Now What? Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico Observations by Deborah Dolen

Now What? Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico Observations by Deborah Dolen (AFP/Getty Images)

Get ready to see emancipated dolphins, gasping sea turtles and whales that cannot take it. BP's well is spewing about 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the ocean, according to Coast Guard estimates. This is much more than the 45,000 gallons a day people were told a few days ago. This spill will rival the Exxon Valdez and be more spread out because the sweet crude oil is not entering cold waters where it tends to gunk together, warm, it breaks apart easier and some oil will fall to the ocean floor. Falling to the bottom is not a good thing as many marine life eat off the bottom. Warmer water temperatures offered by the Gulf of Mexico is the same reason this oil spill is not easy to set afire as 95% of the spill is already mixed with the water. The comparatively warm waters of the gulf also move the oil spill faster than in the Valdez crises. But the best comparison, discussed at the end of this article in not Valdez. The best comparison to an oil spill of this likeness an origin is one that happened last year in September off the coast of Australia in the Timor Sea.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is presently headed to the Mississippi river. What impact it will have on fresh water supplies will be an urgent question. The areas trillion dollar fishing industry is already past the risk stage, and lawsuits are being rushed to the court houses by fisherman already damaged – primarily shrimp fishermen. The other coastal states need not worry, there is enough sweet crude oil spewing to go around for everybody. As soon as the current goes south east, and it will, a major undertaking to protect Alabama and Florida wildlife and coast lines will be underway.

Greenpeace's Hocevar said he's particularly concerned about the impact to critically endangered bluefin tuna. "It's their spawning season and bluefin larvae in this part of their life-cycle would be near the surface of water," Hocevar said. The oil could also harm sea turtles, which are approaching nesting season; fin whales; menhaden, a fish species harvested mostly for fish meal and fish oil; bottom-feeding oysters; and numerous species of birds, according to Hocevar.

Florida environmentalist report endangered sea turtles are in the gulf preparing any day to begin the difficult process of nesting on Florida’s beaches. Manatees’, the vegan loving walrus looking creatures are not going to fare well either in floating gas. There is no data on the effect of an oil spill on Manatees because they have never been out playing in an oil slick. Dolphins are expected to also experience crises due to the oil spill, such as emancipation, a hallmark of the Australian oil spill last year.

Read about Ringo a dog flown in from Katrina. Official Bio of his owner and short Bio. RSS Syndicated Feeds on the environment. How Twitter is best used. Deborah Dolen Books on Amazon. Review of her books on Open Library, Paperback Swap, Good Reads and ReviewScout. You can also read Google Profile. Deborah Dolen on MySpace Facebook, and Flickr. This is our favorite blogspot. See Deborah Dolen on YouTube and her last book written London Apothecary and book.

Gulf Oil Spill Size of Rhode Island by May 5th, 2010 by Deborah Dolen (AFP/Getty Images)

Impact's of BP Gulf Oil Spill 2010 writer Deborah Dolen (AFP/Getty Images)

Whatever we learned from the Exxon oil spill will come in very handy as the colossal body of floating oil from the downed BP rig creeps towards the Louisiana, Alabama and Florida coast lines. By May 5th, 2010 the oil spill will be the size of Rhode Island. The oil spill is so large now that NASA can access satellite images of the oil spill from space. The latest currents are pushing the Gulf oil spill northward, toward a chain of barrier islands off Louisiana. Any change in currents over the next three days will be detrimental to Florida’s coast lines. At the moment the oil spill covers 450 square miles and growing. 42,000 gallons a day of oil have been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20th, 2010. Floridians’, already exasperated from arguing they do not need oil drilling off Florida’s coast, are now busy contemplating options for what seems to be an imminent threat to the coast line and its precious wild life.

(Photo courtesy of NASA - Day 6 of Spill Click photo to see oil slick marker)

Florida has already lost 400 manatees, (8% of the Manatee population) 200 sea turtles and millions of fish in the record breaking 2010 Florida freeze when gulf waters dropped below 55 degrees for prolonged periods. Not that anyone cares, but that same freeze cut SW Florida’s infamous python problem in half also, which is an estimate by Fish and Wildlife staff. [No one has gone out to the marshes to ask how they are doing, so it is just an estimate.]

