Had an opportunity to meet yesterday with Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who has been designated by the President to oversee the development of a long-term plan for the restoration of the Gulf Coast. Don't be overly impressed - I was one of a couple of professorial peons in a room full of University Presidents, VPs for Research, and Program Administrators. Still, it was an interesting meeting and an opportunity to see how these things happen. Secretary Mabus is looking for ideas about what comes next - after the hole is plugged, after the oil is off the beaches. How do we start putting the pieces back together? How do we assess the damage to ecosystems and begin to restore them? How do we address potential threats to human health? How do we put the impacted people back to work? And, significantly, do we consider ways to move the Gulf states away from their marriage to the oil industry? He closed the meeting with a charge to, "Think big; think holistic."
The Secretary made an interesting point with his contention that, perhaps, the Gulf region might serve as a national or international model for dealing with disaster. I've said for a while now that the biological communities of the Gulf might be uniquely adapted to survive disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon spill because of their long history of dealing with environmental stresses. Hardy organisms - the ones that can handle hurricanes, low oxygen zones, high temperatues, and hydrocarbon seeps - have been selected for in the Gulf of Mexico. I don't think it's a stretch to say the same for the human inhabitants of the region. No, the folks that live along the Gulf don't own the franchise on hard times - there's been plenty of that to go around, geographically speaking. But I don't think anyone would argue that we've had to deal with our share of disaster. We know how. Give us your best shot. Blow away our homes. Blast our economy. Coat our waters with oil. The believers among us will pray. The profane among us will curse. The passionate among us will shed a few tears and the drinkers will throw back a few. Hell, we'll all throw back a few. Then, as a people, we'll get up in the morning and go to work. Just watch.
