The Gulf of Mexico, Dirty Oil, and Chickens
Written by: John O'Keefe
For the past few weeks I’ve watched in horror as oil spews uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico. This “spill” as it is euphemistically called is really an environmental disaster of the worst kind. As such, it is another example of a civilization run amok. Pondering the thick black crude irrupting from the deep, I am reminded of the the Balrog in the Lord of the Rings. In Tolkien’s masterpiece, the Dwarfs dug too deeply in the Mines of Moria and released a power that consumed and destroyed them. One can almost hear the Dwarf leaders chanting over the dim protests of those who might have objected, “dig baby dig” until it was too late. Our civilization seems to be approaching the limits of its hubris.
I have been talking for years about getting chickens, another page in my evolving eco-living playbook. This impulse reflects a variety of influences but most recently it comes from my deepening attraction to bioregionalism, especially of the variety espoused by Wendell Berry and his many disciples. Berry diagnoses the American problem as displacement from place. We are wandering rootless. We have no communities. We don’t know the places we inhabit. We have no sense of connection to the land. For Berry, this rootlessness is the one of the major causes of our environmental problems. Our disconnection from the physical world makes it more likely that we will feel nothing while we destroy it. We might not even notice the destruction. Berry recommends a counter-cultural response. Stay where you are, learn the genius of the places you inhabit, use less, raise some of your own food, become downwardly mobile. In his old age Berry gives speeches all over the country. Increasingly his audiences are comprised of young people who know intuitively that all is not well and who want another option.
My Chicken coop is almost done, and I will soon be the proud custodian of six hens. Maybe next year I’ll raise some chickens for meat, but I wanted to start small. The coop was underway before the oil started leaking in the Gulf, but in the wake of the disaster, my effort at animal husbandry has taken on a new urgency: it is one more tiny effort to push the Balrog back into the abyss. It is another small adjustment in the way I live that may contribute to a cascade of cultural change.
My bioregional response to the perversion of big oil may not seem very Ignatian, at least not on the surface. Yet for me, the tug toward this alternative way of living is nothing other than a good discernment. I experience this pull toward more sustainable living with as much visceral desire as I am repelled by culture of destruction symbolized by BP. Surely God does not will the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico, but just as surely God wills that we who are horrified by the destruction act. We need to change. We need to change now. Get some chickens and help me push.
Photo: “No_Balrogs” by “PDXdj” from Flickr (Used under Creative Commons license)
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John, great post! I love the picture. I find too often that I have accepted certain ways of living without even knowing it. I have been raised as part of a culture that is uncaring of how we procure and consume that which sustains me and my family. It is most certainly an Ignatian theme to see God in all things. By ignoring our daily choices of what and how much we consume is in fact contrary to this Ignatian tenet.
Hi John,
This is great! I’m really excited that you are becoming a city farmer! Next step growing hemp and weaving your own frocks!
To be fair, yes that was a horrible tragedy, the likes of which even the petroleum engineers that i work with (in a “little oil” company) are shaking their heads sadly over.
But its a complicated issue…first of all remember there hasn’t been a major offshore oil rig blowout and leak in 40 years. Second, know that the #1 source of oil being leaked into water truly is from Mother Nature herself, there are natural oil and gas seeps deep in the ocean all of the world. In those places the ocean naturally breaks down the oil/disperses it to a negilgible amount. I’ll grant you that is NOT the case here. The amount of oil being leaked into one place is way too much for the ocean to handle naturally. Also, alot more wildlife is going to be affected by this leak so close to the shore. The second biggest leaker of oil into natural water is giant tankers/barges.
Also, this was a formation that has not been punched into much before, it was also near enough to the mississippi delta that the pressure is greater down there. Perhaps they should have been more prepared for that. Yet, you can’t predict everything. And as our country screams for gasoline and all manner of petroleum based products at low low prices, new fields have to be explored.
Even so…in the next few generations, i am told even by people in the industry that the demand WILL exceed the supply. There’s no two ways about it. So in summary I agree with you. People need to look at their lives and how sustainable they are. They need to walk if they possibly can, carpool if they can’t, and invest in public transportation.
I just wanted you to know the whole story.
One last thing, a shocking fact: California alone uses more gas/oil than the entire country of China.
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