
Though these were the shores of my childhood, they were within hours of being obliterated, ruined by the greed of big business, corruptness of government bought and sold, and our own pathetic expediency.
I felt very much like the Native American on that old Public Service Announcement. As he watched the pollution roll on shore, a tear trickles down his cheek. The pain in my heart felt immeasurable.
And so, as we reached the place in the sand where we headed back to the condo, I turned and faced the great ocean one last time and said goodbye.
Showing posts with label Oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Continuing Legal Education - in oil.
The who's who of Family Law attorneys shall again convene on the sunny shores of Florida's beaches over Memorial Day weekend. We will deepen our relationships, strengthen our bonds, perhaps get past old transgressions and even further our knowledge of family law and improve our professional skills.
We gather every year in Florida. On even years we gather in San Destin. In addition to our work, we family lawyers and our familes do what people in San Destin do in late May: we soak up the rays, play on the sugar white sand and bathe in the soothing waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
But from what I'm reading, this year may be quite different.
BP has blown an oil rig sitting some 40 miles off the Louisianna coast. The deep water well is gushing five thousand barrels a day. BP admits that the spill could increase to 60,000 barrels a day. Oil is expected along Pensacola beaches within five days of this post. It is expected all along Florida's gulf coast all the way down to the Keys within 15 days. As of today, this spill is only one million gallons less than the Exxon Valdez spill, and it probably has weeks to go before it is shut down. From many sources I've read, this is likely the worst man made environmental catastrophe to date.
Some say we've killed the Gulf of Mexico for decades to come.
Today, I've watched a few videos of Prince William Sound, the place where the Exxon Valdez ran aground some 21 years ago. If you turn over a rock or dig down two inches, the oil is still there. Reporters talked about the smell that permeates the ground.
As I think about my family walking along the beaches we have known since my childhood, I find it impossible to wrap my mind around the possibilty that all that may be gone.
And for what? For greed. BP's greed, to be sure, fighting to avoid a law requiring a remote switch to cut off the well head. The switch apparently costs $500,000.00. But now BP says they are spending $6,000,000.00 a day in clean up and repair efforts. I'll bet that half million dollars looks like a bargain now.
But not just BP's greed. Our greed. We demand the oil. We want more for less. And just like there's no free lunch, you can't get more for less. Our grandparents tried to teach us that.
So, like druggies, we've sacrificed our future for a quick fix.
I pray the oil won't reach the beaches. I pray they'll find a way to cap the well fast. I'm emotionally in denial about the predicted and reported probabilities from this disaster. I just want it all to go away, so we can do what we have always done and not worry about any consequences. But apparently, that isn't going to happen.
At some point, don't we have to grow up?
Michael Manely
We gather every year in Florida. On even years we gather in San Destin. In addition to our work, we family lawyers and our familes do what people in San Destin do in late May: we soak up the rays, play on the sugar white sand and bathe in the soothing waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
But from what I'm reading, this year may be quite different.
BP has blown an oil rig sitting some 40 miles off the Louisianna coast. The deep water well is gushing five thousand barrels a day. BP admits that the spill could increase to 60,000 barrels a day. Oil is expected along Pensacola beaches within five days of this post. It is expected all along Florida's gulf coast all the way down to the Keys within 15 days. As of today, this spill is only one million gallons less than the Exxon Valdez spill, and it probably has weeks to go before it is shut down. From many sources I've read, this is likely the worst man made environmental catastrophe to date.
Some say we've killed the Gulf of Mexico for decades to come.
Today, I've watched a few videos of Prince William Sound, the place where the Exxon Valdez ran aground some 21 years ago. If you turn over a rock or dig down two inches, the oil is still there. Reporters talked about the smell that permeates the ground.
As I think about my family walking along the beaches we have known since my childhood, I find it impossible to wrap my mind around the possibilty that all that may be gone.
And for what? For greed. BP's greed, to be sure, fighting to avoid a law requiring a remote switch to cut off the well head. The switch apparently costs $500,000.00. But now BP says they are spending $6,000,000.00 a day in clean up and repair efforts. I'll bet that half million dollars looks like a bargain now.
But not just BP's greed. Our greed. We demand the oil. We want more for less. And just like there's no free lunch, you can't get more for less. Our grandparents tried to teach us that.
So, like druggies, we've sacrificed our future for a quick fix.
I pray the oil won't reach the beaches. I pray they'll find a way to cap the well fast. I'm emotionally in denial about the predicted and reported probabilities from this disaster. I just want it all to go away, so we can do what we have always done and not worry about any consequences. But apparently, that isn't going to happen.
At some point, don't we have to grow up?
Michael Manely
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