To the Editor:
“Coast
Guard Sees Oil Spill Cleanup Lasting into Fall” (front page, June
7) implies that things could be fine in the Gulf of Mexico (and the
oceans) by late fall.
In fact, this oil spill will diminish the health and wealth of
generations of humans, destroy the food chain and habitats of
generations of animals (fish, fowl and human) and irreparably harm the
ocean’s ecosystems.
The dispersants used in cleanup efforts will harm all the living things
they touch. These poisons will be carried by birds to faraway ecosystems
on land and water and travel to all parts of the oceans via currents
and fish.
It’s impossible to “clean up” a disaster of this magnitude.
American energy policies currently subsidize and encourage our addiction
to oil. I can only hope that the gulf oil spill makes us recognize the
true dangers and costs of fossil fuels and that we act with urgency to
create a renewable energy infrastructure and economy for the 21st
century.
Otherwise, shame on us.
Amy Larkin
Director, Greenpeace Solutions
New York, June 7, 2010
Note from KBJ: It breaks my heart to see the birds covered in oil.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 