Regarding the April 20th, 2010 BP rig explosion, Doug Suttles, the chief operating officer for exploration and production at BP, defended the company’s efforts, and said the cleanup was costing $6 million a day. He said engineers had not given up on engaging the valve and were exploring other possible fixes.

Why a certain emergency value that was supposed to work in situations like this, failed to work, will most likely be the subject of congressional queries for later. On other fronts the Coast Guard is trying to set the floating oil ablaze and hopefully reduce the threat. The oceanic agency issued a guide to the burn that advised as follows:

“Based on our limited experience, birds and mammals are more capable of handling the risk of a local fire and temporary smoke plume than of handling the risk posed by a spreading oil slick. Birds flying in the plume can become disoriented, and could suffer toxic effects. This risk, however, is minimal when compared to oil coating and ingestion.”

A burn does not get rid of the oil entirely. It leaves waxy residue that can either be skimmed from the surface or sink to the bottom of the ocean. As hurricane season approaches, Floridians may be praying the “opposite” prayer they normally pray: That a major storm comes in the gulf and blows the oil residue issue out.

As far as stopping the actual oil leak, skeptics are saying containment is almost impossible, and trying to assuage the oil leak will go on for some time. The same skeptics fear the oil will reach a certain main current known as “the loop” that will cause major damage to the entire Florida coast line all the way down to Key West. “At the present time, the loop current isn’t reaching quite as for north as where this spill occurred, but it often does,” one expert said and added “if oil gets into the loop current, it can very rapidly get into the Florida Keys and the southeast coast of Florida.” http://www.deborahdolen.net/about-author-Deborah-Dolen.htm

Deborah Dolen is an environmental writer who lives in SW Florida. Deborah is also Editor in Chief for Mabel White DIY. Join her on Twitter @deborahdolen @mabelwhitediy or at FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/deborah.dolen

Read about Ringo a dog flown in from Katrina. Official Bio of his owner and short Bio. RSS Syndicated Feeds on the environment. How Twitter is best used. Deborah Dolen Books on Amazon. Review of her books on Open Library, Paperback Swap, Good Reads and ReviewScout. You can also read Google Profile. Deborah Dolen on MySpace Facebook, and Flickr. This is our favorite blogspot. See Deborah Dolen on YouTube and her last book written London Apothecary and book.

Iceland’s Volcanic Eruptions: Giving Food Storage a New Light by Deborah Dolen (AFP/Getty Images)

Iceland’s Volcanic Eruptions: Giving Food Storage a New Light writer Deborah Dolen (AFP/Getty Images)

The volcanic activity in Iceland is nothing to minimize just because the natural disaster happens to be around the globe, for now. Out of all of the natural disasters we worry about, such as three hurricanes, or tornados-if you will, joining forces to make

“the perfect storm” which takes out NYC, or my personal favorite, Washington, D.C. and its lobbyists,’ one good volcanic eruption would be the most probable mega natural disaster to put a wrench in the world’s engine and this has happened a few times in our rather short history.

No other natural disaster can compare and be more globally disabling than a major volcanic eruption and one that can cover the atmospheric globe in ash, catapulting us into an ice age. This would be history simply repeating itself as the “Mini Ice” age was primarily attributed to a heavy layer of volcanic ash that suspended itself into the atmosphere for years blocking sunlight. Almost overnight farmer’s could no longer get enough sun light to grow crops in Europe. Also emitted by eruptions is sulfur in the form of SO₂ gas. When this gas reaches the stratosphere, it turns into sulfuric acid particles, which reflect the sun's rays, further reducing the amount of radiation reaching Earth's surface. It can take years to cycle out of the atmosphere.

So, where is Iceland? Iceland is located between the waterways of Greenland and United Kingdom. Iceland is built on a volcanic rock on the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge and it has grown used to eruptions. Iceland is known to be on top of the hottest magna part of the earth.

As we see in Iceland, the fall out reaches as high as 747’s, 36,000 feet, which is the issue at hand right now in Europe. Most over seas flight patterns were centralized on Howard Hughes Pan Am model refilling in Iceland or Newfoundland. The Iceland situation truly can affect changes to where we refuel. We are so young in our history, when those transatlantic flight plans were drafted, we have never seen what a good volcanic out burst can do. But Ben Franklin did see it.

