BasqueLady Loc: Woodburn OR

It was 103 degrees when I took these photos

(Download)


(Download)

RicknJude Loc: Quebec, Canada

Great shots of rich kids playing.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Bingo!

BasqueLady Loc: Woodburn OR

Rich or poor we need to protect the last frontier. I'm not against oil exploration
But not in the Arctic.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Oh, if only the Arctic was owned or claimed by a single country, then national laws could be passed. But as just ice floating on an ocean, the Arctic is wide open to international exploration. The Antarctic is ice on solid ground, where permanent communities have been established and maintained year-round. Good luck on getting international cooperation in the Arctic.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

International cooperation is not the problem. It might be some day, but not yet.

The current problem is strictly in US owned waters offshore of Alaska, primarily in the Chukchi Sea but the Beaufort Sea is next in line and there is little difference.

Watching Royal Dutch Shell is scary. They just don't really know what they are doing on a micro scale. At the macro scale I am somewhat impressed, because they do make large efforts at getting input from people who know and are concerned. Whether they can actually implement a program that satisfies the requirements functionally as opposed to a "paper fix" that disintegrates when the panic button actually gets pressed is very open to question.

Regardless of everything else you may hear, there are just two environmental issues at stake as far as people on the North Slope are concerned. One is that poorly planned oil development and worse an oil spill would irretrievably damage Bowhead whale stocks and the harvest of Bowhead whales. The second issue is that there is no known way to clean up an oil spill in the presence of ice. None! Because of that all marine life, and every human that depends on it, would be severely damaged by a relatively small oil spill.

If the same amount of oil were to be spilled in the Chukchi Sea as has been spilled at Prudhoe Bay (never mind something like the Exxon Valdez or the blowout in the Carribean), the damage to the way of life here for people from Savoonga and Gamble on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea all the way to Kaktovik near Canada would be destroyed for decades.

We simply cannot tolerate the cavalier attitude towards our environment that has been the norm at Prudhoe (primarily by BP). They run around like fanatics picking up every single drop of anything an individual could report them for! And at the same time executive management literally decides to use unsafe methods that kill workers, and schedules preventive maintenance on a "when it leaks, we'll fix it" basis. BP has been fined millions for repeated intensional violations. They have also been caught bribing Legislative and Executive branch officials in the State government. (Always two or three layers removed from BP, such that I don't think any BP employee has gone to jail yet. Several legislators have been jailed.) Rest assured that we have the best State Legislature that money can buy... which we are positive about because Big Awl has very clearly paid them enough!

On the other hand, there is also no question but that these same residents need the economic benefits brought by oil. Life in these villages is very basic even with the oil money, and in a modern world might not be viable without that money.

It's a tightrope.

ab7rn Loc: Portland, Oregon

St Johns Bridge! 2 miles from my home. I was not aware of this event. Nice shots.
Bill

BasqueLady Loc: Woodburn OR

Thanks Bill.
The protest was on the Portland news. I love the St. John's bridge and could not find a better location to protect the Artic protest. I give these young adults high praise and a thanks for all there compassion to save the Artic.

jfn007 Loc: Close to the middle of nowhere.

It amazes me that the environmental-whackos want to save the snail darter but support the modern version of Murder, Inc., Planned Parenthood.