ologically, the Krakatau problem refers to the question of whether the islands were completely sterilized by the 1883 eruption or whether some life survived. When the first researchers reached the islands in May 1884, the only living thing they found was a spider in a crevice on the south side of Rakata. Life quickly recolonized the islands, however; Verbeek's visit in October 1884 found grass shoots already growing. The eastern side of the island has been extensively vegetated by trees and shrubs, presumably brought there as seeds washed up by ocean currents or carried in birds' droppings (or brought by natives and scientific investigators). It is, however, in a somewhat fragile position, and the vegetated area has been badly damaged by recent eruptions.
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I'm sorry, but watching this play out is like watching a bunch of five year-olds trying to solve a complex problem beyond their grasp. It is clear that while BP spent millions lobbying to have safety regulations removed, they spent ZERO on trying to figure out what to do in the case of an emergency.
Cement boxes? Ice crystals? Do they even have scientists and engineers on the payroll? And the latest suggestion, "blast GARBAGE" into the well would be laughable if this weren't such a tragedy already. I truly believe that these fools do not deserve the right to operate a business.
If you cannot clean it up, don't pump it in the first place. Or, make sure it can't happen. Under any circumstances. This is where we are at, repeatedly. The captains of industry and finance demonstrate again and again that they HAVE NO CLOTHES. The public, on the other hand, blithely eats up the daily slurry from the media, and nothing changes.
Posted by David, May 04 2010, 2:37PM - Link
The only solution I see is a shift in public consciousness which forces a shift in White House consciousness. Apparently, when Obama flew over the area, he was quite affected by both the oil spew and the degradation of the barrier wetlands. I really do not know how much power a president actually has over the corporate private sector, which has successfully made itself into de facto world government, not do I know to what extent a president is the prisoner of the American way of life.
I do know that this is a catastrophe of horrendous proportions and that no one knows what in hell to do about it. The horrifying reality is that there might well be nothing anyone can do.
And might I add that Bill Kristol is an ideologiclally driven intellectual farce. Rush Limbaugh is, of course, a clown without a worthy routine, and Sarah Palin is lost in her own mental wilderness.
The scientist who suggested a small nuke to seal it is not terribly off base, given what this geyser will do over the next couple of months. Spew, baby, spew, Ms. Sarah Palin.
Posted by The Pessimist, May 04 2010, 3:57PM - Link
This entire episode is the confluence of multiple factors going back decades. It didn't spontaneously erupt from the Gulf floor on April 20, 2010.
Attempting to identify a singular human villain for this ecological catastrophe is misguided and distracting.
The fundamental cause of this most recent, but by no means unexpected disaster, is American style predatory capitalism. Period.
I,for one, would. This has been blown so far out of proportion it makes me sick! Facts that we do not hear or read in most media:
The vast majority of the "oil slick" is less than a micron in thickness. This means that it is far thinner than a human hair and is basically only a sheen upon the water.
The "oil slick" is being rapidly acted upon by natural forces and has decreased in size over the last few days by almost 40%.
The oil that is there remains at least 20 miles off shore and has not fouled any beaches.
There have been a number of far worse spills and leaks in the Gulf of Mexico over the last 30 years and they have not caused any lasting damage.
We never see any of these supposedly horrific events put into any perspective. Each is treated as though it is the first occurrence of it's sort and that the effects are sure to be "totally destructive, far reaching and guaranteed to destroy a delicate ecosystem". In 1979 a Mexican well called Ixtoc 1 suffered a similar fate as the Horizon Platform, only instead of leaking 1,000 to 5,000 barrels a day, the Ixtoc 1 spewed up to 30,000 barrels per day and it went on for almost a year before being under control. I happened to sail through this area at the time and personally saw little ill effects. The ocean is a BIG place! Oil from this well traveled all the way to Texas where it mixed with the spilled oil from a large supertanker that, inconveniently, wrecked at the same time and spilled many hundreds of thousands of barrels all along this, supposedly, delicate ecosystem. In that case beaches were indeed fouled but studies that were done in the years following the spill found NO EFFECT upon the fishery or the shrimping of the area.
The fact is these natural systems are very resilient and they recover very rapidly or suffer far less than the talking heads tell us.
If you do not believe me I challenge you to google Ixtoc 1 and read the actual facts of the matter. It was the largest single point spill in world history, it happened in the Gulf of Mexico in what we are told are "sensitive, easily damaged areas" and it is largely forgotten as it had zero long or even medium effects.
Get a grip people, the media and the environmental lobby are playing us for chumps. I predict that the effects of this spill will have very little effect upon the ecosystem of the Gulf and that this whole thing will be largely forgotten in 6 to 8 weeks. Laugh if you wish but lets see how concerned we all are in a month and what exactly the effects have been!
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