"Dear Gulf, I'll miss you"

CNN iReport

As the last few hours tic away,,, before the oil spill makes its way to our sugar white shores here in Pensacola Florida, many of us locals braved the strong winds and grey skies just to spend time digging our feet into the sand, building castles and reflecting on the severity of what is about to happen to our paradise.

Some came to leave messages in the sand, others came to meditated and a few brought their children to enjoy, one last time, what they enjoyed themselves as a child, to roll their pant legs up and play in the water’s edge.

People gathered from all walks of life,,, citizens who fought hard to rebuild,,,hurricane after hurricane,,, to try and enjoy what they are about to loss. At least with a hurricane, we know what to expect, but with this, it has us all at a loss. For me, the hardest is realizing what will happen to the wildlife and sea life, there is no way around it, the dead animals are already starting to wash ashore and the oil spill is still days away.

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This is just sickening to me; I live on the West Coast of Florida in Tarpon Springs. Famous for the Sponge Docks which is just one of the many industries that will be affected by this disaster. The implications of this Oil Flow are of epic proportions. I am truly aghast at the detriment of the situation.

I know there are a few fellow Floridians on this site, how many of you are on the West Coast? For that matter, it has been suggested that this could reach around the Pennisula and affect the Eastern Seaboard. I fear many Coastal Regions in the South Eastern U.S. will not be the same for sometime. May our children forgive our ignorances.

I'm sitting here on the West Coast of Washington State. This article makes me cry for what is being lost/destroyed.

What really gets me is that I know if right now I were to go anywhere in town or talk to my friends, most would be clueless about what is going on.

It is not affecting us YET...but it will. It is hard to appreciate the vastness of this destruction and what it all means. It's horrible.

I am so sorry for your loss there. It should have never happened. It's amazing that a species that has only been here for such a short time can destroy so much.

I live on Anna Maria Island, just south of Tampa Bay. Yup, turtle season just opened here, and if this hits us, it looks like game over for them. Everyone in my family is involved in the tourist industry here, on the island. If/when this hits us, I don't know what we're gonna do. This is truely tradgic. With the fish kills we had this winter due to the cold, how will the snook handle this.....theres a ban in place on them already due to reduced numbers? What about the manatees? Money doesn't fix everything, I hope BP realizes this. Did you already volunteer to help with the clean up, I know we registered at our local city hall, gotta give back don't ya know? S&F to ya......

I was out a the beach yesterday.

Saw a couple of Christian ceremonies, a couple of what seemed to be Wicca prayer circles, and a lot of people just standing, watching the water.
I wanted to go for a swim, so I walked down the beach past the lifeguards.
What was interesting, was as I was walking down the beach, everyone was spread out so that each one was just a shape against the fog.

This time of year, and as rough as the water was, a lot of critters got washed up on the beach.
Sea slugs, different types of jellys, (even several man o' war, which are technically not jellys.) and some other similar creatures.

Saw hundreds of the little coquina shells, made me realize how bad this'll effect the filter feeders like oysters and clams.

Took a swim, as it might be the last chance I'll have for at least this year.

as much as i peed my self at the title of your post my heart goes out to the people and creatures of the areas that will soon be hit with this tragedey. on another note however how often does this sort of simmilar inccedent happen in say the amizone rain forrest for example yet we dont hear companies bieng held to such accountability as wev heard obama do with bp. thats not sticking up for bp or the american goverment simply showing the double standerds of such catastrophy and the people they affect

The gulf was domed before this .
but now we don't have to wate ten more years.
back in the 60des the dumped 55 gallon steel drums full of nuclear wast 1000ends of them .
10 years ago they tried getting them out but found them so badly corroded they dared not move them .
for 400 years we have been dumping tons of nitrogen from the farm belt there.
creating huge dead zones getting bigger by the year.
it was only a matter of time.
if they stop this leak now the gulf has ten 15 years tops if not it has 3 .
ether way we are killing the very world we need to live in.
now go back and turn on your air run your car play on your pc and tell your self life is great.
I assure you your kids wont be saying this in 10 years

I live about 4 hours from Gulf Shores Al and love it there. Guess my next vacation will be to the mountains instead.

All the while BP CEO is trying to absolve themselves from any blame saying it was another company who's responsible. Absolutely sickening they aren't showing more accountability and responsibility for this mess and their CEO could show a little more compassion for the people of the Gulf Coast. I say that prick should be hanged or do himself the honorable thing and stick a knife in his stomach.

I am from Pensacola.

something i wrote a few years back.

