Rowan Jacobsen

The Gulf oil spill is one of those events that people erroneously assume is completely fixed, but only time will show the full extent of how the spill will impact the Gulf ecosystem, and the lives of those communities that rely on the Gulf for their livelihoods. But what Jacobson shows is that humans have been impacting the Gulf long before the BP spill in its quest to maintain the status quo of development, beginning with the Army Corps misguided stabilization of the Mississippi River.

Perhaps the entire book could be summed up with this one line: "...we need to remind ourselves that natural systems are much more finely tuned than we think, and if we like the way they currently work, then we should try very, very hard to not screw with them."

Jacobson intersperses his own experiences in the Gulf, both during and after the oil spill with chapters on the history, ecology, and culture of the Gulf, and a few chapters detailing the Deepwater Horizon explosion and its aftermath. Doing so really gives a good sense life along the Gulf and how much has already changed through the decades, and made me think depressingly of how much will continue to change, given the spill.
… (altro)