The BP gulf oil spill is not an environmental disaster. Inconvenience? Yes! But, not a disaster. These precious wetlands being destroyed are essentially monolithic habitats. Meaning nearly all the vegetation is of one species. They will average 500 feet in depth from the shore. The oil may impact up to 25 feet of that depth. Or, about 5% of the area. The impact duration is one growing cycle. A growing cycle being the time and energy to produce a new leaf.
When oil impacts vegetation it gets on the plant leaf. The plant does not absorb the oil. The sun hits the oil and bio-degrades the oil. This may burn the leaf under the oil. Should the entire leaf burn, it will die. When it dies it degrades making it a better attracter for oil to attach upon. The degrades the oil and no additional harm is done to the plant.
The plant damage only occurs to the leafy material above the water. The stupid plant doesn't know it has been "disastered" and begins replacing the leafy material that was lost. Plants do this when mowed, trimmed, or grazed on by animals.
Yep, big catastrophic disaster. God designed these wetlands to function in this manner. Jimmy Carter in 1977 issued an Executive Order to protect wetlands because of several reasons, one of which was pollution reduction. The wetlands as designed by God work well. Surprised?
Why do you not know this from news? Because our renowned Environmentalist have a political agenda, not an environmental agenda. It doesn't generate money to say, "Look how effective those wetlands we saved work ."
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