The oil disaster is destroying what remains of the wetlands that provide us with minimal protection from hurricanes. The levees that were built and maintained by the Corps of Engineers failed in Katrina and barely withstood Gustav. Storms are getting larger because of global warming. The government is in bed with the oil companies and the banks.
We are the canary in the coal mine y'all.
Since Katrina all of my remaining close personal relatives have been profoundly effected by weather anomalies. My in-laws in Rhode Island saw once in a lifetime flooding and my brother in upstate NY saw once in a lifetime snowfall. It is the considered opinions of many scientists that these fluctuations in weather patterns are a result of global warming.
At at time when we desperately need for our government to regulate corporations we still witness kowtowing to the banks and oil companies.
Here in Louisiana, I often feel that we are not really a part of the USA. I hear that in Alaska everybody gets a check from the government that represents a portion of the profits of the oil companies. In Louisiana we get kicked in the nuts by BP. Its as if we are a third world country that is accidentally attached to the mainland USA.
We see little profit from the hazard created off our shores by oil wells. We have little protection from the damage done to our health by the refineries. As a "right to work" state we have little or no protection of our rights to a fair share of the profit generated by our labors. Our resources are exploited without our consultation and with minimal recompense to our economy other than the salaries of those who work for the very companies that are destroying us.
Given the oligarchy that is currently in power I expect that this degree of exploitation will spread rather than shrink. You can all look forward to unbridled corporate destruction of your environment. We are not the first and we won't be the last
We are just another canary in the coal mine.
Don't think that it can't get worse or that it won't happen to you.
Help.