Searching For Oil

Since the modern discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859, Americans have been searching for Black Gold west to Oklahoma & California, south to Texas & the Gulf of Mexico, & north to Alaska. At times elusive & the rock unyielding, vast reserves have been tapped to quench our thirst, making the U.S. one of the worlds largest producers.

Now the search continues along the Gulf Coast shores after thousands, millions, perhaps "billions" of barrels of crude have been "spilled" into Gulf waters. The near pristine beaches of Florida's Emerald Coast, over 100 miles of fine, sugar white sand & aquamarine water, stretching from Pensacola to Panama City, are now threatened by an ecological disaster that is wrecking havoc on the marine environment.

With hand tools, machines, hazmat suits, boots & gloves, an army of paid workers & volunteers are today's beachcombers searching for oil-searching where Florida residents never anticipated, expected or allowed it to defile our coast by rejecting offshore drilling. The pity & shame of the debacle has not yet sunk in. Having passed from the disbelief stage of grief into the anger stage, acceptance of this nightmare is more elusive than oil itself in the early years of exploration & production.

Now that the Deep Sea Horizon well has been capped & the oil flow staunched, at least for the while, the time to breathe easy is not now. This is especially true for BP executives, government officials & residents along the Gulf who's woes will linger into the future, along with our dependence on the substance that is both our salvation & our bane. Petrochemicals fuel the engine of civilization, driving us ever closer to the brink of human existence.

Perhaps I am wrong to discount the tenacity of human nature, but at the very least I would like this coastal crisis, this ecological disaster to be the defining wake up call & call to arms for opposition to offshore drilling.

Oil can be found all over the planet, and the search will continue throughout our lifetimes. For my part, I can only look ahead thirty years. If our legacy is one of social decline on a global scale, then I hope I can be forgiven for being short sighted. Alternative fuels & sources of power may be a viable solution in the future.

People along the Emerald Coast get baptized in its waters & wed on its sands. Families enjoy the sun, sand & surf, ashes are cast into the waves & livelihoods are bound to it.

Searching for oil, too, is a way of life - people are dependent on it. For this dilemma I have no answer. The search continues.