The greatest danger that
Deepwater Horizon presents usually
is not being discussed in the
Ken & Barbie main stream media.
In a post on
Ecocosmology Blog, in 2009, some of the realities American journalists avoid, deny, and cover up (
favoring Ken & Barbie journalism instead) were discussed.
The focus was on problems inherent in
a civilization that measures everything by growth, never distinguishing between good growth and bad growth:
Specifically, [John Beddington, the UK government's chief scientific adviser] points to research indicating that by 2030 "a whole series of events come together":
* population will rise [grow] from 6bn to 8bn (33%)
* Demand for food will increase [grow] by 50%
* Demand for water will increase [grow] by 30%
* Demand for energy will increase [grow] by 50%
He foresees each problem combining to create a "perfect storm" in which the whole is bigger, and more serious, than the sum of its parts.
(
Shadow of Time Governs The Earth). One can be reminded by those numbers that the fundamental nature of cancer is to grow, grow, grow, and do nothing but grow (a.k.a. metastasis).
Catastrophe producing ideologies about growth
that are inherent within our civilization also have an adverse effect on the life sustaining systems of the Earth itself, upon which civilization derives sustenance in order to survive.
In its natural format the Earth can sustain indefinitely, because the Earth, in contrast to human civilization, is not a cancer, thus, growth occurs only when it is needed.
Further, that growth is always governed by a balanced set of cycles (air, water, nitrogen, carbon, seasons, etc.).
Our human body has a cyclical immune system that protects itself, however, when that system is overcome by toxins, and is inundated, the situation is said to be "terminal", hence the oft repeated words "terminal cancer".
The cancer in our civilization can grow to the point of destroying one or more of the cycles of the Earth's immune system, but
theoretically that has not happened yet:
Humanity may soon be approaching the boundaries for global freshwater use, change in land use, ocean acidification and interference with the global phosphorous cycle (see Fig. 1). Our analysis suggests that three of the Earth-system processes — climate change, rate of biodiversity loss and interference with the nitrogen cycle — have already transgressed their boundaries. For the latter two of these, the control variables are the rate of species loss and the rate at which N2 is removed from the atmosphere and converted to reactive nitrogen for human use, respectively. These are rates of change that cannot continue without significantly eroding the resilience of major components of Earth-system functioning. Here we describe these three processes.
...
... biodiversity loss in the Anthropocene has accelerated massively. Species are becoming extinct at a rate that has not been seen since the last global mass-extinction event.
...
Modern agriculture is a major cause of environmental pollution, including large-scale nitrogen- and phosphorus-induced environmental change. At the planetary scale, the additional amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus activated by humans are now so large that they significantly perturb the global cycles of these two important elements.
(
The Damage Cannot Be Undone?). These sorts of behind the scenes cycles perform their work in various places such as the atmosphere, flora & fauna, and in the oceans.
We risk severe damage to one of these cyclic organs when we damage the atmosphere, vegetation, animal kingdom, or the oceans.
Which brings us back to
Deepwater Horizon and what it is doing to the oceans.
Ken & Barbie journalists focus on the local impact they can see with their eyes, which ends up coming across as a local story for a few states.
They seem to not usually be aware of the deeper and more significant impact of the catastrophe, the
dire straits it puts civilization into.
When politicians like Al Gore wake up to it by educating themselves about issues that are not acceptable to
MOMCOM, she-it goes into a manic slander mode, slandering Al Gore and others who have become enlightened to the catastrophic state of affairs, and want to share anti-bodies with their fellow citizens.
Cancer does not stop at physical damage, no it actually
causes psychological problems too, as we see happening to MOMCOM while she self destructs.
The dangerous situation called "ocean acidification", mentioned in the quote above, is back on the table for discussion, since it is a candidate to be the straw that broke the camel's back, the straw that takes civilization down.
That ocean acidification is being, and will continue to be, exported by the U.S. into the world by the
Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, underneath, below Ken & Barbie journalism's radar, as life in the ocean is hampered by more pollution.
That cancer is spreading via the loop current in the gulf, which flows into the Atlantic, then through the Gulf Stream it flows up to another current that takes it to the South Atlantic via a current that flows south between Africa and South America.
There it comes to a "Y" in the road and takes it, going in several directions, none of them good.
Methane is 30 times more of a dangerous green house gas than carbon dioxide.
Now we find out that the "oil" coming up the bore hole and up the casing at Deepwater Horizon is FORTY PERCENT METHANE:
The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from the spill.
(
Palm Beach Post). A post on
Dredd Blog, "
Bubbling Up To A Rude Awakening" discusses several dangerous new sources of methane gas that trouble scientists.
The previous post in this series is
here.
People are struggling to find an appropriate name for the times we live in.
