It’s a little over 150 miles from where I live in Baton Rouge to Venice, Louisiana, the town where the Gulf meets land. What I find interesting is how little
conversation I’m hearing here in town about the spill. I was at the annual Baton Rouge Fest
For All today (Sunday, May 2). It’s
a music and arts festival that attracts people from all over. No one was buzzing about it. No one was talking about the President
being down here. I had a
conversation with a professional photographer who telling me about where he
shoots his nature scenes…alligators, pelicans and things you don’t normally
see in New England or the Great Plains.
I asked him how close his spot was to the oil spill. Nowhere near – he said – not in the
least bit concerned. You would
have thought that would have opened up a conversation, but I could have asked
about the drought in Calgary for all he cared.yes””>

Maybe it is because the spill is slow moving and we don’t really know what’s going to happen.
Maybe people are waiting to worry until they know more. I’m used to hurricanes and tornadoes…things
that you plan for (hurricanes) and things that come and go quickly (tornadoes) that
leaves you with a very clear sense of what needs to be done.

All I can say is the reaction this ecological disaster is odd in the way it is being played out.
I’m also surprised that no one is calling for a boycott of BP gasoline
(or Amoco – which BP owns.) Not
that a boycott would be positive or negative.yes””> I’m simply surprised it hasn’t been floated.