introduction April 21 2010 Look back at newspapers from this day and you’ll find hardly a hint that a major environmental catastrophe had begun the night before in the Gulf of Mexico In St Louis a medical study on the health risks of salt made the front page The lead story in the Fort Worth Telegram-Star was about biofuel-powered trains And in Boston journalists celebrated the homecoming of travelers whose return trips had been complicated by a lava-spewing volcano in Iceland The world wasn’t yet aware of the massive oil rig explosion about 41 miles 66 kilometers off the shore of Louisiana People didn’t know that 11 of the 126 workers on the drilling platform had died in the blast and that another 16 were injured They didn’t know that workers leapt into the Gulf as flames soared as high as a 15-story building They didn’t know that the entire platform would sink 2 days later 4 21st century skills library
On the night of April 20 2010 at 10 p m a massive explosion happened about 41 miles 66 km off the Louisiana Coast in the Gulf of Mexico The name Deepwater Horizon wasn’t yet known to households across the world On the morning of April 21 2010 no one imagined that the largest human-caused environmental accident in U S history had begun 5 DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL
In the 3 months that followed the world watched in horror as the company that operated the platform British Petroleum BP failed to cap the oil gushing from the ocean’s floor This oil spread It sank to the bottom of the sea It crept toward coastal beaches wetlands and estuaries It slicked the surface of the water in one area measuring three times the size of Rhode Island It wreaked havoc on plant and animal life And it threatened the very existence of our oceans which United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called the lungs of our planet Why did this happen How was it stopped What were its impacts And can we guarantee that an accident like this never happens again Imagine 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with slippery midnight-black oil That’s the amount of crude oil that oozed out of the Deepwater Horizon drill site between April and July 2010 Scientists are still studying the impacts of this massive spill on ocean and coastline ecosystems today 6 21st century skills library
Prioritizing Ocean Health All life on Earth is dependent on a healthy ocean notes marine biologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle If the ocean is in trouble we are in trouble Why do oceans matter Oceans govern the carbon oxygen and water cycles They regulate climate They are home to more than half of all life-forms on the planet Yet human choices continue to threaten ocean health Whether from deepwater drilling plastic pollution or overfishing the world’s oceans are in danger The United Nations UN Sustainable Development Goals make ocean health a priority with goal 14 Life Below Water In addition the UN has declared the years 2021 through 2030 the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development urging everyone to advocate and care for our oceans 7 DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL
