Illustration reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the BP Oil spill. (Anthony Russo / For The Times)
Illustration reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the BP Oil spill. (Anthony Russo / For The Times)
By Charles Wohlforth
April 20, 2011
From April into midsummer last year, Americans watched BP's oil spew from the seafloor into the Gulf of Mexico with outrage and guilt that came to feel like a chronic stomachache.

Then, on July 15, it stopped. And within a couple of weeks the bad feelings for a lot of us stopped too. There were reports that the surface oil was quickly disappearing. There was a government study that hopeful journalists misinterpreted to mean that most of the oil was gone.

But the oil wasn't gone, and it still isn't. Tar balls are washing around the gulf. Marshes are dying. Scientists say it's still too early to know the greatest share of the spill's environmental damage.

"The media left, so everyone assumed that meant the oil was gone too," said Aaron Viles of the Gulf Restoration Network in New Orleans.

The nation flits from one spectacle to the next with ever-accelerating speed, but the processes of nature unfold at their same, deliberate pace. Quick, superficial information alienates us from the ecosystems that sustain life, and that's made it more difficult to solve environmental problems.

The rate at which environmental disasters recede in our collective rearview mirror marks how fast the culture is moving. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 stuck in our consciousness much longer than BP's spill. Alaska's disaster happened in March; in August it was still major national news when Exxon tried to back off on needed cleanup efforts — the spotlight forced the company to promise more work. Public attention on the Alaska mess kept Congress focused until historic oil spill legislation passed, a year and a half after the accident.

Going back to an even slower time, historians credit the Santa Barbara blowout and oil spill of 1969 as starting the modern environmental movement. Images of oiled animals stuck around long enough to mobilize the public and power legislation and policy for years. Results included the Clean Water Act (1972), a beefed-up Clean Air Act (1970), the National Environmental Policy Act (1970) and the first Earth Day (1970).

Now, the anniversary of the BP spill comes with a feeling of "Whatever happened to…?" Legislative efforts have stalled, and they're not particularly ambitious anyway. The BP spill spawned a commission, but its recommendations to Congress have been ignored.

Viles calls the situation "this national ADD about environmental issues." The attention deficit has many causes. Scholars have documented reduced interest in environmental issues when the economy is down. Storytelling biases also play a role. The story "Oil is still there" doesn't thrill like a starlet's fresh scandal or the predicament of the Chilean miners, which in August 2010 pulled the spotlight away from underwater oil plumes and potential gulf dead zones.

Compared with 1969 and 1989, the news cycle is on fast-forward, and our information sources are fractured. "Now it is so much easier to turn the page or click the channel and not have to deal with this stuff," said Anthony Leiserowitz of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, "because we're creating these self-reflective mirrored halls where we don't have to see anything we don't want to think about."

Our disintegrating attention span matches our disintegrating common will to act on shared problems, at least at the national level. The country has needed federal policy on energy and climate change for decades, but that seems further away than ever. And even the largest oil spill in history, shown live on TV, couldn't spawn a national discussion about our energy sources.

But we do still act at the local level, where people still share knowledge and sustained interest. The newspapers of the Gulf Coast have stayed with the oil spill story, in all its complexity. Viles' Restoration Network has brought together 46 concerned groups to guide response and prevention efforts.

On climate change, as well, action has happened locally, in communities, cities, states and public-spirited businesses. University of Colorado policy scientist Ronald D. Brunner maintains that that's how it has to work: Social change must always precede dramatic political change.

Brunner has studied how communities that are empowered to deal with environmental threats tend to make the right decisions. Examples are diverse, including preparing for floods in the Midwest and dealing with melting permafrost in the Arctic. The key is giving those who live in an ecosystem the power to care for it.

That's an idea that has worked in Alaska, where post-spill legislation set up a well-funded local advisory council that has monitored oil handling in Prince William Sound and fought for improvements — like powerful tugboats to escort tankers all the way to open ocean — that have demonstrably prevented another accident.

We can't count on the federal government to stop disasters, because we can't count on the media or ourselves to pay attention to all the risks that face us as a nation. But community by community, we can watch over our own land and water. And we can demand that the nation respect our decisions.


San Fransisco Giants

De La Rosa helps Rockies to 10-2 win over Giants

The Associated Press

Matt Cain's early season success was no match for Ty Wigginton's bat.
Cain was roughed up for six runs, including a three-run homer by Wigginton, and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 10-2 Wednesday to salvage the series finale against the defending world champions.
"Definitley, the big hit by Wigginton kind of put a damper on things and put our guys in a big a hole," said Cain, who allowed nine hits in 4 2-3 innings. "That's not something I wanted to do.
Cain (2-1) struck out six and walked two in his shortest outing of the season. It was in stark contrast to the last time he had pitched at Coors Field when he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning last September. Coming in, he had given up just three runs in 19 innings over three previous outings.
"He had that one inning there where they put up four runs - made a mistake there for that three-run homer," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, referring to the Rockies' four-run second. "But he has been throwing the ball so well, and their guy pitched well. That's they way it goes. But it was a good road trip for us. We won a couple of series. Matt was just a little bit off today, that's all."
Jorge De La Rosa (3-0) went seven innings, giving up two runs and four hits to help the Rockies avoid the series sweep after dropping the first two games to their division rival.
Wigginton, hitting .214 entering the game, connected on an inside fastball from Cain for his first homer with the Rockies and the 1,000th hit of his career.
"We felt that was a good pitch to Wigginton," Cain said. "He made a good swing, and a good pass on it and he kind of beat me to it. But I can't be mad about a pitch that was where I wanted to throw it and he hit it."
Wigginton said reaching the milestone hit took a backseat to the homer's significance in the game.
"Absolutely," he said. "I'll take the three-run homer, especially at that time."
Buster Posey had both RBIs for the Giants, one on a single in the first and another with a grounder in the sixth.
That's all the damage San Francisco could manage against De La Rosa, who was on the ropes in the opening frame but worked his way out of trouble and never looked back. He tied Jhoulys Chacin for most wins on the staff.
Pinch hitter Ryan Spilborghs added a late three-run homer, backup catcher Jose Morales contributed an RBI double and Seth Smith had a pair of RBI singles as Colorado had a season-high scoring output.
The Giants jumped on Colorado in the first inning yet again, scoring a run on Posey's bloop single to left. That gave them 10 runs in the opening frame during the three-game series.
The damage could've been even more extensive after Aaron Rowand led off the game with a double and Freddy Sanchez drew a walk. But Aubrey Huff, who reached on a fielder's choice, was thrown out at third by Carlos Gonzalez on Posey's RBI hit and Cody Ross hit a fly ball to end the inning.
This was Ross' first appearance of the season after straining his right calf in the final week of spring training. The MVP of the NLCS last season finished hitless in four plate appearances.
The Giants were without Pablo Sandoval, who was a late scratch after straining his right triceps during batting practice.
NOTES: Rockies RHP Aaron Cook (broken finger) has started throwing off a slope. Cook has been on the DL since slamming the digit in a door early in spring training. "He's making strides," Tracy said. ... To make room for Ross, the Giants optioned INF Brandon Belt to Triple-A Fresno. Belt turned 23 on Wednesday. ... The Rockies moved to 7-1 in day games this season. ... The Giants finished their road trip with a 4-2 mark. They have an off day Thursday before hosting Atlanta for a three-game set that starts on Friday.


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