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Truth And Consequences
The story has been rolling for a couple of months, and it's time for a new angle. You instantly think of something dramatic like "Extinction Level Event." But you know that won't fly. It stands to reason that television without pictures is like newspapers without print so the first thing you do is begin visualizing the images you'll need to cover the story. (Everybody imagines some sort of movie in their mind when they're talking or listening or reading. So listen up and turn on your inner DVD player as we get to the story about the future - including several variations on a theme.) For a catch-line or "slug," we'll do our usual play on words and we'll call it something like "S...oiling Ourselves." Next we do some research, and we discover there are two theories about the origin of oil (this is the back story part) one of which we thought we already knew, and the other we hadn't heard about until we started covering the biggest disaster in the history of Planet Earth. Abiotic Oil Most of us believe that oil is the remains of dead dinosaurs and vegetation that somehow went from being organic to the mineral state over thousands of years under pressure in their grave yards. However, you have been wondering how many dinosaurs per second are coming out of the Gulf Gusher right now? How many were buried in what is now known to be such an immense oil field that 4000 rigs are doing their best to pump it out, make gasoline and make money? What size herd of dinosaurs would it take to create that much oil? Or how big a forest?And how did they all get to be in the same place at the same time then get sucked down to a humongous cave at least 20,000 feet under the ocean floor? Seems like that belief is due for a revamp don't you think? Yes indeed, and you're not the first to think so. Writing in National Review in 2004 Bruce Bartlett pointed out that " in the 1950s, Russian and Ukrainian scientists developed a new theory about petroleum's origins called the abiotic or abiogenic theory. According to this view, oil is fundamentally inorganic and has no relationship to dead plant or animal life. Rather, oil originates deep in the Earth's crust from inorganic material that is part of the planet's origin." Your next task is to figure how to bring this complex story down to a few words and pictures that even a child can understand - because you were taught years ago that the average viewer has the attention span of a potato chip. You have to explain how the BP Well From Hell is going to screw everybody so royally that life will never be the same. No easy task that. How do you explain abiotic oil? Let's imagine that you are a blood donor. You have just had a pint of good red blood extracted from a vein. It will go to a good cause (you hope) and by some process beyond your understanding, your body will replace that pint of blood in reasonably short order. That's why oil wells are gushers. They're the earth's blood. You know the next part of your script has no chance of making it past the propaganda police in your newsroom, but you write it anyway... "Perhaps that's how the earth has been handling our addicted oil-sucking society, putting up with our habit of behaving like blood thirsty mosquitoes, drilling into her body wherever there is a hint of what we need for a fix. She has put up with us so far, because she has been able to self-replenish her bloodstream. However, unlike addicts who inject their drug of choice into their bodies, we use our hypodermics (drilling rigs) to dig a well so we can hit a vein and suck out that black fluid that we have become so totally dependent on....we're just a bunch of mother suckers...
"Unfortunately, this time we really bleeped up...or at least, that British corporation from across the pond bleeped up so badly that not even Dick Cheney is willing to give them a free pass any more. "This is truly astounding. But wait..there's more...and worse. Think - BP. Think "Big Oil." Think - and this'll surprise you - think "you and me." "Now think about mosquitoes. Mosquitoes don't think too far ahead. They fill their little bodies wherever they can, then fly around until they run out of gas, so they pull into another service station (think blood donor) unaware that they're under surveillance until "splat" - end of story. "They picked a body that was tired of being drilled into and it reacted quite unexpectedly." Tearing a sheet of copy paper out of your Remington computer you remind yourself that metaphors can only be pushed so far. Yet that also applies to Terra. You prepare a short piece-to-cam (stand-upper) with a chroma-keyed rig over your shoulder as you say "This time, we've not just hit a vein, it looks like we've hit an artery, and there's nothing we can do to stop the bleeding." Time Out.... Time to leave the fantasy world of the newsroom and days gone by when one of the axioms was "never let the facts spoil a good story." Instead, in the here and now of late June 2010, we can say that in the time it will take to write this sentence, by some (perhaps conservative) estimates, at least another 250 gallons of oil will have spurted out of that artery into the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. That's 1500 gallons a