A word cloud using titles from this week's eKos diaries:
Welcome to eKos Earthship Sunday
Today's diary is devoted to the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Beneath the fold, in addition to the diary tables, you will find links for volunteering and donation, news and notes.
Today's editor: patrickz
How You Can Help!
Diane Herbst of tonic has a great roundup of volunteer organizations:
The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Audubon Society, and the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program are registering volunteers to assist with a variety of needs — from oiled wildlife recovery to monitoring and photographing oil movement to providing a boat and driver for response activities. No specific training or experience is necessary, although you must be at least 18 years old to volunteer. Some tasks, such as food preparation, may require no training. Other tasks, such as washing oiled birds, may require specific certifications or skills. They encourage pre-veterinary students, veterinary technicians and those with HAZWOPER training to volunteer. Anyone with experience in dealing with wildlife handling, rehabilitation, or hazardous materials clean up is also strongly encouraged to register. Click here to sign up.
The National Audubon Society is seeking volunteers wishing to clean up birds. Click here to register.
The Sierra Club is mobilizing volunteers, and will connect you with opportunities to help. Please click here to sign up and for more information.
Save Our Seabirds is a Sarasota, Florida-based bird rescue group that is looking for volunteers and support as its response team prepares to help oiled wildlife. Please click here to fill out their online form or call 941-388-3010.
There are more links in the full article. You can donate to one of these organizations, or to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund. The fund was created by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, which Charity Navigator rates four stars.
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From geodemographics in the comments:
A document I want to bring to peoples' attention: (4+ / 0-)
Recommended by:
Eternal Hope, northanger
Initial Exploration Plan Mississippi Canyon Block 252 (Large PDF)
Section 7.1 contains the number everyone seems to be looking for; the volume of oil for an uncontrolled blowout is 162,000 barrels per day (6,804,000 gallons).
This is a MMS government document signed by BP.
I believe this is the section:
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From QuestionAuthority in the comments:
Attn EKos (5+ / 0-)
Recommended by:
JekyllnHyde, Eternal Hope, patrickz, princesspat, Regina in a Sears Kit House
I just e-mailed a briefing about the oil rig explosion to you. I don't know how to post something like this to DKos as it's in PDF.
As far as I know, this is NOT an internal document - it's just something I got from a friend of mine.
Here is the link to the pdf on Google Docs.
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Today's diaries:
Yesterday's diaries:
Also, don't forget to check out these eco-series:
(All times Eastern!)
Listed diaries do not necessarily represent the views of the eKos editors and rangers.
Note: We will be keeping an archive of the listed diaries. You can access it here.
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Oilpocalypse
from DigitalGlobe
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It's Worse Than You Think by Devilstower
If you haven't already, please read Devilstower's detailed article on the scope of this tragedy:
With the estimated rate of spillage having now been adjusted upwards, it's clear that over the last two days the 5k rate is not enough to explain the rapid expansion of the spreading oil slick. It's becoming increasingly obvious that we don't have a month before we reach Valdez levels of disaster.
The surface area of a catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill quickly tripled in size amid growing fears among experts that the slick could become vastly more devastating than it seemed just two days ago. ... The slick nearly tripled in just a day or so, growing from a spill the size of Rhode Island to something closer to the size of Puerto Rico, according to images collected from mostly European satellites and analyzed by the University of Miami.
This may mean that we've simply been underestimating the size of the flow all along, that the 5k scenario undershot the actual leak. But the series of underestimates may have another cause -- the size of the spill may have been growing, day by day, right from the start. The source of much of the spilled oil appears to be the damaged valves and piping in a house-sized structure on the sea floor, at a depth of 5,000'. If the openings have gradually have been forced wider, the level of flow may soon reach a point where catastrophic seems a vast understatement.
Ian R. MacDonald, an oceanography professor at Florida State University, said his examination of Coast Guard charts and satellite images indicated that 8 million to 9 million gallons had already spilled by April 28. ... Alabama's governor said his state was preparing for a worst-case scenario of 150,000 barrels, or more than 6 million gallons per day. At that rate the spill would amount to a Valdez-sized spill every two days, and the situation could last for months.
Increasingly it appears that we are living this "worst case" scenario. If the FSU numbers are correct, we have already reached Exxon Valdez levels of spill, on our way to something much, much worse.
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President Obama Arrives in Louisiana to See Damage by CBS News
Our president understands the magnitude of this crisis:
The president was greeted by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal at the New Orleans airport before his motorcade left for Venice, about 75 miles to the southeast, where there's a staging area close to the water.
On the flight from Washington, Mr. Obama received a briefing from his homeland security adviser, John Brennan, and his energy adviser, Carol Browner.
