As I write this, I'm watching ABC News coverage of the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to reports, it is estimated that as many as 85 million gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf (for perspective, the Exxon Valdez spill involved 10.8 million gallons) and the oil continues to flow.
Sitting here in Massachusetts, it's hard to get perspective on the impact of the spill – but I'm trying to stay connected using some of these online tools:
New York Times - Oil Spill Tracker
Using this interactive map, I can "rewind" to see how the spill grew, as well as news highlights and other environmental factors such as the loop currents and impacted marshes and oyster beds.
Compare Your City
To help give us perspective, reporters like to use comparisons such as "a month's worth of leaking oil could fill enough gallon milk jugs to stretch more than 11,300 miles. That's more than the distance from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and back. That's just shy of 130 million gallons." (Huffington Post)
If you don't find these comparisons helpful (I'll admit I don't), you can use Google Earth to compare the size of the Gulf oil spill to your city. I'm not sure how accurate the map really is, but comparing it to Boston was frightening.
On the run? According to Jesse Sposato at Appolicious, there are several free or low-cost apps available for use on your iPhone. I'm going to be checking out the EPA's app for recent environmental news.
As America's largest conservation organization, the National Wildlife Federation is sent a team of wildlife experts "to assess the devastating impact of this unfolding tragedy on the communities, wildlife, marshes and wetlands of the area."
Through the NWF web site - NWF.com/OilSpill – you can check out videos and photos from the Gulf; find out how you can help with the cleanup, or make adoration. They also have tips from Ranger Rick to use if you are a parent looking for ways to explain the spill to your children.
Are you tracking the oil spill in the Gulf? What sites or tools do you find help you understand the impact of this environmental disaster?