minute, or close to 10,000 gallons an hour - which equates to almost a quarter million gallons a day. All day, every day. And there's nothing we can do to stop the bleeding (repetition for emphasis). If we had a friend with such a wound, we could call for the doctor, and he might be able to break himself away from a game of gulf (miss-spelling deliberate) or sailing his yacht and come take a look at the wound. If so, he'd more than likely tell us nothing much about what he would do to stop the flow of blood. More likely, he'd suggest we just relax and go sit in the waiting room and watch something on the television. Some time later, he might open the door and with a sad look on his face say something like...."sorry....he's still bleeding..and I'm afraid to say there's blood all over your Berber carpet, door to door, up the walls, on the ceiling...everywhere! I've never seen anything like it. So sorry. Must rush. Game of gulf to get to you know," and off he goes without a backward glance. Spinning Their Wheels In the two full months that the Deepwater Horizon BP disaster has been unfolding, the spinmeisters in government and in BP itself have been less than forthcoming with the truth. Instead, they have gone into PR overdrive, attempting to divert a thinking person from thinking the obvious. Obviously, "they" are incapable of handling this. If they could, they would have had it done by now. But no - everything they've done has done absolutely nothing to staunch the wound, stop the flow, and prevent further widespread damage. How widespread could it be? And when will it be over? There are answers to both questions. But they're not the sort of answers a spinmeister would give you. They involve scenarios that the Propaganda Press might briefly flirt with, but which they'd also bury behind or under their constant efforts to distract you by having you focus on the clean-up operations (doomed), political infighting (pointless theater intended to suck your vote out of your brainwashed head), and who is doing what with the money. Most of what follows has been mentioned in one way or another in my previous newsletters (Earth Change Report and New Earth News), but now that it's obvious that putting miles of band aids on Gulf beaches is about as effective as doing heart surgery with a pick ax, it seems like it's important to step back from the day-to-day chronology of events, and take a squizz (look) - unemotionally if at all possible - at some things that are so ugly we'd rather not give them a second glance. But, ugly as they might be, they should be looked at as if our life depended on it - because for some, it does. There is one particular potential that will most certainly impact the entire planet and all its people. Regrettably, wishing it not to happen (and I'm one of those) does not mean for certain that it won't. Let's Be Clear Let's face the fact that this gusher is going to go on gushing every second of every day for months to come. BP and the government are batting 100 per cent failure when it comes to stopping it. This leaves us with a number of scenarios and outcomes which require unemotional attention. Unemotional, because they're all as scarey as hell, and if we give in to fear in any way, we're more screwed than if we'd just elected another President of Promises. Looking at the various potentials is no easy task. Having been brought up to expect someone else to be responsible for fixing problems in our lives (or to be blamed for them) we are not in the habit of trusting our own judgment. It's easier to run with the pack and think like the herd than it is to distance ourselves from their collective finger pointing, bleating, and subservience to authority. It's easier to wait till the last minute - despite all the warnings that a hurricane is coming (for example) - and expect God to pluck us off the roof in a helicopter or send us a Zodiac dinghy and take us to a shelter somewhere until the danger is over. But if Hurricane Katrina is anything to go by, the herd will find itself in a facility of some sort where everything is inadequate, and the doors are locked. Those who shook themselves awake ahead of the hurricane had their lives thoroughly disrupted for sure. But they were most certainly a lot better off than those who chose to ignore the first rescue device God ever gave them - the ability to think and act for themselves. Even so, those who can think but don't act, are no better off than those who can't think at all. So what is there to think about? Information is Key One...How We Deal With It Is Key Two Many messengers throughout history have been hung drawn and quartered, even crucified or burned at the stake because their messages were upsetting. On a personal level, we have all had the experience which is commonly referred to as having our buttons pushed. This suggests that someone has said or done something that ticks us off, so we get emotional in some way. We may respond with anger, or by belittling both the messenger and the message (Republicans and Democrats have a knee-jerk feature in that regard). Wise people turn this on its head. They figure out that it was not the information per se that got them upset. It was in fact something within themselves, an emotion or a favorite belief or something as