BP Oil Spill Effects Wildlife

We have heard numerous stories on T.V. People who have taken interest in this topic have furthered their knowledge with articles on the internet. Either way almost everyone has some knowledge of the BP oil spill and its effects on the environment around it. Some are calling this the biggest environmental disaster in history. There are over 8,300 species that will be effected from this massive spill that has since exceeded the size of the state of Rhode Island. It is not just a regular oil spill that can just be scooped up, nay, this mile deep spill has spanned out under the oceans surface making the oil much thicker and harder for the clean up crew. "The dispersants have modified the oil keeping it in a form that's much gooier and much oilier, and that has a lot of us worried, because it means the stuff is not going to degrade very easily" said James Cowan Jr., a professor of biological oceanography at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. This oil spill is threatening years of work to bring back the endangered species in this area such as the Kemp's ridley sea turtle (pictured below) or the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Scientists compare where the gusher is, which has spilled more than 37 million gallons of oil since April, is like a refrigerator with the door shut: cold and dark. This makes it hard for the bacteria that degrade the oil to do their job. Not only does this spill effect the wildlife around it but it also effects the migration paths of even more species that travel through this area. Scientists estimate it will take decades to undo the harm of this economic and environmental disaster.

The reason i chose this topic as my first blog is because i  take a special interest in marine biology and hopefully one day will receive my major in this field. The heads of the BP oil company, in my opinion, are a bunch of jackasses who should trade fates with the innocent and majestic sea life they have effected. They say "oopse our bad", fire the guy in charge, then fucking give him a billion dollar(i exaggerate of course) retirement plan. I'm sure he would love having oil poured down his throat and sank to the depths of the ocean. Personally, i think he deserves nothing more. They say it will take decades to repair the damage that has been done when, honestly, the environments effected will never be the same. You can't just fix one of the biggest environmental disasters in history and expect everything to go back to the way it was before. That's like saying the Holocaust could have been or the genocide in Africa can be patched up, slapped with a sticker that says "my bad" and everyone goes on as if nothing happened. But i guess since they are just animals it doesn't matter as much right? Hah the ignorance of some people astounds me.