Pray with me
Dear readers,
As I ready my post for today’s recipe, a seafood favorite for my Sunday Dinner feature, my mind persistently wanders more toward the source or its industry rather than the actual ingredients. I am worried for the seafood industry, as we know it along the Gulf Coast.
As I read the many articles covering BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion and the oil spill, I am sickened with the magnitude so close to the wetlands, fisheries and estuaries along our coast. The spill is unprecedented. So is the way BP is handling it. Denial is one thing, but gosh darn it, when you drill oil, you better have a plan for such a catastrophe and be ready to implement it on day one. The fact that there were two explosions on the rig three hours apart tells me something was wrong and after the first explosion, why not shut the thing down. Greed, I suspect, but now look at how much it will cost them.
The cost to us is so much more. This could not come at a worst time. Peak spawning and nesting season for fish, birds and all marine mammals are going on now. Any disturbance whatsoever affects the food chain and has lasting effects on commercial fisherman and folks working in the industry. The effect has already started to hurt these people.
Let’s not just look at today, tomorrow or this season. Once the oil and muck from it reaches our shores, marshes, our oyster beds and the grass beds where crabs and fish breed and grow … that will be no more. How many years will it take these areas to recover? Marine population has yet to come around for Prince William Sound and it will never again be “pristine” as it was before the Exxon Valdez oil spill and that occurred in 1989.
An editorial in today’s paper called this spill ‘Black Katrina’ referring to hurricane Katrina of 2005, the most costliest and most 5 deadliest in the history of the US. There is another scary thought; the Deepwater Horizon well sits along the edge of the Gulf Stream, which flows around Florida and up the Eastern seaside.
On this Sunday, instead of giving you a recipe, I ask of you instead. I ask that you pray for our future. Pray for our waters, our land and for our people.
My heart goes out to all of you on the Gulf Coast. Joining with countless others in prayers for the whole area.
ReplyDeleteI was just watching the news and they were talking about this. The fisherman have proposed a plan and are volunteering to use their boats to help implement it and BP "will get back to them". But BP does not appear to have alternative. It is really sad that with all of the disastrous spills the US doesn't force oil companies to have plans and make them implement them within hours of a "spill".
ReplyDeleteHi Drick,
ReplyDeleteIt truly is a horrible disaster. My prayers are with the wild life and people this is impacting. Truly all of us will be impacted by this sad event.
Kristi
Hello;
ReplyDeleteThis catastrophe has been a huge burden on my heart as well.
As I read your post there are no dry eyes here! Beautiful and profoundly saddened!
I humbly join you, "Praying for our waters, our land and for our people."
The old, “…where any two agree…” and action like your beautiful post here are good stewards. I ask that we add that all good stewards, and a fix for the breach, boats/ships with pumps be quickly administered and dispatched on this clean up ASAP!!! I hope and pray that we can find a way to tend to these kinds of issues, that industries with the power to ruin our seas and lands be held responsible.
I posted some petitions and info as well. I saw a website called care2petition that has a place for creating petitions as well. I mention this because you have such good knowledge from a different perspective. We need action on all fronts. I feel helpless, but not hopeless. All I can do is look for solutions, proposals, and actions that can help.
We don’t have a great track record where disaster relief is concerned. I also pray that this disaster gives our nation and its people to change that.
There will be a lot of needs. I hope that the clean up moves swiftly and efficiently! I live in the PNW and don't know, except that the needs are huge!
Heavy hearted,
Allison
P.S. Your post is wonderfully moving!
This is a wonderful reach out I think everyone that reads this needs to repost whereever you can! This is a horrible disaster that will destroy many fields of work, because of almost all the seafood we use comes from the gulf, so this is obviously a cause for concern It also scares me because southern Louisiana there are a lot of people who make their living in the fishing industry.A horrible negative economic catasrophe! AÂ containment boom staged at the Breton National Wildlife Refuge Thursday. The spill, a slick more than 130 miles long and 70 miles wide, threatens hundreds of species of wildlife, including birds, dolphins and the fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs that make the Gulf Coast one of the nation's most abundant sources of seafood, that was in Nola.com...so this is huge, thanks Drick for posting this I will send it off to Twitter and Facebook and Stumble it, someone needs to hear our voice!
ReplyDeleteThank-you for the heartfelt post - the magnitude cannot be underestimated. Respect for our natural world gets lost in greed. I shall twitter this and Facebook it also.
ReplyDeleteI have been so sickened and saddened by this as well ... it's a disgusting example of greed and ineptitude at the expense of people, animals, and nature. I wish the clock could be turned back, and it is my fervent hope and wish that at least this could serve as some kind of warning or lesson for the future ...
ReplyDeleteour prayers are with you...thanks for posting this much needed commentary on the state of our country.....we have many problems, but most are form the greed of business men who think nothing about the people they are affecting.
ReplyDeleteYour post is heart-wrenching, Drick. In land-locked Colorado 1,500 miles away, I always purchase Gulf wild-caught shrimp. For so many reasons well beyond how this disaster impacts my little microcosm, our reliance on oil needs to decline. The short-term and long-term environmental, political and financial ramifications are way too costly.
ReplyDeleteIt's indeed so sad...
ReplyDeleteI'm sickened and saddened as well. This is a sad post. Daniel and I were both in disbelief when our relatives said it would reach Pensacola tommorrow sometime. I can't imagine how upsetting this is to actually witness happen.
ReplyDeleteDrick,
ReplyDeleteMy parents, in-laws, and sister in-law still live in New Orleans, as they too are holding their breath to see how this disaster pans out. We are all praying with you that the seafood, tourism, boating, fishing, birding, wildlife, and outdoors along the Gulf Coast is spared from the impending crude oil.
Thoughts and prayers,
Ryan Boudreaux
CCR
=:~)
It is a very sad situation and so unbelievable. I am joining you and many others, to pray for our land, our waters, and our people. Thank you for this heartfelt post.
ReplyDeleteHi Drick,
ReplyDeleteYour post is very saddening. What's happening is very upsetting. My prayers and thoughts are with you always.
Cook with Madin
Beautiful. :)
ReplyDeleteI too am deeply saddened by this catastrophe, its awful, for the whole gulfcoast, and who knows how far up the east coast its going to travel. I was thinking yesterday, why in the &^% does Toyata have to pay millions because of a gas pedal that may or may not get stuck under the floor mat (as I understand it), and we have to protect people that don't know how to turn off the key to their car, or perhaps pull the accelerator up with their foot. But BP has no consequences for destroying what's left of our southern economy, family's livelihoods, and our whole ecosystem. I am crying thinking about all the beautiful, some hidden and some more public, natural places, that are going to be ruined. Yes,I am praying for a miracle with you, and watching as this horrible catastrophe plays out.
ReplyDeleteHi Drick,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting and the reminder for us to continue to pray for a miracle. This is a horrendous tragedy and hope that our prayers will be answered and the universe will provide.
Drick,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the post. This truly is a tragedy and this spill affects so many people as well as the wildlife. We can only hope for a miracle in this situation.
thanks for posting this, we all need to be aware of what is going on, prayers going out...
ReplyDeletesweetlife
Our hearts go out to you and your community. This is a tragedy that could have been averted with more careful oversite, but now must be borne by the ecosystem of your beautiful bay. We are truly sorry, and wish you the best.
ReplyDelete-Sortachef and Family
My thoughts and prayers are with you. If there is more that can be done, please let me know. It is in moments like this, though, that the most one can do is pray.
ReplyDelete