Hey there!
Welcome to Life Noggin.
The world uses nearly countless amounts of
oil every year in one form or another.
The United States alone has been consuming
a total of over 7 billion barrels of petroleum
products a year, or around 20 million barrels
a day in recent times.
This reliance on fossil fuels has its own
host of long-term environmental problems,
but when you have an oil spill, you create
another world of issues.
Oil spills can happen for a variety of reasons,
from careless mistakes or equipment breaking
down, to natural disasters like hurricanes.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, there are thousands of oil
spills that occur in US waters every year.
That said, most are relatively small compared
to the big ones that make the news, often
spilling less than one barrel of oil.
However, in the past 50 or so years, there
have been over 44 oil spills — each over
10,000 barrels or 420,000 gallons of oil — that
have impacted US waters.
These spills have the potential to be very
harmful to the environment, marine life, and
even humans.
After a spill, since oil is less dense than
water, it will typically float on the surface
of the water.
It doesn’t just stay there in some big glob,
though.
What usually happens is that the oil will
rapidly spread out over the surface of the
water until it becomes a thin layer of oil
known as an oil slick.
Then it keeps spreading out until it forms
a super thin layer called a sheen.
But that thin layer of oil can be a big problem.
Our fur-bearing mammal friends, like the adorable
sea otter, can lose their ability to insulate
themselves when covered in oil and birds can
lose the water repellency of their feathers.
Without proper insulation, they can end up
dying from hypothermia.
Not to mention, if they try to clean themselves,
they might ingest some of that oil.
While fish, shellfish, and other underwater
creatures can come into contact with oil if
it’s mixed into a water column.
Adult fish can experience fin erosion when
exposed to oil, as well as reduced growth
rates and enlarged livers.
It can also hinder their reproduction.
Even if they can successfully make eggs, the
oil can negatively impact egg and larval survival.
What’s worse is that these kinds of things
can last long after the news stops covering
them.
You know the BP oil spill that happened about
a decade ago?
Some reports claim that animals are still
being negatively impacted by the lasting effects
of the spill even though cleanup has largely
gotten rid of the initial problem.
Oil spill cleanup can involve a bunch of different
tools, including floating barriers called
booms, chemical dispersants and biological
agents, and skimmers, which are boats that
skim or scoop spilled oil off the water’s
surface.
But still, we’re likely talking months,
or even years, of cleanup if the spill is
bad enough, and ecosystems that are damaged
long after the initial contamination goes
away.
Researchers from a 2015 Canadian study threw
around some hard truths when they said that
the reality of an oil spill cleanup is that
actually collecting and removing the oil is
a challenging, time-sensitive, and often ineffective
process — even with favorable conditions.
In addition to all of the time, effort, and
negative effects of the spill, some cleanup
methods can mess with marine life even worse
that the oil itself.
That’s why making sure that as few oil spills
happen as possible should always be the goal.
If you wanna support some really great ocean
clean up efforts, I've included some links
in the description below
my question to you is, what do you want me
to talk about next?
Use the hashtag Dear Blocko so i can find
it, and your question could be included in
a future episode!
gimmie those burning questions!
I want to answer them!
As always, my name is Blocko, this has been
Life Noggin, don't forget to keep on thinking!
