Gulf Coast Blues

Another tragedy has struck the Gulf Coast and this time there is no going back. The black poison that is flooding across the beautiful waters of the Mississippi delta will not be cleaned up and it will never go away. Not in our lifetimes. The fishing industry there is over and the way of life that has been handed down from generations will never be what it was.

As the first of the oil makes landfall, the enormity of this horror will become apparent. The devastation that this will create is as yet unimaginable, but for the fish and birds, clams and seaweed, the results are already being felt.

Obama has put a halt to all new drilling, so there is a bit of good news. The government had recently approved the Gulf of Maine to be a new drilling area and I believe that a halt on new drilling is a wise and appropriate move. Perhaps we shall now be spared the ecological devastation that will now be visited upon our southern neighbors. Though the spill is so large and so unwieldy that it could even round the peninsula of Florida and touch as far north as the North Carolina shoreline.

I am thankful for the pristine waters of Maine, yet this drama reminds me of how fragile and connected we all are and how what we do and don't do IS important. Today I'll spend the day in my garden, giving thanks for my Blessings and appreciating the gifts of the Earth. I'll carefully pull the stray Dandelions from the garden soil and save the roots for tea, add the leaves to the beans I'm cooking for dinner and boil the flowers for my special Dandelion Wine. I'll not drive and perhaps light a beeswax candle tonight and turn off the lights. I'll cry too and mix my tears with the sweat of my brow and water the newly planted peas. I'll do what I can today to be mindful of the Earth and be thankful for my life here on it.