On April 20, 2010 an explosion on an oil rig in the gulf of Mexico killed 11 people but also unleashed “the worst environmental disaster in U. S. history”(Center for Biological Diversity).
A study I came across when researching this disaster by the Center for Biological Diversity shows us the more than 82,000 birds, about 6,000 sea turtles, and nearly 26,000 other marine animals were harmed due to this oil spill. Not only were animals harmed, but about 2 million gallons of toxins were sprayed into the Gulf at this time which means the water was made even more toxic.
Water does not only affect the animals living in it, I am sure you have heard of “the circle of life”, what effects them can also affect our air, our food, and plenty more until it circles around and directly effects on us human beings. In the following paragraphs of this paper I want to clue you in on everything this oil spill has affected and what we have done to change this. For many of the animals during this spill, there really was nowhere else for them to go. The Gulf waters, and the way of life that they had before the oil spill, was all that they knew.
They depended on the ecosystem in that area to live their lives, and the spill changed all of that. A lot of animals were making their way to the Gulf to reproduce, feed, and migrate just as the spill happened. In a disturbing report I found by scientists researching the spill, large numbers of sharks, fish, and other ocean animals were seen gathering in shallow waters close to shore. These were the only places left for them to find the oxygen levels that needed to live. “Marine animals can die when oxygen levels in the water drop below two parts per million — which was observed even in some inshore areas.
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Moreover, creatures congregating near the shore risked getting trapped between shore and the oil and depleting oxygen levels in even these refuge areas. ” (Center for Biological Diversity) Just in sea turtles alone during this spill we lost so many. Sea turtles have been going extinct so they set up a huge rescue party for these sea turtles and at the end of it 594 were rescued, of which 441 were already pronounced dead upon rescue efforts. I know personally before researching this, I was not aware of this.
In my mind I saw oil in water and myself sitting happy and untouched at home. I never opened up my eyes to realize how many poor helpless animals were out there with nowhere to go. Some of these animals we depend on to live. We may not directly need the one animal to make it to survive in our daily life. But everything on this planet is here for a reason and each has a significant purpose. Oil spills do not just affect the water it is spilled in. Oil becomes a long term part of every ecosystem that it touches.
When the oil slick reaches the shores, it clings and coats every piece of sand and every rock that it can find. If it reaches the marshes, forests, or wetlands, it can be soaked up by the grass, trees, and plants which will destroy them eventually. This means all the oxygen and things these plants release into the air to help us live and breathe are no longer happening. All of the animals that may eat off these plants or trees will starve. All the animals that feed off those animals or live in these trees and plants will also have no way to survive and so on.
When some of the oil eventually stops floating on the surface of the water and begins to sink into the marine environment, it can have the same kind of damaging effects on fragile underwater ecosystems, killing or contaminating many fish and smaller organisms that are essential links in the global food chain. Oil spills unfortunately happen all of the time, and there is no way to completely stop them unless we completely stop off shore drilling. There are so many places to get involved in these movements. We can team up to help save the Gulf or stop drilling in areas like the artic and oceans.
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