Source: Michael Macor, The Chronicle
Photo taken on 11/8/07, in San Francisco, CA, USA

My heart is breaking as I watch footage of the oil spill, hitting the estuaries of Louisiana.  This catastrophe will be worse for the people whom rely on the seafood industry, 1/3 of which comes from the region, for their livelihood, than Katrina was.  Estuaries are critically essential to the seafood industry, to the breeding grounds for a multitude of wildlife, and to the economy of the region.  I think many of us have forgotten how devastating a gargantuan oil spill can be.  We’ve forgotten about the heart-wrenching videos and photos of sea birds and animals soaked in crude.

Drill baby drill?  I don’t think so.  I know we, as Americans, want to be off foreign oil.  I understand that and agree with that.  I don’t believe drilling more, and putting more of our coastline in jeopardy is the answer.  We need to reduce our demand, plain and simple.  We have sustainable, clean energy waiting to be tapped.  I was just down in San Antonio, Texas and looked down from my hotel room onto an enormous rooftop begging to be filled with solar panels.  The roof was the roof of the convention center, and it was nearly the size of a city block.  That is just one example of a wasted opportunity.  Think of how many electric cars could be charged from solar power in states like Texas.  We have the technology right now.  We need to be smart, and use our ingenuity.  Clean energy is everywhere.  Why are we not using it?  Expense?  Ha!  Like it’s not expensive to build new drill platforms, or clean up an oil slick, or lose an industry for a whole region.  THAT is expensive.

I also want to give my condolences for the eleven families that lost loved ones on that oil platform.  I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for them to watch the events unfold on the news.