Spokesman Robert Gibbs says Brennan and Browner went "through a series of scenarios" with Mr. Obama on the spill. Gibbs says the president asked about the latest word on the first and biggest priority - capping the underwater well.
The estimate of crude oil being spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the well head of the destroyed BP drilling platform Deepwater Horizon was revised upwards. Already experts are suggesting this may become the worst environmental disaster to hit the U.S. since the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound, and it may eclipse even that.
But will he abandon his plans to expand offshore drilling?
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BP Calls Accident 'Inconceivable' by LA Times
British Petroleum basically claims that there is nothing more they could have done to prevent the Oilpocalypse:
The accident in the Gulf of Mexico that has unleashed a massive oil slick was unforeseeable, said BP PLC Chairman Lamar McKay, speaking on ABC's "The Week" Sunday.
McKay said more preparations for such an accident weren't made because it "seemed inconceivable" that equipment in place to avert an oil-well blowout would fail.
McKay was referring to a valve mechanism sitting on top of the oil well nearly a mile down in the ocean which failed to shut in the malfunction. This valve device, the "blowout preventer," is the last line of defense against oil spurting out of the earth.
BP said it was activated but did not close. Its failure made what might otherwise have been a tragic accident and small spill into a vast crisis.
Of course, if you read Daily Kos, you know better.
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NOAA Closes Waters to Fishing by Reuters
As the oil continues to spread along the coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration takes action, closing waters for at least 10 days:
"Balancing economic and health concerns, this order closes just those areas that are affected by oil," NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, said in a statement. "There should be no health risk in seafood currently in the marketplace."
There are fish, crabs, oyster and shrimp near the spill and officials are working to prohibit harvesting from affected areas, NOAA said.
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Spill Could Devastate Gulf Fishing Industry for Years from Climate Progress
The Deepwater Horizon disaster will have long-term ecological and economic consequences:
The BP Gulf Coast rig explosion is a horrible human, economic, and environmental disaster. The death of 11 employees is tragic. The spill could devastate the Gulf Coast commercial and sport fishing industries for years to come. Louisiana’s seafood industry alone is worth $2 billion annually.
This is the biggest U.S. economic and environmental disaster since the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. The key lesson from the Exxon Valdez is that the oil spill continues to have an impact today—more than two decades after the event.
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About eKos
The Idea
This project was inspired by the Earth Day @ DKos Blogathon. In case you missed it, we had 31 participating environmental diaries, all of which were linked to in the Mothership. During the event we had several requests for an eco-mothership diary series in the mould of the Earth Day effort.
The Mission
eKos is all about promoting community eco-diaries. Daily Kos already showcases several series, but sometimes the work of dedicated green diarists pass off the recent diary list hardly noticed. Our goal is to make these diaries more accessible. In the process we hope to build community and bring in a broader audience to the exceptional environmental writing here at DK.
eKos Schedule
Ideally, we would like to post a mothership diary every day. Considering most of us have busy schedules, this may be an unattainable goal. For now, we'll post as often as we can. Mothership diaries will be posted in the morning (exact time TBD) and updated throughout the day. Eventually, we may reserve one day a week to post an edited environmental diary with the eKos handle.
How eKos Works
If you want a diary included in the list, please let us know by leaving a comment. We'll do our best to search out green diaries, but are bound to miss a few. For eKos to live up to it's full potential, eco-diarists will need to post a link to the mothership at the end of their diary. This will provide readers with easy access to other recent environmental diaries.
Requirements
eKos is meant to be inclusive, but we will have standards for quality and content of listed diaries. (As long as you don't violate site rules and have a modicum of relevant, original content, you should be fine.)
'eKos' tag
If your diary gets listed, we'll ask you to add the eKos tag to your diary.
Contact
You can follow us on Twitter
If you are interested in becoming an eco-ranger for eKos, or just want some more info, e-mail ekos350atgmaildotcom
A great comment from Regina in a Sears Kit House, one of our Rangers:
If the eKos rangers missed anyone, tag your diary with eKos, then link to the Earthship. Copy and past the title from this diary into the link feature. Also bookmark the URL for eKos Earthship.
This index contains many different styles: photo diaries, scientific research, requests for action, poetry, art, opinion and essays.
The topics are as varied as the writers: planetary, global, local, gardening, wildlife, eco series and digests, birds and wildlife, sustainable and organic farming, environment, this week especially of course the Gulf Gusher. Forests, travelogues, micro organisms to the earth herself.
Thanks to everyone posting, I'd like to suggest this project is turning into a library.
Thanks to boatsie, a growing following on twitter.
Thanks to eKos rangers, many hands make easy work. Want to help?
Keep those tags and links coming.