simple as their self-image which precipitated an instant reaction. So who pushed the button? Certainly not the messenger. Nor the information. It was the recipient who chose either consciously or unconsciously to respond in a certain manner - and if you study yourself, you'll see how predictable you really are. However, now that the world is faced with a disaster that will spread from the Gulf of Mexico up through the Atlantic, across to Europe and eventually perhaps throughout the oceans of the world, those entrenched attitudes and responses could do with a shake-up - and would best be got rid of. It's time (if you can) to understand that fear is a natural first response, and that fear has its roots in the fear of death, which is what prompts us to be endlessly worried about our survival. And under the circumstances, we definitely should be giving that some very serious thought. We're in a theater. Some of us can smell smoke. The messenger has yelled "I smell smoke!" The manager has said "please stay seated, we have it under control." Some of us have heard both, seen that there's a chance to make it out the exit doors before the smoke turns to fire, and we're sensible enough to drop our Coke and popcorn and get the heck out of there. What We Know BP Screwed up. The politicians who enabled the screw-up by lax oversight and deregulation, also screwed up. Those who screw up are incapable of fixing their own screw-up. But they're very good at pretending. We know that an unbelievable quantity of oil and gas and a multitude of toxins are spewing and vomiting and bleeding and gushing from a hole in the Gulf that some early reports said was an opening into a cavity the size of Mt Everest. We know that BP ignored or failed to follow numerous safety procedures, even when advised to do so by experienced on-site personnel. BP thought they could get away with it. They didn't. And the accident that was waiting to happen, happened. It killed 11 people in a heartbeat. And now, millions, absolutely millions, of people are at risk as well. No matter how BP and government officials and the propaganda press try to divert our attention from the ongoing flushing of this upside down toilet in the ocean, we know that we are (finally) in it - hip deep in it, neck deep in it, over our heads in it. Scenario One: No End In Sight
We know that it's impossible to stop this stuff from getting into the Loop Current in the Gulf, then finding its way wherever those currents lead. Cuba for example. The Caribbean? And up the US East Coast via the Gulf Stream, which feeds (or is a feeder for) the Atlantic Current - which influences the climate in Europe. All the while, from surface to sea floor, this cocktail of poisons will be the extinction level event that absolutely none of the myriad species of marine life are prepared for. Exposed to such chemicals and gases that turn pristine waters into dead zones and graveyards, what chance do they have? Already compromised by our endless dumping of agricultural fertilizer runoff, sewage, garbage, radioactive waste, and effluent from tour ships carrying thousands of passengers (not to mention aviation gas from military planes dumping thousands of gallons during their circuit-and-bump exercises from their aircraft carriers) this busted artery is potentially the death knell for the oceans of the entire world. Is that an over-the-top scenario? No. It's just information - which cannot be refuted or rebutted, and it should not be. It's not a scenario worth arguing over. It's a scenario that is a potential. But there are others. Scenario Two: Blast Off And Tsunami This one is short and bitter. The pressure at the bottom of the hole where the oil is coming out is estimated as being anywhere up to 100,000 pounds per square inch.
This is allowing the oil to escape into the surrounding strata, where it is blasting its way through the cracks and fissures. It's as if there's a giant chicken down there trying to bust out of an egg, and the shell is cracking in all directions. This could first of all release methane gas which has the property of altering the buoyancy of water. In that event, boats of all sizes would find themselves - and their crews - literally disappearing into the deep. Instantly. Eventually, as the cracking continues in the sea bed, without warning it could be weakened to such a degree that the gas and oil trapped in that Everestsized cavity will explode with such force that there are no words to describe it. We could however say that the Hiroshima atomic bomb would be like a firecracker in comparison. The result would be an eruption and an instant tsunami that would travel the 50 miles to shore - at hundreds of miles an hour - and wipe out everything in its path for who-knows-how-many miles inland. Short and bitter indeed. Scenario Three: Storms - Hurricanes - Acid Rain It is inevitable that storms and hurricanes will add to the devastation. Hurricanes gather strength over warm water. The Gulf of Mexico is warm. Add a sheen of oil to its surface, and is it not warmer? If that is so, think - hurricanes on steroids.
And then it hits the rising seashore, and it will travel for perhaps miles inland. Further, on top of that storm surge (which may be as much as 30 feet high) there are waves that are as high again.