"Pensacola, late spring in 1960. the overlooked and undiscovered paradise of northwestern florida. Squeeking between hominid toes, as if fresher than sun dried linen; crystaline white powdery sands are confronted by sun sparkling emerald translucent seas washing ashore in soothing and rhythmic motions. Blowing the smell of sun dried seaweed amongst rustling sea oats; the crisp winds paint ever winding patterns of black shadows upon the brilliant white beaches and dunes.

the first place city of the new world, settled by Tristan DeLuna, having previously been occupied by Seminoles, who had named the city; which can be translated from the Choctaw dialect as " hair + people". curious.

connecting the beaches and the mainland is escambia bay which is fed by the escambia river, finally pouring to the east and the west, along the intercoastal waterway; and into the Gulf of Mexico. the quartz crystaline sands having eroded from the appalachians over the millenia; and, deposited as beaches; by the currents and eddies of the gulf."

Looks like we will get that sticky tar between our toes now.

If any of you watched the movie "Contact", Pensacola was the place Jodie Foster was transported to.

[edit on 3-5-2010 by ogbert]

ahh but for every voice calling them out and looking for whos responsible we have thousands the world over being told it was an unfortunate accident and that its bad but their handling it.

My friends and family nod and give a sigh then turn on the tube or go shopping to maike themselves feel better (which is not a knock. People gotta do what they gotta do. "Judge not before you judge yourself"

My father was making jokes about it which on one hand is a defense mechanism and on the other strikes me as an ignorant response.

Its these things that make me lament the facebook generation. We have so many distractions, not many people want to look at the ugly side of the world and if they do, they may frown and mumble something about "Terrible. Just terrible..." and forget about it.

You can make people aware of something, but you can;t make them care.

Cheers

[edit on 3-5-2010 by thebulldog]

I am sad.

pesn.com...

Imagine a pipe 5 feet wide spewing crude oil like a fire hose from what could be the planets' largest, high-pressure oil and gas reserve. With the best technology available to man, the Deepwater Horizon rig popped a hole into that reserve and was overwhelmed. If this isn't contained, it could poison all the oceans of the world.

"Well if you say the fire hose has a 70,000 psi pump on the other end yes! No comparison here. The volume out rises geometrically with pressure. Its a squares function. Two times the pressure is 4 times the push. The Alaska pipeline is 4 feet in diameter and pushes with a lot less pressure. This situation in the Gulf of Mexico is stunning dangerous." -- Paul Noel (May 2, 2010)

Last night we received the following text in an email, author not identified. I passed it by Paul Noel, who is an expert in the field. His response follows thereafter. In calculating the gallons required to kill the oceans, remember that oil goes to the surface, where life is concentrated.
The Oil Mess

[...].

The original estimate was about 5,000 gallons of oil a day spilling into the ocean. Now they're saying 200,000 gallons a day. That's over a million gallons of crude oil a week!

[edit on 3-5-2010 by spinkyboo]

I live in Ohio but lived in Pensacola for a short time, have vacationed there many times as well. Have also vacationed in Panama City, Florida when I was younger. I love that area. It has the clearest water and the most beautiful white sandy beaches. I also love the people there and I am sick to my stomach that this has happened to this area and to the other states as well. These people have had enough to deal with with the repeated hurricanes and have always rebounded. I have seen the aftermath of the hurricane damage. I don`t care to be there to see what we have done as humans to this area I love so much. My thoughts are with Gulf Coast region.

My deepest sympathy goes out to everyone affected by what is sure to be the greatest ecological disaster in human history. My heart truly bleeds for our planet

You know, I just recalled when ever we have fires here, the smoke can linger for days. The smell of burning brush can begin to become putrid after a few days.

I wonder if a similar lingering smell will accompany this oil as it coats the shores? Geeze I hope not

Sick isnt it? big buisness, oil comapnys, those who own the world, are destroying it. A documentayr i saw a month ago, was about exxon valdeez. To this day, 21 years later, thier is still crude oil under the rocks at the alsakan shore. crude oil is carccinogenic, thats a fact. Anything petroleum is carrcinogenic to humans mostly. that means skin cancer
The jet stream influencing the gulfs currents...i already knew this. Used to love studying meteorology and weather as a kid. IT was jsut a matter of time, till it spread to western Florida. i would not be suprised it the oil ends up going under the south ouf florida and spreads a little, the eastern coast, halfway up the state at most.
my idea was to air drop tons of sawdust or kitty litter on the oil. technically its eco freindly, will absorb at least 90% of the oil, 92 is my theoretical percentage, let it abosrb the oil, then somehow use giant strainers to removes the clumps.

Not to go off topic but, here is a video on the Exxon Valdeez lest we ever forget the damage it caused...

vimeo.com...