Friday, June 25, 2010

deep thoughts

I feel like Jack Handy right now sitting on the beach in Florida watching the waves roll in.  I'm here for a couple of cooking demos at Publix grocery stores (well, actually its' at their cooking school called Aprons).  I've been fortunate enough to get put up at the Boca Beach Resort.  So I'm relaxing by the beach waiting for my next demo to begin.  It's perfect here - very warm, nice offshore breeze, clear waters and great sandy.  However, I can't stop thinking about what's happening a few hundred miles in the other direction.  BP and the oil industry in general have put us all in danger.  The oil has been flowing into the ocean for over two months now.  It is the most upsetting thing that has happened in our lives, in my humble opinion. The impact will not only be felt by the cleaning crews, the fishermen, the fish, the ocean-dwellers, the property owners, the oystermen, the tourist industry, the deep sea fishermen, the pelicans, the turtles, the dolphins, etc. etc. etc....  BUT BY EVERYONE ON THIS EARTH.  So much oil has spewed that it will make it out of the gulf, around Florida, up the East coast, across the Atlantic and over to Europe and beyond.  Many migratory fish and birds use the wetlands and the deep ocean just off the Louisiana coast to breed and hatch their young.  Sharks, whales, large predatory fish, etc. all need these waters to survive.  I predict a domino effect that will last decades.  I am so disillusioned with our government, big industry and the New American Apathy that seems to be imbedded in every bit of our lives now.  If it doesn't directly impact people, they just don't seem to care - or at least have the energy to do something about it.  Maybe we are all so busy with our crazy lives, debt, and fear that we can't offer any emotion to something this important.  But this keeps me up at night.  I have fallen in love with New Orleans and the state of Louisiana over the past year.  I feel like someone just shot my new love in the heart and nobody is slowing down to offer help...

2 comments:

  1. Been a few months since I posted here and to read this tonight is like you were in my head the last few weeks. I also have a blog and posted when this first happened and joined a group of bloggers who are trying to get he word out and to also get our law makers to act on this disaster NOW. It really sucks, did we not learn anything from the lack of assistance from the horror of Katrina?

    I know you have adopted NOLA this past year as a second home, it is easy to tell from your previous posts. I posted last night yet another article and video on what scientists are predicting this summer on what the Eastern Seaboard will most likely have to face from the BP tragedy.

    Hosea, I usually come here to see what you're up to in regards to your food. But being lucky to have talked to you before and knowing what type of person you are, I can only say, I wish more people who have a pulpit, no matter how small, use their voices often, as you do, for speaking out for those who have no voice.

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  2. This is extremely heartfelt and well written, Hosea. Thank you for sharing and for using your voice to shout about what is going on in the Gulf. As another person who loves New Orleans (and the Gulf Coast as a whole) I appreciate deeply what you're doing to help.

    Kate

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