It was only a few hundred years ago, in 1815, the eruption of Tambora in Indonesia blanketed the atmosphere with ash; and New England reported snow in June and July of that year. Looking back at history we were lucky it eventually cleared out as some events have been known to cover the globe for years. In reference to the Laki volcano eruption in Iceland, Benjamin Franklin during a lecture in 1784 made the following comments ‘….when the effect of the sun’s rays to heat the earth in these northern regions should have been greater, there existed a constant fog over all Europe, and a great part of North America…’

Naturally most aircraft are the first to be affected and prohibited to fly in volcanic fall out, but the ramifications can be fast, concise and awful to life as we know it. Europe, for example, reports only having enough resources to feed people for a month and the same is very true for the United States. If we have a situation like this in the states, we are only nationally prepared for maybe a month of food production only to graduate to empty shelves.

The situation is still not over in Iceland. They are playing a game of wait and see of the bigger volcano at Mt. Katla will be triggered to erupt. In 934 A.D., Mt. Katla erupted and produced the largest lava flow ever in the known history of the world. Again, affecting the weather, crops and live stock for years.

I grew up with a two year supply of food storage and rotation as being a really paramount practice. I slacked off on that until I went through a few major hurricanes and understood the intrinsic value of supplies-if not for you, for your neighbors. If I considered to slack off again I would read up on what one volcano can do. Creating a supply is not hard and can be in the form of just buying extra food each week, [that you could actually prepare and would want to eat] and storing it. Even $10 a week aside in long term storage foods can add up nicely in a time of need. I use Sam’s Club for that because I buy restaurant sized cans at a good price.

I will be adding more citrus and vitamin C products to my food storage. Lack of sunlight lends itself to among many things, a lack of any products containing vitamin C which then leads to scurvy. I am convinced if we have a global crises it will be the result of a volcano eruption and not anything else.

Going Green 101 with Deborah Dolen

How to "Go Green" with Class While Going Natural as Well excerpt by Deborah Dolen

Of course you separate your empty cans from your glass bottles and make sure paper products also go in dedicated bins meant just for them. You even bought those hideous looking bags at the grocery store to make a statement that you do not need paper bags. You are the recycling role model for your community. But what about you?

Going green is not a theory it is a lifestyle. Going green does not always mean going natural or saving money, so you need to pick a denomination of the concept that promotes all three. I have always preached going green while going natural and saving money. Possibly because I do not sell expensive windmills, not that I dislike windmills. I think everyone should have a windmill. Good practices have to "work" in real life and have a great benefit or people are just not going to have any real on-going commitment. Saving the wallet and protecting health does come before saving the world.

My biggest reason for going green was my health.

My largest concern has gone diluted in all of my years of writing. My largest reason for going green is my health. Our skin is our largest organ and absorbs over 60% of what is put on it - which goes right into our blood stream. The health costs of what non-green products have done to our general health is astronomical. Do you understand the water you shower with goes right into your body? Get your "green" priorities straight before you are too sick to pick a bin in which to recycle what you are trying to throw out.

Address your water first and what you put on your skin, second. Work from the inside out in your going green effort. It is my opinion you cannot filter water enough and that is a complete novel of its own. And 99% of bottled water is a major farce not to mention a plastics load on the environment, so do not look there. Filter everything, and twice if you can. And do not forget filtering does not kill bacteria or pharmaceuticals dumped in our water sources.

When I opened my first apothecary in Houston a lady asked me what I thought of a rash on her neck and chest-not that I am a Doctor but hers sure did not have a clue. She said she had suffered horribly for several years. I simply asked her a question and she came up with her own answer. "Is that where your shower water hits you?" I asked her. And the same situation a few months later with a child who had a rash feet to his trunk. I asked "does he bathe instead of shower and would that be his general water line?" I do not sell water purifiers and it is a pity because it is my most important "I was right" moments. Consider this is just bathing not including ingesting. Read up more on my water articles because I cover a lot of area and will always continue writing on water. As far as purifiers, I think Consumer Reports listed Amway (of all things)-to be superior in that market. Once we get past your phenomenological world, then read about going green in the home. Using cloth towels over paper towels is a huge savings and one of my biggest in my house hold. I think I save over $800 a year while also saving trees.

