A Combination of Bad Choices

Even when they acknowledged limited risks, they seemed to consider each danger in a vacuum, never thinking the combination of bad choices would add up to a total well blowout.

Five key human errors, colossal mechanical failure led to fatal Gulf oil rig blowout. A string of mistakes, first by people, then by a supposedly fail-safe machine, sealed the fates of 11 rig workers and led to the fouling of the Gulf of Mexico and hundreds of miles of its coastline. New Orleans Times-Picayune, Louisiana.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/09/5_key_human_errors_colossal_me.html

Carl Safina: The oil spill's unseen cuilprits, victims

Carl Safina: The oil spill's unseen culprits, victims | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

TED Talks The Gulf oil spill dwarfs comprehension, but we know this much: it's bad. Carl Safina scrapes out the facts in this blood-boiling cross-examination, arguing that the consequences will stretch far beyond the Gulf -- and many so-called solutions are making the situation worse.

Reading The Sea Around Us

Revisiting Rachel Carson's 'The Sea Around Us' SouthCoastToday.com
June 2010 is an especially poignant time to be teaching Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us" (1951) to teachers. 

By LAURIE ROBERTSON-LORANT, Dr. Laurie Robertson-Lorant, English Department adjunct, Bridgewater State College, is a Melville biographer and poet who has taught sustainability education at UMass Dartmouth.

June 26, 2010

June 2010 is an especially poignant time to be teaching Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us" (1951) to teachers. The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a wake-up call to end our deadly addiction to fossil fuels and a tragic reminder of how little we have learned about the ocean since Carson's masterpiece appeared more than half a century ago. A masterful writer, marine biologist Carson combines informed observation, solid scientific knowledge and mindful contemplation of the geology, history and biodiversity of our ocean.

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