photo courtesy National Geographic
The BP oil spill has undoubtedly been an epic disaster. It’s so huge, and so foreign a subject, that it’s hard to even process the massive numbers coming out of the news. The flow may be 2.1 million gallons of oil per day, which is pretty much impossible to fathom. As a result, I didn’t really feel too outraged by simply reading the stats on the spill. What got to me were pictures of the animals affected. When I first clicked a link to see them, I didn’t anticipate at all the effect it would have on me. Immediately, the oil-covered birds and fish had a big impact on my outlook toward the spill. My thought is that seeing pictures like that puts the spill in context. The tragedy of a single animal can far exceed that of a number. To really understand the spill’s implications, it helps to see them firsthand.
- Will