Ten Ways to Help the Gulf Coast

I'm pretty sickened as well as frightened by the recent oil spill. US News & World Report published this list and the Daily Green has published this one, of things you can do to help clean up the spill.

I have to admit that the idea of boycotting BP is very challenging to me. BP owns Arco, which has the cheapest gas around in my community. Because we live far from public transportation, we have to drive. Because our finances are tight, Arco is where we go to buy gas at Arco. I'll write more as this story (and my conscience) develops.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

A few years ago, I read an article titled something like, "Five Things That Are Just As Scary As Global Warming." It was then that I heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for the first time. The Garbage Patch is a vortex in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that is drawing in plastic and other garbage at alarming rates. According to the Associated Press, scientists--who've only known of its existence for about a decade--are now studying the Patch to determine the extent of damage to the environment.

One of the biggest problems is that plastic degrades into small toxic pieces, which are then ingested by marine animals. And the strength of the vortex is such that scientists have no clue how to clean it up. As one researcher wrote, "Seeing [humanity's] influence just floating out here in the middle of nowhere makes our power painfully obvious, and the consequences of the industrial age plain. It's not a pretty sight."