Humanity, or the few in charge who pass for humans, have unwittingly screwed around with the Thermohaline Circulation of the all the oceans.
This is sometimes called the
- Ocean Conveyor Belt,
- The Great Ocean Conveyor, or
- The Global Conveyor Belt.
It maintains the world's temperatures, and was a major part of the dynamics in the last Ice Age and Mini Ice Age.
When the "saltiness" or salinity of the ocean waters become disrupted, the great conveyor belt is affected. As I see it, the density of the oil and the ph balance of the chemicals can't help but affect this.
I learned about this belt which dictates our weather and climate nearly ten years ago while reading about global warming and the ice ages. It's the reason the temperature is similar in Washington DC and London, even though the latter is much further to the north.
When I learned three weeks ago of this oil "spill", I was upset nearly beyond words, but as it continues, I have the worse sense of dread.
I'm no expert, and haven't read a thing yet about how this catastrophe might slow or shut down the ocean conveyor belt, only that it could spread oil and toxins beyond the Gulf of Mexico. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to consider the enormous possibility of it slowing down or coming to halt - which would throw many parts of this country and the world into a new mini- or full Ice Age.
Hang onto to that thought, and I'll return to it in a moment.
This little piggy is the Chief Executive for BP Oil, and his name is Tony Hayward.
You'd think he'd be on the verge of a nervous breakdown and crying over this:
Not by a longshot. Despite death threats, this pampered-looking man with soft hands says "he's sleeping well these days..."
That statement alone is infuriating.
The Forbes interviewer who met with him described him as "looking fresh, almost relaxed in his makeshift corner office at BP's emergency response center in Houston," and said "Hayward insists the company has been "extraordinarily successful."
In its response to the spill, "Hayward gropes for an upside," and says, "Deepwater drilling will be transformed by this event. If we can win the hearts and minds of the communities that are impacted, then we have the potential to enhance our reputation rather than have it damaged."
Keep dreaming, bitch.
September 10, 2001, was America's last day of being oblivious to what terrorism feels like or worrying about the spread of wars in the Middle East.
If the Gulf of Mexico inhabitants could express themselves, they'd tell us they feel the same way about April 19th of this year, because the day after, 4/20/10, they have been terrorized and are dying at holocaust levels from a far worse catastrophe.
No, the most affected citizens who try to planet with us are not humans - not yet anyway. They are the birds and ocean life who depend on or live in the sea, and there are billions of them, from microscopic plants to dolphins, shellfish, fish, and birds - more than you can name.
And what's one of BP's solutions?
They are "using two products from a line of dispersants called Corexit, which EPA data appears to show is more toxic and less effective on South Louisiana crude than other available dispersants."
These products were banned for oil cleanups in the UK over a decade ago because they are toxic - to humans.
Worse, "scientists have discovered giant plumes of dispersed oil in the deep waters of the Gulf, though the EPA has said “there is no information currently available to link the dispersants to those deep-sea plumes. The plumes are now fast approaching the Gulf loop current, which could spread the oil into the Atlantic Ocean."
The next two images show the ocean temperature in the gulf, with an outline of the oil spill overlaid. The dark red bulb directly below the spill is the loop current; above it is the cooler and less distinct cyclone.
“It’s highly visible in our imagery,” said Nan Walker, an oceanographer with the Earth Scan Laboratory at Louisiana State University, where a separate analysis of the satellite images is being done. “It’s unmistakable. And oil spills, to my mind, aren’t usually that easy to track.”
The following image shows the spill on Monday, May 17, with a long tongue of oil snaking out to sea:
This next photo is from two weeks ago, May 6-7, showing the "spill" in relation to the Gulf loop current.
Once again, take a good, hard look at the thermohaline circulation in this map below of the Global/Ocean Conveyor Belt:
As you see, what happens in the Gulf doesn't stay in the Gulf. It ain't like your weekend in Las Vegas.
I am dead certain that the cheap bastards running BP understand this. I don't think they give a shit. They are dumping chemical dispersants in the Gulf, and I understand what they most hope to save - things with a dollar value attached to it - but they are literally taking an all or nothing gamble with the entire planet.
I don't have enough nasty names or labels to call the people who made this disaster possible, or who work for or support them in some way, shape or form, and I'll be surprised if any of them see a day in jail, so the best thing I can say publicly is I hope they get the hottest seats in hell.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteThat underground oil reservoir could bleed until it is dry and independent estimates range anywhere from 1-3.3 MILLION gallons of oil gushing into the gulf per day.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100513-science-environment-gulf-oil-spill-cap-leak/
I can't even fathom how catastrophic this disaster is.
