Atlantic Ocean:

Clean, Clear, Safe Water

The “Waterworks” is about saving the environment for our own use, and for future generations. As part of the process of working on six new “Waterworks” yesterday I hunted for more images to use in those mixed media distressed and pastel paintings. I found this image taken last July 2010 in south Florida. The crystal clear water sparkles in the brilliant early summer sun just as God intended. At the time the Deepwater Horizon Disaster threatened all of the Gulf Coast and Florida. There were predictions that the mess would be caught in the Gulf Stream and come right around the entire coast of Florida. I wondered if I would return to this beach in the fall and find dead fish, porpoises, turtles and water foul. It was a nightmare vision that was all too possible.

Our government has since ended the moratorium on deep water drilling and seven new drilling permits have been granted during the past several weeks. As Isaac Stolzfuts used to say, “the oil oligarchy speaks.” I know that we must have oil because we are addicted to extreme amounts of energy, and our habit is overwhelming. Without energy, our addicted culture would shrivel and die. However, we are not dedicating ourselves to investing resources in new and cleaner sources in the amount we should be. The Chinese have dedicated 10% of their budged to clean energy – TEN PERCENT! Instead, we are busy cutting our budget (reads the working middle class, and the poor are getting [BLEEPED]) at a time when our economy needs to be stimulated, not shrunk. Think what ten percent of the nations budget invested in clean energy would do to stimulate the economy – JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!

We need a “Clean Labor & Energy National Party (CLEAN)”, a very outspoken political party, something like the Tea Party that will force our nation to move in a corrected path toward clean energy independence.