vegansaurus!
04/30/2010
» Spill, baby, spill!
Just your weekly reminder that offshore drilling fucking sucks, and the people who demand it the loudest are fucking assholes who deserve a kick in the face. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not only an economic disaster for fisheries, but it’s a hell-on-earth for the birds and marine life who live in the Gulf and on the coast of Louisiana.
Courtesy of the New York Times comes this shocking infographic showing which species are now in peril from the spill. Want a sneak preview? “The Gulf of Mexico is the only spawning ground for the Western Atlantic population of the bluefish tuna, which is at the peak of spawning season.” America, FUCK YEAH!
The antidote to this shit is clean energy, like the offshore wind farm off Cape Cod that was approved this past week by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Unfortunately, groups are already suing to block its construction because they say the wind farm will block the views from their mansions endanger marine life and commerce. Because birds and fish are just choking in wind-slick from leaky wind turbines. Quick, someone call in the emergency windbreaker and visor crew! These feathers aren’t going to comb themselves back into place.
∞ posted at 08:03 by stevesimitzis 
03/31/2010
Obama offshore drilling announcement reaction roundup »
Somehow I’ve managed to become the “doom and gloom” guy around here, but the awesome environmental news just keeps rolling in this week, so what the hell, let’s go with it. I swear, on the inside I’m nothing but kitten videos and sunshine.
So, this sucks. There are no two ways about it. Over at Grist, they’re “stunned and baffled.” At Daily Kos, they’re saying that “oil drilling for minimizing carbon pollution is like fucking for virginity,” while Kevin Drum at Mother Jones goes for the measured approach, pointing out that Obama campaigned on offshore drilling. Steve Benen goes a step further, publishing an anonymous email from a White House staffer saying that there’s some kind of strategy to make Republicans look crazy by opposing Obama’s drilling plan, and using that to pass his climate bill as some kind of jujitsu move. Kate Sheppard reports that Republicans are indeed being crazy and flipping out. Treehugger just says WTF while letting the big environmental news of the day fall off their front page in favor of press releases about new cars (loving the irony).
California and all of the West Coast are spared from the plan. So, yay us, I guess. Nearly all the states chosen appear to be “red states,” so if there’s a silver lining, it would be watching a right-wing NIMBY anti-drilling movement pick up steam.
The plan is to open areas for exploration, not yet for drilling. Oil companies are famous for not using their offshore drilling leases (too expensive to get the oil) so in all likelihood, very little will change. But unless there’s some kind of grand strategy at work, every second we spend chasing our tail on oil and coal is a colossal waste of time that kills animals (holla back, harp seals!) and threatens civilization. In summary, fuck that noise.
∞ posted at 14:28 by stevesimitzis
