Oct 29, 2025
Sometimes when I'm birdwatching
#sometimes when i’m birdwatching#things that aren’t birds#carpinteria state beach#oil platform#I liked how it was a ghost in the haze#like the flying dutchman of petroleum extraction#most of those platforms#maybe all of them?#have reached the end of their economic life#so we're now in the stage#when platform a#famous as the progenitor of the environmental movement#when the drilling from it#cracked the ocean floor#and unleashed an oil spill#that continued for pretty much a year#with no way to stop it#other than letting the stuff exhaust itself#onto the beaches of carpinteria#sigh#as I was saying#when platform a can finally go away#but of course#that is complicated#and isn't happening quickly#so I get to see it#like a ghost#when I’m birding at the beach#on a hazy morning#as one does