Deepwater horizon oil spill

[lyndaelyzoo]

The National Wildlife Federation has set up mobile giving services to support their work in the Gulf Coast. Donors can send a text message with the code "WILDLIFE" to 20222 to automatically give a $10 donation to help wildlife affected by the oil spill.

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[HopefulAg]

Somewhat related: Was an article the other day about if you want to help clean up, you can't unless you're certified. You can help with logistics though (transporting supplies and what not).

They didn't cover what it takes to become certified though. Thought that was kind of disappointing. Didn't even tell you what kind of certification you needed so you could google it on your own. Journalists.

 

[quantized]

You need HAZWOPER certification. I looked it up and it was like $300-500 depending on where you live. I've got some free time this summer so I was thinking of doing it.

 

[lyndaelyzoo]

A MUST SEE VIDEO!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOkPGnaXsg8&feature=player_embedded#!

 

[twelvetigers]

I love how they are using the soundtrack for Requiem for a Dream for anything tragic these days. That's really sad business.

I'm glad it wasn't just another BP bashing video.

 

[HopefulAg]

Ya know, granted the gulf's beaches weren't all that much to talk about any how (on this side of the Mississippi at least), but it's still sad that we probably won't even be able to use them at all now for several years to come.

The beaches I grew up on my kids will probably never get to play on. Probably'll have to take them all the way to California for beaches.

 

[Bill59]

Ya know, granted the gulf's beaches weren't all that much to talk about any how (on this side of the Mississippi at least), but it's still sad that we probably won't even be able to use them at all now for several years to come.

Some of the beaches in the FL panhandle are the most beautiful in the world (IMO). St. Joseph Peninsula State Park is gorgeous, for example.

 

[HopefulAg]

Some of the beaches in the FL panhandle are the most beautiful in the world (IMO). St. Joseph Peninsula State Park is gorgeous, for example.

Right but when the oil washes up onto them...

 

[rileyroo]

Ya know, granted the gulf's beaches weren't all that much to talk about any how (on this side of the Mississippi at least)

Some of the beaches in the FL panhandle are the most beautiful in the world (IMO).

definitely agree with Bill...especially areas like Navarre Beach, FL and Gulf Shores/Orange Beach in Alabama.

 

[twelvetigers]

His side of Mississippi is the Texas side, so he means LA and TX mostly. But, it's a damn shame either way. A beach of any sort is still pretty special... don't take that lightly coming from someone who lives in Oklahoma.

 

[rileyroo]

His side of Mississippi is the Texas side

i know but i was defending the areas that are being hit in alabama and florida b/c the first half of the statement was a general "gulf beaches" statement...and there are incredibly beautiful beaches on the other side, that are really starting to be affected. i was just sayin

 

[WildlifeSaver]

Whats making me more outraged by this spill is BP denying the deaths of many sea life was oil death related (when they find dolphins in oild dead yeah..)and reports are taking there time to come out for the causes of death. It doesn't even matter if your finding wildlife away from the oil dead because they are dieing out at sea..birds are sinking to the bottom of the ocean..I suppose they want a finalized report of all marine life found dead at the same time for the stats to come out, but when is that going to happen with such a spill...the true effects with petroleum oil on wildlife is years and years.. Just look up exxon valdez history

 

[HopefulAg]

I never understood why companies do that. I mean, I know the legal why (so they can't readily be held accountable until it's 'proven') but really, why not just admit it? It just makes you look like dicks. Everyone with half a brain cell knows that oil kills wildlife, why deny responsibility?

So as to not admit guilt I suppose. I guess the damages of bad PR aren't as bad as the damages of the immediate associated fines (from admitting you're guilty of such damage to wildlife) that can't be recovered as quickly in the long run through accounting fudging, increased prices, etc.

 

[Armymutt25A]

It's not unusual for a company to deny any wrong doing until faced with undeniable proof. Look at Jack-In-The-Box. They denied it was their food killing people with E. coli even though the corporate policy was to under cook the meat because cooking it to the proper temp made it tough. They faced a big time backlash. I still won't eat at one and it's been 17 years. Most delay tactics are to buy the company time to figure out how to attenuate the damage to their image. BP is probably overloaded right now. I would hope that they are spending more of their time on stopping the problem than worrying about the present level of damage. It's like a battle - you don't worry about the wounded until you've stopped the incoming bullets. Sucks to be one of the ones that got hit early, but you'll only have more casualties if you don't stop the source.

 

[HopefulAg]

I'd be inclined to agree if they weren't actively trying to stop the media from filming the area and confiscating cameras on beaches (AKA stealing). That's not damage control, that's just trying to cover your ass.

 

[Armymutt25A]

All depends on who "they" are. I catch bit and pieces here and there, but I haven't heard precisely who was stopping cameras from filming the cleanup. If it's a public beach, I can't see where BP has the authority to stop filming or seize property. Most media will gladly tell corporations to stuff it when they over step their boundaries. They can stop them from filming inside a corporately owned cleanup facility. Only the government can stop filming in a public location (illegally unless the filming would be damaging to national security). The only reason I can think of to stop filming is the privacy aspect of the workers. Some people do not like to be filmed or photographed and the media needs to respect their rights or cease filming.

 

[goldengal]

One of the things that has me royally ticked off is the way BP has gone about resolving the spill. In the beginning, they were solely concerned with trying to salvage whatever oil they could until public and political pressure came raining down on them. Then, instead of thinking what would be the most efficient way to remove the oil, they decide to go with the cheap way that would only disguise the oil's presence. It just blows my mind that anyone who considers themself a scientist would recommend pouring (basically) a bunch of soap in to the ocean. Soap is hydrophobic and although using it makes sense when you are wanting to "contain" other hydrophobic material (such as oil). The problem in is you are dumping all of this soap in to a hydrophilic environment, which causes the hydrophobic tales to turn inward and suspend the oil, but in doing so it causes the hydrophilic heads to be within the environment. Thus, all of the oil we trapped within the soap has now been suspended in these hydrophilic vessels that now can go beneath the surface where humans can't get to remove them! We have just made the problem ten times worse for clean up as well as marine animal survival. It is just a sad, sad situation with no foreseeable solution in sight.