Pensacola is pristine no more . . .

[Luvchefmic]

Heartbreaking....so sad..it makes you feel helpless...prayers being sent to all the communities feeling the pain of this personally

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

 

[Colleen27]

I don't like what's happening to the environment, but I feel like I'm just as much a part of the problem as anyone else and what am I really doing to help?

For you and everyone else looking to take some small steps to lessen their contribution to our thirst for oil, a friend posted this on Facebook earlier: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/20-ways-to-reduce-your-dependence-on-oil.html

 

[beachlover9395]

That is an awful picture. This whole thing is just devastating. But I have to admit, I feel guilty, too. I'm out there everyday driving my car around, filling up my tank every week. I feel like I've contributed to where we are and our huge need for oil. I'd really like to get an electric car when I purchase a new one -- but are they practical yet? I don't know.

Nissan has the Nissan Leaf that is coming out this fall, which is an all-electric car, and it's preorders have reached 13,000 cars.

Too bad GM did away with the EV1 back in the '90's - could have really been a boon for them - imagine how much better off we'd be now if electric cars were now the standard and we phased oil/gasoline out by a large amount. GM does have the Chevy Volt, but I don't know how their sales are. We'll probably never be able to do without many petroleum-based products though, especially in health and medical items.

Here's some links:

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/index#/leaf-electric-car/index

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/20414

http://readme.readmedia.com/Buzz-Bu...as-Initial-U-S-Preorders-Reach-13-000/1351089

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37510350/ns/business-bloomberg_businessweek/

For our awesome Canadian friends: http://autos.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Autos/20100604/electric-cars-canada-100604/?s_name=Autos

This spill is absolutely making me sick.

 

[Lanshark]

It is heartbreaking

 

[laurie31]

I know someone who's in Gulf Shores (Alabama) this week. They've been having a great time, beautiful weather, but today she posted on her blog that tar balls had washed up on the beach, and when she went in the ocean, the water looked clear, but oil squished up between her toes from under the sand! They're coming back early. They say it smells like gas there now.

The evening news tonight showed vacationing familes with oil on their bathing suits and beach toys. The state health officer has said the ocean water is now toxic and not to swim.

We've vacationed on this very beach almost every year since our girls were born. These pictures made me cry.


ETA - link to gallery where I found the pics. They are on a public news site, not from a blog.

http://photos.al.com/4464/gallery/oil_reaches_alabamas_beaches_in_baldwin_county/index.html

 

[Feralpeg]

They are saying it is just a matter of time before the current picks up the oil and carries it around the tip of Florida and up the east coast. There won't be a Florida beach not affected. It makes me sick.

 

[stevenpensacola]

We just back from Pensacola Beach about an 1/2 hour ago (9:30 pm cst).

There are over a dozen news satellite trucks parked in the parking lot at "Casino Beach".

Beaches/water are still open. No oil smell out there tonight...wind was from the SE. Mostly older tar balls had washed ashore in several areas this morning.

The oil coated birds are in Louisiana, not here.

For some reason, seeing the reports from P'cola beach on the evening news was really painful.

If you've made plans to visit here, the local businesses would surely appreciate it if you did not change your plans. As I said, beaches are still open as of tonight...as there are lots of other things to do if you visit.
Naval Aviation Museum
http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/

Blue Angels Practice Sessions
Downtown Historic District
Blackwater River State Forest...canoeing/tubing/camping on the Blackwater and Coldwater Rivers

In fact, any place along the gulf coast you should choose to visit would really appreciate your business....from LA to FL.

 

[Planogirl]

The National Wildlife Federation has sent out SOS letters. They are sending a team to Louisiana to help with the wildlife as much as possible but it's likely that they'll have to expand. It's horrible.

We are also driving to Florida in August and I hope to make it a point to drive to the coastal areas on the way to eat and shop a bit. It's not much but if a lot people do this it could help a little.

 

[themilesfamily]

For you and everyone else looking to take some small steps to lessen their contribution to our thirst for oil, a friend posted this on Facebook earlier: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/20-ways-to-reduce-your-dependence-on-oil.html

Thanks for the excellent link and thanks beachlover for the info on electric cars.

This has just been such a horrible, horrific wake-up call. I can't imagine continuing w/the status quo after something like this. We're going to make some changes in our household.

 

[Planogirl]

Thanks for the excellent link and thanks beachlover for the info on electric cars.

This has just been such a horrible, horrific wake-up call. I can't imagine continuing w/the status quo after something like this. We're going to make some changes in our household.

I'm curious - what kind of changes? I'm trying to figure out what we can do.

 

[themilesfamily]

Here's what we're going to do short-term.:

Today my husband went out and bought a bus pass. He's going to take public transit to work instead of drive. (That's two trips in a Chevy Blazer each day that won't be taken.)

Also, his car is getting ready to poop out and we are looking into an electric car.

Some other tips I liked from the article that we can start doing right away:

1) Stop using plastic bags -- use cloth, reusable bags at the grocery.
2) Use soy-based printing inks rather than petroleum-based.
3) Use natural makeup and perfume rather than petroleum-based.
4) Avoid toys and goods that are made of plastics when an alternative is available.