Hurricane or not, even a mild storm coming in from the Gulf is going to bring with it oily rain - and poisonous gases. With this BP Gusher, we have an added issue. We know that clean-up (wrong word) workers are reporting symptoms of nausea, headaches, heart palpitations and worse. Independent health experts say this is a consequence of exposure to benzene fumes. (BP says it's food poisoning from eating a bad lunch). Current government testing for "Volatile Organic Compounds" (i.e., toxins in the air) apparently does not include a test for benzene fumes. Purely an oversight, no doubt? Therefore, officials can say they have detected no gases in the air at life-threatening levels without even addressing the issues associated with benzene. Benzene is heavier than air. Yet it too - along with whatever is out-gassed from that toxic Corexit "dispersant" - can no doubt be picked up by an ill wind which we can be assured will blow nobody any good. And then there's the "dispersant" called Corexit that is being used to keep the oil out of sight. "Oil in the environment is toxic at 11 PPM (parts per million). Corexit 9500 is toxic at only 2.61 PPM. But Corexit 9500 has another precarious characteristic; it's reaction to warm water. "As the water in the Gulf of Mexico heats up, Corexit 9500 goes through a molecular transition. It changes from a liquid to a gas, which is readily absorbed by clouds and released as toxic rain. The chemical-laden rain then falls on crops, reservoirs, animals and of course, people." Under this scenario, once again millions of people are at risk - especially if they choose to stay around the Gulf of Mexico coastline and tough it out - at least until their state or the federal government suddenly decides on a mass evacuation program. Further afield, as the hurricane season progresses through to November, oil will be well up the East Coast, so any storm coming in from the Atlantic will affect that area as well. Living within 20 miles of the ocean (some say within 200 miles) is therefore not a very good situation to be in as far as this scenario is concerned. Scenario 3a: Oily water = No Drinking Water Desalination plants that provide city water are going to have to be shut down. They rely on filters down to the nano level - but oil will clog them as soon as it finds them. Likewise, nuclear power plants that cool themselves with sea water, are going to go off line as well. It's all very well for state governments to suggest that people drink bottled water instead, but how long will supplies last? At what point will the nuclear power plants be shut down permanently? How much of what they were producing can be made up by calling on other areas of the grid? Expect blackouts folks. Be prepared. Buy a travel trailer. Leave.... Scenario Four: Killer Earthquake/s - New Madrid Fault
Unfortunately, lots of people are dead or injured. On the face of it, this scenario looks like something out of a horror movie screenwriter's folio of nightmares. However, it does have legs. There have been major earthquakes on the New Madrid Fault in the past. "Take a green stick and start bending it. At first, not much happens. Then, just before the stick breaks, you hear small pops and cracks coming from inside. "That's how Dr. Otto Nuttli of St. Louis University describes what is happening in the New Madrid earthquake zone. Every other day or so, the land underneath the area where Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and Indiana meet pops and cracks just a little. "But, the scientist said, the pressure is building for a break -- a major earthquake that could conceivably devastate much of the nation's midsection, causing thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damages. "At 2 a.m. on Dec. 16, 1811, the ground underneath the tiny town of New Madrid, Mo., moved, and that movement produced the greatest earthquake in the history of the United States. Later estimates have placed the magnitude of the quake as high as 8.7 on the Richter scale. "Rapids rose in the Mississippi River, which appeared to run backward for a while. Islands in the river sank from view. Reelfoot Lake was formed in Tennessee." (Published June 10, 1984 By Andy Mead, Herald-Leader Staff Writer, ST. LOUIS). That was written 26 years ago. Coincidentally, or not, another study commissioned by FEMA was released this week. "A study commissioned by (FEMA) indicates that a major earthquake on the New Madrid fault would kill 3,500 people and leave millions homeless. It found that more than 80,000 people would be injured by a 7.7-magnitude quake...." How does this tie in to the Gulf of Mexico?
Says Reed:
Not to make light of any of this, if the New Madrid Fault does have an earthquake shortly, perhaps you won't need to wait a couple of million years for waterfront property in Indianapolis. The water might come to you. Complete with an oily sheen.
