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...