I thought those were some good ideas.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

I live in the Pensacola area. [actually, 15-20 minutes from it. In navarre]
We are all horrified by this happening. Our beach, which is practically a lot of ours second home during the summer, is going to be gone!

 

[PixieDust32]

First oil globs found on the beach this morning . . .

And this is such a heartbreaking picture - a bird coated in crude oil:

They broke my heart how can we do that to those poor animals!!
"drill baby drill"

 

[Planogirl]

Here's what we're going to do short-term.:

Today my husband went out and bought a bus pass. He's going to take public transit to work instead of drive. (That's two trips in a Chevy Blazer each day that won't be taken.)

Also, his car is getting ready to poop out and we are looking into an electric car.

Some other tips I liked from the article that we can start doing right away:

1) Stop using plastic bags -- use cloth, reusable bags at the grocery.
2) Use soy-based printing inks rather than petroleum-based.
3) Use natural makeup and perfume rather than petroleum-based.
4) Avoid toys and goods that are made of plastics when an alternative is available.

I thought those were some good ideas.

Thanks for posting your ideas. No transit here but I plan to purchase cloth bags. The ink and makeup ideas are interesting.

We will soon be in the market for a car. I understand that electric cars are pricey but we could look for fuel efficiency.

Someone told me that they plan to be more efficient when they drive somewhere, in other words they plan to maximize trips to accomplish as much as possible. I tend to run all over town when I'm out and I can stop that.

 

[Planogirl]

I live in the Pensacola area. [actually, 15-20 minutes from it. In navarre]
We are all horrified by this happening. Our beach, which is practically a lot of ours second home during the summer, is going to be gone!

You have such lovely beaches.

 

[TheZue]

Here's what we're going to do short-term.:

Today my husband went out and bought a bus pass. He's going to take public transit to work instead of drive. (That's two trips in a Chevy Blazer each day that won't be taken.)

Also, his car is getting ready to poop out and we are looking into an electric car.

Some other tips I liked from the article that we can start doing right away:

1) Stop using plastic bags -- use cloth, reusable bags at the grocery.
2) Use soy-based printing inks rather than petroleum-based.
3) Use natural makeup and perfume rather than petroleum-based.
4) Avoid toys and goods that are made of plastics when an alternative is available.

I thought those were some good ideas.

We were listening to the radio the other day, and just through fluke some people had just finished up a year without garbage. They did things like bring their own containers to the deli and meat counter so they didn't have to bring home the plastic wrap or styrofoam trays. They made a point of not buying anything with a lot of plastic packaging. They got really extreme and made a lot of their own toiletries as well which is still a little extreme for me. The amazing thing is they got to the point they were putting out a small bathroom sized can of garbage out every two months. Crazy.

I am going to find out if our deli will let us bring in our own pyrex containers for the sandwich meat. Even tonight when I bought veggies I put them in the paper bags for mushrooms instead of the plastic veggie bags. I finally moved all my shopping bags into my van as well.

 

[AndyLL]

Too bad GM did away with the EV1 back in the '90's - could have really been a boon for them - imagine how much better off we'd be now if electric cars were now the standard and we phased oil/gasoline out by a large amount.

Not only did GM do away with the EV1... the battery patents was sold to the oil companies who have sat on them for decades. Those batteries were as good as anything we have today... just think where we would be with 20 years improvements on them.

I'd like the government to put pressure on Chevron to release the patents in the name of national security.

Here is a map showing 'most' of the oil rigs in the gulf: ( black dots are rigs)

http://i49.tinypic.com/1toepw.jpg

 

[shortbun]

We got a scooter. We've recycled for years and we buy in bulk without packaging already. DH is looking into having solar collectors installed on our roof and we are on a campaign to cut our already austere usage of electricity by 10%. We buy locally or grow our own when possible. Cloth bags have been the norm around here for years although occassionally I get plastic for my bus trash can and to carry items that get really wet.

 

[Colleen27]

I thought those were some good ideas.

Another thought:

Behind transportation, conventional agriculture is the biggest use of oil in the United States. The fertilizers and pesticides used in conventional agriculture require huge amounts of oil to produce, and most of what you find in the grocery store has been shipped hudreds or even thousands of miles to get there. Buying organic cuts out the synthetic, oil-based fertilizers; buying local cuts down on the energy needed in transportation. And often if you can find local growers that use organic/old-fashioned growing practices (many do, because all that oil-based fertilizer and heavy equipment is often too expensive for small farmers), whether or not they're actually certified organic, you can get the benefits of both at a lower cost than grocery store organic.

For people living in states with a reasonably sized agricultural base, there are plenty of easy, common sense changes. I live in Michigan, a state that produces just about everything we could want, but if I go to the grocery store they want to sell me Idaho potatoes and Washington apples, eggs from Wisconsin and milk from Pennsylvania. Take the time to poke around on the Local Harvest.org website and get to know the local farmers markets and farm stands and you can cut down on how much diesel fuel is involved in getting your dinner to your table.