This dragonfly has oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill on its wings and perches on marshgrass covered in oil. Ordinarily the background would be green. The latest assessments suggest the spill is now the worst in United States history. Here are more photos. (Dragonfly Detail: AP/Gerald Herbert, May 18th)
To reduce our dependence on oil, think about making tomorrow a fuel-free day.Don't forget about Breakfast on Bikes Friday morning.
And if you haven't done so already, make sure you register to win an iPad and other goodies at Cherriots FA$TLANE promotion!
If you can't do it Friday, think about making Saturday a fuel-free day.
Remember that Friends of Salem Saturday Market and Bicycle Transportation Alliance encourages you to walk or bike to the market. Pick up your Walk+Bike sticker at the FSSM booth and send Stephanie at the BTA a photo of yourself at the market. This is the last weekend for this!
You'll be entered to win a backpack from KEEN! For more information, see the BTAblog.
Here's the spill meter from PBS. You can slide the estimated leak rate depending on your confidence in published rates. If you've been following this, you'll notice they've updated the default estimate several times based on the latest information.(Dying heron chick on oil coated mangrove: Detail from AP/Gerald Herbert, May 23))
2 comments:
Nice post except for accepting the term "spill" to describe an entirely predictable (and, in fact, predicted) uncontrolled blowout of an oil well positioned where containing the eruption is exceedingly difficult.
You spill your drink. When you attach a firehose to a hydrant and put the other end in your bedroom and let 'er rip before going on a year-round world tour, it's not a spill.
As with the "accident" v. "crash" problem, so with this. You are right, of course.
But what should we call it? "Leak" sounds far too piddling, a little dribbler of a problem. "Blowout" sounds like a one-time blast, which describes the beginning, but not the on-going nature of the problem. What is the combination of blowout + persistent big flow? A "petrol flood," "gas geyser"? I haven't spent too much time thinking about the appropriate analogy, but one didn't come to mind quickly.
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