Please visit this site for How to Clean Green and other articles I wrote about this subject.

http://www.mabelwhite.com/Seasons/Archive/2010_04_10.htm

Read about Ringo a dog flown in from Katrina. Official Bio of his owner and short Bio. RSS Syndicated Feeds on the environment. How Twitter is best used. Deborah Dolen Books on Amazon. Review of her books on Open Library, Paperback Swap, Good Reads and ReviewScout. You can also read Google Profile. Deborah Dolen on MySpace Facebook, and Flickr. This is our favorite blogspot. See Deborah Dolen on YouTube and her last book written London Apothecary and book.

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Read about Ringo a dog flown in from Katrina. Official Bio of his owner and short Bio. RSS Syndicated Feeds on the environment. How Twitter is best used. Deborah Dolen Books on Amazon. Review of her books on Open Library, Paperback Swap, Good Reads and ReviewScout. You can also read Google Profile. Deborah Dolen on MySpace Facebook, and Flickr. This is our favorite blogspot. See Deborah Dolen on YouTube and her last book written London Apothecary and book.

People of the Corn by Deborah Dolen

People of the Corn by Deborah Dolen

Did you know what you eat ends up being in the molecular structure of your hair? Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis, producers of King Corn found this out in college. You truly are what you eat. If that is not creepy enough for you, try what you put on your skin goes right into your blood stream. This was how nicotine patches were invented. Transdermal was a cooler sounding word, as opposed to toxins slathered on skin, [your largest organ and defender of your immune system] so it was branded ‘transdermal nicotine dosage.’ Just sounds classier.

Back to corn, so, when Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis figured out corn was a significant component of their hair DNA it resulted in a delightful and insightful film for all of us that followed the business of corn as well as the food and people chain. Support our researchers, rent the film! We are all “people of the corn.” Are you a vegan? It is your lucky day! YOU ARE the poster child for People for the Corn! I highly suggest the well done movie just to understand why we are all people of the corn. The movie King Corn also serves another purpose. It has gorgeous footage of Iowa and reminds us of what a real farm town looks like and where we all come from. I plan to replay it just to pretend I took that country vacation I never was able to take. As far as our roots, there was a time everyone was a farmer until we figured out how to feed a world on two square inches of land. Also refreshing, King Corn it is not a documentary full of scare tactics at all, and not so much alarming or upsetting as simply factual. Bottom line is the movie still teaches you facts about your body you should know. It certainly has me re-thinking everything that goes in my mouth or kids mouth. Do I really want to be a corn stalk when it is all over? Noooooo. I want to be a cocoa bean and I only pray they find chocolate and loads of it in my hair.

What I find most moving is the entire photo of the genetically modified issue and messing with DNA discussed in my previous writings. The boys that produced King Corn did not “go there” [GM issue] and most likely because they would like a peaceful life and to raise kids. But let’s “go there.” Enter genetically modified corn and the fact the butterflies and bees cannot even begin to deal with the pollen from GM corn. Cornell University proved it with the Monarch butterflies. We do know genetically modified pollen drops the immune system of the butterfly to almost zero. So then, that raises the obvious question “what does consuming genetically modified corn do to us? If the patented DNA from Monsanto is found in my hair they own me and everyone else – the Supreme Court has upheld this, and Canada too, regarding near by farms accidentally getting the Monsanto seed-being liable to Monsanto - even though the Farm had no direct knowledge it possessed the DNA patented by Monsanto. It is not unrealistic to think Monsanto could own us and our hair.

That is not even as concerning as this next question: If GM Corn reduces the Monarchs’ immune system-and we are made of corn, does this play any role in immune system breakdowns of people? The amount of immune disorders of humans seems endless and more expansive over the last 20 years. Why? Does a genetically modified food compromise our immune systems?

Read about Ringo a dog flown in from Katrina. Official Bio of his owner and short Bio. RSS Syndicated Feeds on the environment. How Twitter is best used. Deborah Dolen Books on Amazon. Review of her books on Open Library, Paperback Swap, Good Reads and ReviewScout. You can also read Google Profile. Deborah Dolen on MySpace Facebook, and Flickr. This is our favorite blogspot. See Deborah Dolen on YouTube and her last book written London Apothecary and book.

Environment: Our Water Supply Should Be Your Biggest Concern by Deborah Dolen

The plight of our bees have been my biggest cause until Frontline a division of PBS started a series on our water. After watching the excellent one hour and 45 minute documentary I found nothing going on in our generation is as important as what is going on with the water supply. I wish each and every person had to go out and collect the garbage, among other modifications of big business. Our beautifully manicured lawns [fertilizer] is also a big part of the problem. The rain run off from the unnatural joins the basin areas into the natural. Basically when we screw up our water supply-we are done. We better be looking for life on Mars.

