Oil spills

As I begin my blog, I've been looking for topics that have significant environmental basis. In my search, I have found something that saddens me greatly; a new oil spill.

An ocean cargo ship crashed into a coral reef in New Zealand on Wednesday. The ship was carrying over half a million gallons of oil. Nine olympic swimming pools combined contain half a million gallons, just to give you an idea. Even though only 500,000 gallons have spilled, they are spread over a span of 5 kilometers (about 3 miles), which will make cleanup all the more difficult.

Speaking of cleanup, crews have been working around the clock to clean up the spilled oil. A maritime exclusion zone has been established around the spill to help humans avoid harm.

What I want to know is how are the animals and wildlife going to be protected. I know that oil spills are sadly too uncommon for most of the stuff I'm saying to not be cliche, but I want to know something more. I, like many people, am always concerned about cleanup and damage to wildlife, but I also want to know what kind of processes are involved in trying to improve ships and detection technology of storms, coral reefs, and ocean depth, so that oil spills can be prevented. I believe that an oil spill avoided is ALWAYS better than an oil spill that is cleaned up well.

When I saw this article about the oil spill, it made me think of how humans often have such disreagrd for nature. I couldn't help but draw a parallel to the Poisonwood Bible (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisonwood_Bible) and how colonization, much like oil spills, destroyes the environment and natural resources of a region