Planetary Stewardship In The Gulf of Mexico

Certainly, none of us needed such a catastrophic event as the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to remind us of the dire necessity of the world needing to make fundamental changes in our lifestyles and beliefs -- if future ecological disasters are to be adverted. Unfortunately, none of the needed changes will happen overnight (despite the fact that many people have been clamoring for change for decades).

One of my greatest fears as we cast a weary eye towards the news that the BP oil disaster -- for now -- has been supposedly stopped -- is that such an announcement will take the focus away from what's still and will continue to happen as a result of this spill. Sadly, for many, it's about to become yesterday's news as news of BP's temporary fix is just that temporary? Or do most people understand that regardless of whether or not it is stopped (permanently or not) -- the damage is already done?

The needed changes will require enormous efforts from people all over the world, if the importance of not polluting our planet is to be more than empty promises, feel good legislation, and ineffective or unenforced laws.

Few today seem to take to heart the reality that we didn't just inherit the earth -- we are merely borrowing it from our children's grandchildren -- at great cost. It's our sacred obligation to return it to them in better condition than when it was given to us.

Additionally, it's our role to prepare future generations for their own jobs as planetary stewards.

In today's fast paced world far too many of us are disconnected from all things natural and from Mother Nature. Here are a few examples:

• My own daughter-in-law was twenty-six years old and had never seen a horse until a vacation in Italy. Horses are merely creatures in movies and books in her very urban Hong Kong world. How many of our children haven't seen a horse, a coyote, an otter, or many other animals in the wild?
• My neighbor, a well-educated nurse from New York City, became hysterical recently when a baby duckling approached her toddler -- because "it might bite him." She was shocked when I pointed out that ducklings and ducks don't have razor sharp teeth. Makes me wonder -- What sort of ignorance and lack of education on very basics of all the wonderful creatures the world has to offer is missing from education -- do the majority of us know nothing about?
• Neighbors in a resort style community situated inside a large nature preserve were practically up in arms over "undesirable wildlife" coming too close to their homes -- certain that coyotes were intent on snatching up their children for meals. There was no convincing them that was assuredly not the case.

Recently, a commenter questioned why I would bother writing about some of the oil spill's most innocent victims -- birds. While not the only or necessarily the most important non-human voiceless victims of the BP boil spill -- it's not a flight of fancy on my own part to point out the obvious -- mankind needs birds.

It's not about being dependent on them for food. It's an issue a whole lot larger. We need healthy birds of many species for a healthy thriving planet and it just happens that the whole Gulf of Mexico area -- is a major migratory flyway for birds from many countries.

Prior to the dawn of mankind, birds have been on this planet, long before us. We all breathe the same air, drink the same water, and have our own role in the living world's food chains. It's a delicate biosphere that needs all of it's contributor's (human and non-human) to be in harmony.

The states directly affected by the BP oil spill are suffering major disruptions and destruction of nature's perfect food chain. The consequences for birds and other wildlife will be just as far reaching as the consequences for the humans living in and around those areas. Who needs birds? We all do, largely because it's a buggy world out there without their help.

Beyond that, one way of thinking about birds is to remember that flying across borders, as they do when they migrate to and from their nesting grounds -- birds are important messengers and emissaries that tell revealing tells about the condition of our earth. Listen carefully to the beats of millions of wings, as they whisper in flight -- trying to tell us that our world and habitat is in some deep deep trouble. If their habitat is being destroyed and damaged -- so is ours.

As a Cajun American, it's hard to put into words a picture of the Gulf of Mexico areas affected by this oil spill, so that those who have never been there understand what is in grave danger. Perhaps, it's best to try to give a visual of the habitat that is most directly affected by all of this mess. I think Harnett T. Kane said it best, when he described the liquid land of southern Louisiana in his book, The Bayous of Louisiana:

"It is a place that seems often unable to make up its mind whether it will be earth or water, and so it compromises."

Just like the fluid land, the Cajuns, Creoles, and native peoples there also know all about life and death and compromise. My early French ancestors knew that all along the Gulf coast areas, it's a place that is deceptively dangerous, even on the best days.

One minute the so-called sleeping waters, where salt marsh, meets salt water and fresh water to mix into a wonderful gumbo that become part of our bayous (streams) in seemingly harmony -- the next minute -- the very same place is engaged in a constant fight-to-the-death struggle. It's a place where flooding and every-ebbing coastal tides can flow one direction by day and the absolute opposite direction by nightfall. All of this has to do with the tide.

Remember, this is where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico. This is also where the BP oil spill disasters meets to unleash an unspeakable further disaster of gigantic proportions long after the leak is complete stopped and no longer reported on the nightly news.

The tide alone, in itself is pretty amazing because the waters of half a continent race south with the final destination being Louisiana and it's sunlit salt marshes, tidal ponds, inlets, bayous, and estuaries. Now, not everyone knows that the Mississippi river moves a huge amount of sand, silt, and clay in an astounding half billion tons of sediment a year.

Then, in nature's perfect plan, where fresh water meets the Gulf of Mexico, it spreads out in a fan shaped arc. The Gulf itself then fans out again, further into accumulated land further and further into the Gulf of Mexico.

There, the coastline, a million years ago was over one hundred miles farther south than it is now. In the last three thousand years, the course of the Mississippi River has dramatically changed so many times at the base. Interestingly, the Gulf of Mexico is winning in some areas, but in other parts the coast line is retreating -- dramatically. So to put it simply, this is an endangered area already for other reasons, long before the oil spill.

Not only is the land endangered, many non-human species are endangered, and even the humans there are endangered. Most with little if not no understanding of the far reaching consequences of such a disaster.

Change won't come, if we just shake our heads, and go one with life as it was before this oil spill. It doesn't matter if you are from one of the Gulf coast states affected or not. It matters solely because this is our planet, and whatever we allow to happen and look the other way about because it's someone else's problem -- will eventually come home to bite us.

People tend to think they can't make a difference, when the opposite is true. If enough people take a stand, change can happen. What we need now is more voices of courage taking a stand against all of the bureaucracy and legal stall tactics that have pre-destined this BP oil disaster to be far worse than most can imagine. Personally, I want to see more voices of outrage and ordinary people taking a stand like Kindra Arnesen, who are going public regardless of the personal consequences:

"... Arnesen believes it was vapors from the oil and the dispersants from the BP Gulf oil disaster that made her husband and the other shrimpers sick. She says they were downwind of it, and the smell was "so strong they could almost taste it."

Perhaps we should all be looking real close as to what tactics are being employed to try to discredit her since she turned whistle blower. Maybe some of us should be asking the hard questions of what is really at stake and who stands to lose everything dear and what others have to gain in all of this?