Is it worth it?

I'm kind of sad right now. Is this a turtle? I think it is (was) a turtle. I was jogging on the treadmill and the news program I was watching just kept showing animals drenched in oil. I've admitted it before and I'll admit it again, I am an animal lover...always have been. I love their innocence, beauty and the way they are both simple and complex.

This is one of my favorite birds. It's a brown pelican. I have found them so fascinating since I first saw them diving into the water and break-neck speeds from the Galveston Island causeway almost two years ago. So it depresses me to see such an entertaining and handsome creature drenched in goo. Even worse, we pumped this goo out of the earth to satiate our never-ending consumption.

Now how are we supposed to explain that one to God. "Well God, I needed more gas to put into my Jeep and that's more important than your creatures. Right? I mean, you did give us this earth to occupy it's your fault we use and abuse it to fulfill our own consumptive needs."

Aside being one of the worst man-made disasters in US history let's not forget where all of this began. This photo is of a very expensive oil platform going up in flames while burning eleven men to death. Just like that, eleven families ruined. And for what? Is it worth it? When should we move on, I mean when is our incredible technological advancements going to pay off making things such as oil drilling, strip mining, and factory farming a thing of the past? I love this quote:

Memo to oil apologists: When VHS supplanted Betamax, nobody shed a tear. when word processing software replaced typewriters, nobody shrieked about a socialist revolution in the steno pool. And when the jet engine replaced the propeller, there were no protests...about a vast supersonic conspiracy. Face it: Technology changes. And the petroleum-based economy is dead. It's built on antiquated technology that's killing us and our planet. Oil has served its purpose. It was great while it lasted, and it got us to a point where we have the industrial and technological wherewithal to chart a new course.

-Martin Luz

So to finish here is an older photo of Henry next to a sea turtle that despite suffering serious injuries when it was run over by a boat was it was saved and resides in the Texas State Aquarium. Too bad there isn't more room for some of the most recent victims to our "superior technology."