Jay, Scroll down to the very bottom of this page. You will see a moment to moment ticker on the oil leaking into the Gulf. Use the slider on it.
ReplyDeleteBP lied from the start.
ReplyDeleteThe Gulf area had the resources to better contain the spill if the extent of the problem was known from the start.
Even those estimates might be low.
At one time the Sabine Pass area of the Gulf contained so much oil that it would form islands of oil in the middle of the water.
John, Islands of oil? That's terrible and I didn't know this.
ReplyDeleteAs I quoted Albert Einstein in yesterday's post, The Planet Is Having A Stroke, "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."
I personally wish the President and Congress would confiscate these companies. Hell, the cops and courts do it when drugs are found in a car, so why not for this mega-crime? Yeah, I know, the stock holders. Eff 'em. And then call every genius in every nation in the world to try damage control.
Kit, this is an excellent post. You have made it more real than I care to know. I simply cannot fathom the mind of that little prick of a man, who picture alone infuriates me! He looks the part (if that's possible). Satanic is not strong enough a word to describe these people! By moving the slider, it becomes catrastrophic in my mind's eye and now I have a headache. All mother earth's oil is leaking out, not only wreaking havoc in the gulf and ocean but probably wreaking havoc deep within the earth as well. Lord save us from the wicked!
ReplyDeleteAnna, Thank you. Sorry you have a headache now; I haven't been able to sleep myself tonight. I have avoided thinking about this or writing this detailed post for awhile, b/c I knew focusing on it would be upsetting.
ReplyDeleteYeah...
ReplyDeleteJust Google 'Sabine Pass Oil Pond'.
It tells the story of travelers who discovered "Ponds of Oil" in the Sabine Pass which disappeared after Spindletop (The company which is now Exxon/Mobil) began to suck the oil from nearby fields.
Kit it's Greed! We have destroy lives because of greed.... The true irony, we can be self sufficient without oil yet we can't stop an oil leak that is killing our natural resources, sea creatures, and starving people from their jobs to support their families. When is the oil greed going to end?
ReplyDeleteAnd I've been thinking if there has been a problem with this pump could be the reason for all the recent disasters like tunasamis, earthquakes, volcanos erupting, Katriana. I mean we're drilling the oceans surface that could change the course of land.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sarah Plain still believes in "Drill baby drill".
ReplyDeletePeace, Love and Chocolate
Tiffany
Yet, everyday the media reports that "the oil spill is much worse than first reported." Really?
ReplyDeleteBP: He did it!
Transocean: He did it!
Halliburton: He did it!
Just pathetic. F'n losers!
BP feels this is no big deal because when they had their last spill in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska back in 2006 the government acted as if it wasn't a big deal.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I have a feeling that this spill is going to be a gigantic disaster and unfortunately the so-called media in this country is either unable or unwilling to give us the real story.
John, It keeps getting worse. I just discovered this CBS news video, "Coast Guard Under BP's Rule", where CBS reporters were threatened with arrest for filming the damage.
ReplyDeleteJJ Brock, Not just greed, but imperialism, too. See above comment.
Beyond Danielle, I've wondered the same thing too. What if oil is the planets lubricant? And like moving parts need lubrication like 3 in 1 oil, maybe without it as an internal, underground thing, the earth becomes more vulnerable to earthquakes? Just a thought, don't know if that's how it works down there.
Penny Wize, Yeah, and our dilemma is the very corporations we hate, we also depend on for energy. Damn. All three of them need to be put under government control, b/c obviously they cannot act responsibly.
Val, At this point I'm wondering when the media will have their own internal revolution and stop pandering to big business. Like you, this event is too catastrophic for them to continue being suck ups.
It's become quite obvious to me that our government is NOT in control of these big corporations and the impunity with which they operate, and we mainly have the ultra business Party of No and Wall Street to blame.
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant well researched post. As a university professor I would have to give you an "A". I learned a lot from reading it and I read it 3X. Thanks for the education :-) I despise Hayward btw...
ReplyDeleteThese cats are going to get away with this scotch free. Oil is like crack to the U.S. economy - we'll forever be sucking on somebodies glass dick whether it's in our coastal waters, the Middle East, Venezuela, or Africa.
