Offshore Oil Rig in the ANWR sim of Second Life.
I have found myself fast-forwarding or muting the coverage of the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico because if I see those pictures of dead fish, dying birds and a mortally wounded eco-system I start to cry. I am not alone, many people are unable to watch without falling into despair. Usually in a disaster, people react with urgency and energy – full of things to do to help, but this time we are in over our heads – literally and metaphorically. We are dependent on the expertise and equipment of unreliable people – a company with a proven record of lying to us and to the government. Even the best experts in the field don’t know how to fix it quickly and so we watch this strangling of our southern shores with helplessness and broken hearts. It is our helplessness that makes us despair and for our own spirits we must find things we can do to help. That’s why I am excited about Operation Squeegee.
In addition to changes to the regulations that govern off-shore drilling, stronger and more active oversight, development of clean-up and disaster expertise within the government and prioritizing alternative energy sources and conservation, we can support with the sisyphean efforts to cleanup and restore wetlands. Many SL merchants will be participating and events are being planned. For more information, go to the Operation Squeegee website.