"The two towns most at risk because of their proximity to the fault zone are St. Louis, and Memphis, though towns in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas and Alabama will also see damage, according to the report." If Reed is correct and such earthquakes have their beginnings in the Gulf of Mexico, then it seems to be within the realms of possibility that a big earthquake could happen much sooner than anyone has expected. Then again, they always do catch us by surprise, no matter where they occur. Moreover, human nature being what it is, it is very unlikely that this report will spur many people into taking evasive action - such as leaving for a safer place to live. Scenario Five: Mass Evacuations Under any of the above scenarios, mass evacuations could quite conceivably be mandated by the government. Already, people are leaving some of the Gulf states voluntarily. Not happily by any means, for it requires leaving behind property that may never sell, and family and friends who do not share the same forward-looking comprehension of what's inevitably going to happen. Inevitably, oily rain will ruin as much on land as it has in the ocean. Hurricanes will do even worse damage than any of their predecessors. The oil will continue to spill, gush, erupt and pollute until it is finally stopped - either by man (so far proving to be impossible) or by Nature itself. Mass evacuations are always in the planning rooms prior to and during any hurricane season, But those who wait till the last minute may find, much to their dismay, that they have missed the last car on the last train out. Solution - Two Revolutions As upsetting as it might be, facing these several previously unthinkable scenarios arising from the BP Disaster leads to some life-changing ideas, and on to thoughts of the future. It's the responsibility of those who will be affected either directly or indirectly to do everything they can for themselves, before they find they have to wait weeks or months for that government assistance that was promised in advance - and delivered way too late. There is also a collective responsibility, which is to admit that we (the individual mosquitoes) have been as happy to suck crude out of BP pumps (or Texaco or Shell or whatever) as BP has been to suck it out of the earth. In that sense, we are as much at fault as BP. Theirs has been a culture of absolute greed for the sake of profit, and who cares who or what suffers in the process. Ours on the other hand has been an attitude of lazy acceptance of our addiction to gasoline and all the so-called comforts that stem from our reliance on fossil fuels. BP might be destroying the Gulf of Mexico and the oceans of the world in a matter of months. But we have been doing the same for decades ourselves. Did you know there is a garbage patch the size of Texas in the Pacific where our plastic trash now resides? Or that sea birds are dying because of what we have thrown into their environment - and yet we accuse and abuse BP for the loss of wildlife habitat - because it's obvious what they've done, but we prefer to never even think about what we've done. That's where the first revolution has to start. A revolution in personal thinking about our responsibility to our planet - which in turn should lead us to demand the demise of "Big Oil" (especially those multinational companies like BP that owe no allegiance to anyone, spend millions on corrupting already-corrupt politicians and agency personnel, ignore safety procedures, and do everything they can to kill off any alternatives to fossil fuels.) The second revolution? This is nothing more than supposition. But, suppose those folks in the Gulf states and up the East Coast whose lives are going to hell right now, start to question how it all happened. Their lives went to hell because politicians took money from corporations and in turn turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the way those corporations defied the law. When these now unemployed people get to the point that they cannot sell their homes while the banks continue to insist on mortgage payments ("or you're outa here"), while the IRS insists they pay taxes on their compensation monies, are they going to quit paying taxes - and start a revolution against the banks? Quite likely. Will this lead to a martial law backlash? Quite possibly. But all that has yet to unfold, and it's reasonable to say not all these potentials will; necessarily, come to pass. But some, like the never-ending spill, are already here. That means death to sea creatures. Death to birds. A creeping sludge that will annihilate tourism and countless businesses throughout the Gulf and up the East Coast. So What....? What happens if that riser pipe continues to leak, and then a second gusher springs into being? What happens if huge gas bubbles take down boats and ships and drilling rigs? How would anyone cope with a full-on volcanic eruption and tsunami? Acid rain, deadly health issues, decimated food production areas, undrinkable city water...how does one adjust one's head to those potentials? (Ignore it - or what? Stick our heads in the television instead of the sand and hope for some hope and comfort from those who have yet to keep a promise? Now that would be change we couldn't believe in...). What if Jack Reed is right and the New Madrid Fault is connected to the Gulf itself - and suddenly there's the mother of all earthquakes? Is the thought of mass evacuations so far fetched that we simply won't entertain the idea? Are we ready to start demanding more focus on alternative fuels and energy - or is this price we're paying for our own addiction to oil the sort