ReplyDeleteA very good film that illustrates this is called "Who Killed The Electric Car". Do check it out whenever you can. You'll understand how and why these clowns do what they do. An indigenous tribe in South America has been fighting Chevron for years for dumping the toxic shit or spoils of their work into their water that has them all fucked up. A federal judge in New York recently ruled in favor of Chevron, so go figure.
I rarely leave comments anywhere, but your connecting this massive oil leak with the thermohaline circulation being affected is terrifyingly plausible.
ReplyDeleteThis was genius, especially considering that science is not your field. Thank you for sharing this theory, even though I hope it does not come true.
African Sun, My old sociology professor believed that if the US ever dissolved, the corporations would not, and remain in control. I thought he was crazy, but that was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteMad Mike, Thank you, and knowing your work, I hope you can help make the possibility of this scenario go viral so the dummies running the show might stop dumping dispersants in the water.
Dark Comedy, Thank you, and I'll tell you, that idea hit me like a lightening bolt, but left me more worried and sad. I too, hope
Rippa, I don't know why your earlier comment didn't come through.
Thanks for that documentary tip. I remember the electric car too. My mom even wanted to get one, but there weren't any places to recharge them, and she lived right smack in DC - a major city and perfect for them. It's like gas stations were barred from having them. So yeah, the electric car died from intentional neglect here in the US.
Brazil began using Flex Fuel Cars, I think around five years ago, which are hybrids that use much cheaper and cleaner ethanol; they're leading the way. I wish the major language was English b/c I'd seriously thinking about moving there for a lot of reasons.
Meanwhile I'm listening to the film as I type this. Amazing, those electric cars, clean, sexy and fast. And killed in the cradle. Damn.
I currently live in an oil town (Exxon/Mobil started here).
ReplyDeleteBP will not get away with this scot-free - there is too much anti-Big Oil hostility out there.
The floods in Tennessee helped to keep the oil from land for a while but that effect is wearing off.
Oil naturally leaks from the bottom of the Gulf but not on the scale seen from these pumps.
The financial effect of tighter drilling codes will slow drilling off our shores.
It is in the best interest of the oil industry to solve this problem with the least amount of damage possible.
Bank failures, medical recalls, defence spending and now this.
By now most people should be able to see that Washington is run by those (and for those) corporations with the most money and their Machiavellian aproach to their retention of power.
I don't think anyone can really estimate the size of this, because the influence this oil will have is far too complex. The main problem is: This spill would be a desaster no matter what. But these days, it is hitting ecosystems that are ALREADY strained.
ReplyDeleteAnd the worst effects will quiet possibly only surface after quiet a long time. We will see dead fish and birds, quiet possibly also dolphins and whales, anf outrage obver birds will possibly be worde than over fish, and outraqge over whales and dolphins will be worse than ober the birds. But the oil is quiet certainly killing and/or poisoning EVERYTHING it meets: algaa, bacteria, basically the lowest parts of the foodchain.
And while gulf and the oceans might have been be able to ride out "just" the spill, I doubt the most strained species, overfished, already weakened by poisons, already low in numbers, can nessecarily take this additional attack.
Unfortiunately, with the oil already out, we can do nothing more than try to ride it out and limit the damage we can actually find... and hope that something we couldn't even see or predict will not pop up and zeach us a lesson about complex systems like the oceans.
I am actuially not someone who is sure we have killed the gulf-region, but I am sure we have very definitely damaged it seriously, and if and when it finds a new balance, I am absolutely certainy it will be a balance that will not be good for humans living there.
And we thought things were already bad. This is a disaster of biblical proportions, and I was inspired to write about it today.
ReplyDeleteCheck it out at our new blog, the 24-7 Grimey News Café.
Mr. Political Entomologist, I agree, and I hope more bloggers cover this a lot.
ReplyDeleteI love the theme of your site. Great post, just blogrolled you, and will be back.
Trish, I'm feeling you, and yes, the eco-system was under duress before this happened. It's a nightmare, and I pray that at worst, it will recover some day...
John, I've got that now this angry attitude too. The shit is endless. I'd run if there were someplace to hide.
Readers
ReplyDeleteA few of my comments did not show up on Thur & Friday. If you left one and don't see it, please email me.
~Kit
kitsmailbag@gmail.com
Excellent post KIT!!!
ReplyDeleteIf this doesn't alarm all of us......there's something wrong.
Thx for posting this! Well done.
ReplyDelete