1970
On January 28, 1969 a major undersea "blowout" occurred on the Union Oil company’s Platform A off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. The incident resulted in a 200,000 gallon oil spill that coated both wildlife and beaches, and ignited the environmental movement in the United States with the first Earth Day, being a direct result.
Oil-soaked grebes on the beaches of Santa Barbara,California. January, 1969 (left) and of the Gulf of Mexico. April 2010 (right)
2010
On April 20, 2010 a major undersea “blow-out” occurred on the state-of-the-art oil drilling platform Deepwater Horizon, while drilling an exploratory well for BP (formerly British Petroleum Company) in the Gulf of Mexico. The still-burning platform sank on Earth Day, April 22.
Oil spill from the burning Deepwater Horizon, April 22, 2010. (Gerald Herbert/AP)
After the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon the well casing apparently sheared at the ocean floor, 5,000 feet below the ocean surface, and began leaking approximately 13,000 gallons of oil an hour (U.S Coast Guard) into the ocean. An additional 700,000 gallons of #2 fuel oil (diesel) were said to be aboard the platform when it sank.
It is more important than ever in our history that we, as individual citizens, “Learn, Teach and Act”. It is our planet, and it is up to us to protect it.
Our politicians are too busy hanging on to their seats to do anything about climate change. Our federal parliment is almost frozen and can do nothing about anything. I think it will be years before climate change becomes a part of most peoples thinking. By then it will be too late to stop the coming train wreck. My biggest fear is the stupid laws they will try and put on us to make it look like they are doing something. An example is what is happenning to our normal water supply. This last winter we had only had 50% of normal rain fall. Over the last thirty years we are down 30% on average. The only thing the Government has done is to restrict the amount of water we can use on our gardens and build a desaltiation plant. The tropic part of our state is getting more and more rain but the south is drying out. The people are screaming out for a pipeline from the north but it is too hard for the govt.
[Toasty says: Lloyd.coops corresponds from Australia.]