of price we're willing to continue paying in If our neighbors start talking revolution because they're fed up with being screwed by banks and corporations and politicians (in that order) where will we stand? Any way we look at any of these potentials, for each case study the options for those most immediately affected appear to be extraordinarily similar. One option is to get over the shock, get emotions under control, decide to get out of harm's way, make a plan, and do it. The other is to stay put, stick it out and take the consequences. (Ends). Addendum: From an article titled "Methane and Martial Law In The Gulf of Mexico," "Corexit 9500, the oil dispersant used by BP, is viewed by FEMA sources as mixing with evaporated water from the Gulf. This deadly mixture is then absorbed by rain clouds and produces toxic precipitation that threatens to continue killing marine and land animals, plant life, and humans within a 200-mile radius of the Deepwater Horizon disaster site in the Gulf. "The “dead zone” created by a combination of methane gas and Corexit toxic rain, Madsen continues, will ultimately result in the evacuation and long-term abandonment of cities and towns within the 200-mile radius of the oil gusher. “Plans are being put in place for the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mandeville, Hammond, Houma, Belle Chase, Chalmette, Slidell, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pensacola, Hattiesburg, Mobile, Bay Minette, Fort Walton Beach, Panama City, Crestview, and Pascagoula,” Madsen writes." Ed. Note:- Such articles can be written off as "alarmist" if you choose. Or else they can be seen as additional information - of the sort you will never see in the Mainspin Media. However you look at it, the truth is that there are people who in their insatiable greed and love of power and profit are literally destroying our planet. We may be partially responsible for that because of our unquestioning acceptance of the line that we must have fossil fuels, and because we have been kept ignorant of the fact that there are valid alternatives that have been suppressed. However, once we know that we have been consistently lied to then we have no reason to believe that we will not be lied to in the future. And the lies may go so far as to cover up the deadly effects of toxic rain, or telling us some time in the near future that they have the leak under control. Bottom line - evaluate all information for yourself. Trust your own instincts. Decide what to do that is best for you - prudent, sensible, even if very difficult decisions must be made. It is your life, and other people will only offer very predictable opinions, usually contrary to what you feel in yourself is what you should do. But they are not you. Your life is your responsibility - which is why we have free will, and we should be using it because it is very powerful. Understand that fear and depression are close cousins. Courage is the antidote - it means going ahead even though you know you are afraid. And depression does pass eventually. Best wishes. Michael Knight. About Us New Earth News is a chronicle of changing circumstances in our world. It doesn't cover everything, but its focus is on what's happening - what's not being reported - what's being misreported or deliberately skewed by the Mainspin outlets - and more importantly, what we can do to ensure that we know what's up, and how to deal with it. New Earth News is published by Michael Knight's company, OutsourceInk. Michael Knight has been an investigative reporter, and documentary director since 1960. He has worked internationally in all media, primarily as an investigative reporter and independent photo-journalist, contract documentary director ("Contact Has Begun") and freelance writer. Knight is also author of the e-book, "How To Survive Earth Changes, Economic Depression And Martial Law." Disclaimer: Views expressed herein are those of the authors concerned. Links were working at time of writing. Best effort has been made to verify and provide sources, however complete accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only - with a focus on earth changes, social events, and the transition from society and civilization as we now know it, to something much more evolved (after the chaos is over) starting in 2013. email: [email protected] |
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Imagine you're in a television station newsroom and you've just been given an assignment. It's about a blowout in an oil well and you have to have it on air tonight.
The oil and the over-amillion gallons of dispersants that have been released, are not going to stop traveling any time soon.
It has been said that the riser pipe was broken somewhere between there and the now-useless Blowout Preventer (BOP) at the top end (on the sea floor).
Hurricanes generate a phenomenon called "storm surge." That means the power of the wind is not only picking up surface water and whirling it up up and away into that super-blender that is whipping around at well over 100 miles an hour, but its leading edge is acting like a giant bulldozer blade. It is piling the ocean water up ahead of itself.
Wherever it makes landfall, you can kiss goodbye to any marshes and wetlands, for the oil will be deposited like a blanket of death, suffocating all living things. As for recovery? What recovery?
In this scenario, the gusher relieves enough pressure on surrounding rocks and tectonic plates that there is a sudden massive earthquake affecting the New Madrid Fault. This in turn collapses the cavity and stops the gusher. That's the good news.
"Other estimates from the report include:
