Fort De Soto lives up to its title
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Our trip to St. Pete Beach, and especially North Beach at Fort De Soto was filled with moments of wonders:
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White sandy beaches, calm and clear water, massive expanse of azure that makes one understand what it means to not be able to tell the ocean from the sky, the elegant flight of Brown Pelicans, and the delight of coming face to face with the living ocean: oysters, sea urchins, sea snails, mollusks inside sea shells, hermit crabs, and schools of fish that swim right next to you, by your feet.
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Azure paradise
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And sting rays. They hang around at the sandy bottom of the shallow ocean water on North Beach.
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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbLeIQrcyNA
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And Brown Pelicans. Did I mention the Brown Pelicans yet? There were three of them flying over the hotel and in front of our room every single day, at dusk. (Sorry about the quality: I rushed out to the balcony with my phone to catch this picture)
Brown Pelicans are endangered even more because of the oil spill
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Every time I saw them, I was reminded by the NPR interview with an environmentalist that I happened to hear the day before our trip: how Brown Pelicans are one of the animals that may experience the worst impact since they just came off the endangered species list in November, after 40 fucking years of struggling for survival. Every time I watched their graceful dive into the ocean, I felt like crying.
I wanted to say, I am so sorry.
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Oiled Brown Pelican being cleaned by IBRRC
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The video below is shot by an amateur videographer flying over the scene of the oil spill: it shows the extent of the damage is much worse than what BP has led the public to believe. My apology first:
I believe it’s important we all see this even though I am not sure what good it’ll do.
Helplessness.
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I don’t like to feel helpless because that feeling will soon degenerate into hopelessness. How about a good dose of anger? How about this headline?
BP makes enough profit in four days to cover the costs of the spill cleanup thus far.
On Monday, BP said it spent $350 million in the first 20 days of the spill response, about $17.5 million a day. It has paid 295 of the 4,700 claims received, for a total of $3.5 million. By contrast, in the first quarter of the year, the London-based oil giant’s profits averaged $93 million a day.
The amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has been estimated at 5,000 to 25,000 barrels a day. In the first quarter, BP produced 2.5 million barrels of crude oil a day worldwide — and it received $71.86 for every barrel.
At $93 million a day in profits, BP makes $350 million in about 3.8 days. The Washington Post noted that Exxon, through a decision by the Supreme Court, was able to pay only $507.5 million of the original $5 billion in punitive damages that it had been assessed for the 1989 Valdez disaster.
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Or how about a screenshot of HuffPost when I opened it up this morning?
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"Not my fault!" and naturally "I am not a crook!"
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GREED.
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Once again, my dear readers, I apologize: I don’t know what good this ranting will do, but it makes me feel much better. Even if just for a short while.
It is heartbreaking. And we all have every right to rant. Its ridiculous.
Thank you thank you for posting these and for writing about the Brown Pelicans. We weathered Katrina in Mobile and then took back to the road the next day to figure out where in the world to go, since we couldn’t go home… when we crossed Mobile Bay, brown pelicans (and other birds) covered the bridge. Pelicans have been special to me since I was a kid (“pelican” was actually a term of endearment in our family) and to see all those huge, beautiful birds lying in heaps … hundreds, literally, hundreds…
And now? I just can’t get my head around it all. Even as I breath it in my air. I just can’t get my head around it.
Holly, this really is the only thing I have been doing: being raving mad. What good does it really do? At least you have been volunteering and helping out. My hat’s off to you really. I cannot believe that this thing is hitting New Orleans so fast and so furious. I mean yes I can believe it looking at the map. What I can’t believe is WHEN IS THE CITY EVER GOING TO GET A BREAK!!
I don’t know why. Every time when I think about the Brown Pelicans, I start crying. They are indeed majestic. I learned this time that they are the only kind of pelicans that would dive into the ocean for fish. And of course, after 40 years, they were finally taken off the endangered list. Someone has already reported: Oh, they haven’t seen many birds covered in oil. Oh, that made me raving mad all over again. People need to understand that what is the most, truly, worrisome is the long term effect on the environment and not just the immediate death count.
You don’t know me, so you have no idea what a big deal it is for me to cuss. I never do it. (In public, I mean.) But what the fuck was this crowd of asshole douchecanoes thinking? Fuck me gently with a chainsaw. I know there’s virtually zero chance that the big shots at BP will go to prison for this shit. If they did, though, I like to imagine them in a work release program and spending their days on the Goddamn beach, cleaning up the stinking balls of death they helped release.
You know, you’re right. A little ranting does ease my mind the tiniest bit.
Hey, I like your style, and choise of cursing phrases. 😉
I have invited everybody to come here and curse freely if they agree with me that a little ranting is going to ease that feeling of helplessness-induced rage, even just for a bit.
I feel another Open Letter coming on……..Not Our Fault……OMJ, the assdouchery of these companies astounds me
.-= Wicked Shawn´s last blog…I’ve Never Shot A Moose, But If Bullwinkle Really Pisses Me Off…. =-.
I laughed and then blushed (as in I think I should be but I don’t think my cheeks are capable of turning red from all that brown/yellow. anyway…) as I read Kristen referring to you as a news source. Uhm. I would call you that too because I don’t really do the math or connect all of the dots when I skim the (oh so depressing) news, so when you put it together so eloquently like that, it just gets me downright ANGRY. (Not at you – at THEM).
Thank you for your rants – I think we all could use a little more passion and fire in voicing our disdain with the injustices that surround us so that, as corny as this may sound, someone may finally hear us. Or better yet, they would actually do something about it.
.-= Justine´s last blog…Two sides of the same coin =-.
Thank you for ranting. It is so important. More of us should be speaking up like you are. Greed indeed.
Count me among the enablers: I also really appreciate your “rants” because you always find an angle that’s unique among my news sources. (That’s right, I just called you a “news source.” You can add that to your resume!) In this case, I had been focusing on the corporate aspect more than the wildlife one (which, I suppose, is odd in the midst of an environmental disaster). And that sweet bird breaks my heart. Now I want to find out how to do more. Thanks for opening my eyes.
.-= Kristen @ Motherese´s last blog…Random Acts of Courage =-.
it’s so fucking tragic. i can’t even comprehend how criminal this is. and that brown pelican picture is making me so sad. gaaaah.
your little paradise looked beautiful – except for those gnarly sting-rays.
.-= pattypunker´s last blog…i’d show you my asshole but it’s not pink enough =-.
🙁
I wish we could make the CEO and every single board member of the companies in question do the clean up themselves.
With a tooth brush.
And their tongues.
Bastards.
Great. I have managed to find myself a bunch of enablers.
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“You gotta wonder how much longer Mother Earth is going to put up with our shit, doncha?”
I wonder about that too. That’s honestly mostly what I was thinking about when we were in Florida. The beauty of it just broke my heart. When I am on a beach, I search for cigarette butts as a barometer of people’s jackassery. e.g. Wakiki Beach? Full of jackasses. On this beach, I found only one cigarette butt. JUST ONE! That’s unheard of. So people actually care about it. At least in this part. So what did BP go and do? FUCKERS!
I love that you rant – and always so eloquently. When I think about this stuff I just end up screaming a bunch of expletives. Fuckers. Seriously. FUCKERS. You gotta wonder how much longer Mother Earth is going to put up with our shit, doncha?
.-= Elly Lou´s last blog…Easily Distracted =-.
Never apologize for your rants. You stir the pot and that makes all of us out here, do something or at least, make choices that matter! Love you!
.-= Jane´s last blog…Surviving Divorce Is Not Courage. Saving Lives While Risking Your Own IS. =-.
Yesterday I talked to someone whose son is an Audubon volunteer in New Orleans, helping to clean the birds–heartbreaking to lose the ones beyond help, exhilarating when they’re able to save one.
Coal mines, offshore oil rigs. . . greed trumps everything! Losing lives–human and animal– a coast line, a mountain top, a seafood industry… why that’s just the cost of doing business!
Love that last picture with the Not Our Fault headlines. (Oh, Cheney, you are such a DICK! )
.-= Mary Lee´s last blog…Bunny Hop =-.
I love you when you rant.
.-= TheKitchenWitch´s last blog…Veg-Head Monday: Zucchini Stuffed Tomatoes =-.
Of course I have to be crass and make a horrible “gulf” joke in the first paragraph of my new post.
Your vacations looks so heavenly! I miss the beach.
It really is a horrible thing happening with what seems like nothing being done to stop it. I heard on NPR that they are going to shoot tires and other various objects in to the hole(?) to try and plug it up. WTF.
.-= A Vapid Blonde´s last blog…Monday Is A Stupid Little Whore =-.
Yeah. The way they plan to plug up the hole, I am going to nominate it for this website “There I Fixed It!”
http://thereifixedit.com/