“Did you even think about the Gulf of Mexico before this oil spill?”
This is a simple question South Wings pilot Tom Hutchings asks writer and co-founder of Under Solen Media Anna Brones during a flight over the Gulf oil spill area. But it struck me as particularly poignant when I read Brones’s post on PDX 2 Gulf Coast, where she detailed her first aerial photography experience with the organization South Wings, which promotes “conservation through aviation.” Perhaps that question is so keenly felt for many of us because we feel an innate sense of guilt upon hearing or reading it. Perhaps it’s because now, the prospect of the Gulf’s destruction is so seemingly imminent, and we fear we may have lost our chance to think about it in any other way than as the location of the world’s most horrendous oil disaster.
Either way, Brones’s article is, for lack of a better word, a heartfelt first-hand story about what it looks and feels like to see the spill from above. You can read a small excerpt below:
“…we’re in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, flying over small islands and marshes. These days, there is in fact less oil visible to the human eye. Gone are the days when entire bays were covered in a reflective slick, but the oil’s presence and destruction is still ever present. Marshes are lined with a reddish color, evidence of oil soaked sand. In a couple of places, thin long lines of oil streak the blue water, almost as if painted on. In protected bays, oil collects and doesn’t move. As Hutchings points out, stormy weather blows it in, and there’s no way to get it out.”
To read the full article go here.
[Via: PDX 2 Gulf Coast]