Frontline, investigative TV at its best, began a well documented and easy to understand TV series in April 2009. They took cameras to the most remote, yet important final water destination areas of the states. Chesapeake Bay which is the end of the trip for waters as far as upstate NY, and Puget Sound in Washington State - home to whales, a myriad of other fish, wildlife, Boeing and PCB. Chesapeake Bay is home to crabs, oysters, Purdue Chicken and mutated frogs with six legs. Most convincing is fish being born uni-sex and obviously unable to reproduce. The only thing I found a bit unfair in the series was the failure to mention other chicken producers or industrial plants. I want a list of them ALL. ALL big business have owned lobbyists and most big business throws corporate responsibility on little people such as the farmers who cannot afford new clean up programs. Chicken crap, for example, does cause extremely unhealthy levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in our waters. 750 tons of it per annum in one spot is definitely not natural. Washington Posts take.

Detergents of every kind and pharmaceuticals in recycled water are right behind animal manure water run off on our dirty laundry list. This is one reason I spent years perfecting an all natural soap made with natural phenomenas. I already felt fake soap was a cause of cancer as cancer skyrocketed with our infatuation with fake soap [SLS] during WWI when real soap became short in supply because the war effort needed the real soap more. The men in the war may have been safer with the real soap than us at home! I feel the body sees SLS [the fake soap] as a toxin, does not know what to do with it and sticks it in our glands. Excellent Front Line Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI6p_6bqrnM In our grocery stores I am appalled at soap companies claiming SLS is natural, are lying, and no one is stopping them. Plus it takes petrol to refine the SLS chemical. There is nothing natural about it as they appeal to our "green sense" touting photos of babies wrapped safely in blankets on their SLS bottles. The cheap price alone is a key indicator it is crap du jour. These guys have made SLS appear cheaper than the standard ever toxic dish detergents and laughingly "safer."

As far as our dirty water goes, this whole issue is so major - it is as far reaching as Sarasota Bay, FL where red tide is worse than ever - choking all wild life the bloom gets a hold of. The cause? Fertilizer run off from our perfectly manicured laws and golf courses. How do I know? Fourteen years living on that bay and when we have very little rain we see no red tide. Tons of rain = major red tide, [monstrous algae blooms] subsequent fish kill and wildlife upset. I was tired of seeing dead fish back then. I did not understand the never ending infatuation with the perfect lawn or golf course was a nationwide problem, not just a problem of Sarasota, FL.
What can you do? Consider rain barrels as one basic viable water source unless you live near a major polluted city. You may have to test your rain water to be sure. Also re-consider how much fertilizer your lawn really needs and look at gray water options to water a lawn. Use one natural surfactant like I created based on natural technology instead of ten different toxic ones. Guilt trip EVERYONE you know to join your efforts.

Another way to help with the water issue is only buy meats and chickens from companies who have embraced responsibility for the disposal of manure. Chicken is fine if they were not all raised on one square inch. Meaning growing animals should be spread out across the country and not taxing one small rural town. Yes, they threaten us back with higher poultry prices. Then stick with the small farms. Purdue had one redeeming quality. It found planting trees would take care of some nitrogen and phosphorus. Excellent thinking - but on the other side of their mouth [on Frontline] they claim there is no direct link to crap and water run off. As far as they are concerned it could be run off from our mail boxes. As far as we are concerned, boycott Purdue because they encourage the chicken mills.

Deborah Dolen is an environmental writer and author of many Mabel White books. She can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DeborahDolen or facebook at http://www.facebook.com/deborah.dolen Deborah Dolen's home site is http://www.deborahdolen.com Read about Ringo a dog flown in from Katrina. Official Bio of his owner and short Bio. RSS Syndicated Feeds on the environment. How Twitter is best used. Deborah Dolen Books on Amazon. Review of her books on Open Library, Paperback Swap, Good Reads and ReviewScout. You can also read Google Profile. Deborah Dolen on MySpace Facebook, and Flickr. This is our favorite blogspot. See Deborah Dolen on YouTube and her last book written London Apothecary and book.