The Gulf Oil Spill is the Dust Bowl of the Gulf States

May 10th, 2010 • Related • Filed Under

Another catastrophe of man made destruction has struck the Gulf of Mexico – threatening the coastal region with chaos.  Chaos to both nature and human economics.  One goofy GOP Congressman stated that nature would absorb the oil – not to worry.  The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s ravaged the Midwest but nature eventually reclaimed the land and today farmers and ranchers prosper.  The Congressman is correct – witness Mount St. Helens, the volcano erupted in 1980 and today nature has reclaimed the area destroyed by the blast of Mother Earth’s hot reproach.  But hey Congressman, there is a catch.

American Profile, a weekly newspaper magazine insert, has a cover story of the Rebirth of Mount St. Helens – 30 years later.  After the volcanic eruption the words used to describe the landscape were, ‘dusty, lunar, destruction, chaos,’ and even ‘the end.’  “But now it’s transition, recovery, natural cycles.”  The quote offering the most relevant commentary on nature is:

While the volcano remains strikingly barren, Mount St. Helens has undergone a remarkable transformation in the last three decades – primarily because humans have let nature take its course.  Scientists say the mountain is a testament to how plants and animals return, even after a catastrophic disturbance.

Mother Nature is patient – unlike the Gulf Coast humans who somehow feel they need to make a living for the next thirty years.  The Congressman was correct – nature will disburse the gushing oil and the Gulf Coast will return to the sanctity of home for thousands of earth’s sea, land, and air creatures.  The shrimp will return, fish will return, birds will migrate and mate, sea turtles will survive another 500 million years.  So what is the problem?

When the dust bowl struck the great plains  in the 1930’s people packed their bags and immigrated to California.  When Gold was found in California in 1849 people again packed there bags and moved west.  The problem is that we humans have already populated the globe.  Today we can pack our bags but there is no where to go.  We can’t even go to Mexico – someone put up a big fence.

Catastrophe happens – to paraphrase a popular GOP bumper sticker.  OK, so we have too much co2 in the atmosphere – not to worry – nature has a way of fixing itself.  The Exon Valdez spilled some oil – look at the area now – it got fixed didn’t it?  Icecaps are melting, glaciers are spilling into the oceans, sea levels are rising – no problem – nature will adjust and reclaim God’s majesty.

The Tea Party claims they are angry at ‘intrusive government.’  Well let me be perfectly clear – I am mad as hell about the lack of restraint shown by the Tea Party, Freedom Works, and the whole class of ridiculously ignorant buffoons who call themselves Conservative.

Conservative once meant ‘to conserve.’  Is that a concept beyond the grasp of the modern GOP?  We can actually reduce our environment to a state of unlivable conditions.  All humans can die – and eventually nature will reclaim the planet.  The majesty of life will prevail.  I can run up my credit card debt to the point of bankruptcy – shoot myself in despair – and somehow the banking industry will survive – does that mean I should follow such an unrestrained  and irresponsible life course?  Does that sound nuts or something?  Yes – it is nuts.  But it is a perfect analogy to the thinking patterns of FOX News, the Tea Party, and the entire class of Republicans in our State Houses and in the Federal Congress.

People unwittingly caused the Dust Bowl.  The farmers of that era plowed the earth to about twelve inches deep.  When one year the rain did not come, the loose dry soil grew hot under the scorching sun, temperatures shot up, the hot air rose creating extraordinary wind – and the dust began to blow.   Today conservative farmers understand how to manage their land to prevent another catastrophic climate change.  But somehow these same farmers, people who are personally aware of catastrophic consequences of poor environment management, support the lunacy of the climate change deniers of the GOP.

The British Petroleum Gulf Oil Spill has the potential of be equivalent to the 1930’s Dust Bowl in terms of devastation to the people of a particular geographic area of our country.  But there is no where for the shrimp fishermen to go – they cannot run.  The fishing industry, the tourism industry, the entire economy of the Gulf Coast States may collapse under the weight of poor environment management.

We have seen this before.  We know that nature will eventually create balance.  The question is this, how many times do the pseudo-conservatives of the early 21st Century have to screw up before they will learn to pay attention to history?