Poor government oversight of an oil pipeline company contributed to a major environmental disaster in Michigan this week.

As workers tackle a 1 million gallon oil spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, citizens are eager to volunteer to help with oil-soaked wildlife.  But public officials are discouraging them.  According to one report, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and wildlife officials are saying asking volunteers not to to rescue oil-covered wildlife from the river and surrounding areas. “While the sentiment is appreciated, the unauthorized efforts have potential to harm human health, environment & affected wildlife,” Granholm wrote on Facebook Thursday. “Incorrect disposal of wastewater created when cleaning oil-covered wildlife contaminates … groundwater, surface water & drinking water.” What citizens can do is not so clear from the official pronouncements.

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The sun’s rays were beginning to break through the river mist as Haskal J. Lonesome finished digging his way to the edge of Beaver, Washington. For several days he had traversed the moss-draped rain forests, and even floated for part of his journey on a broken branch, as it drifted for miles down the waters of the Sol Duc River. Haskal’s thick moist pelt shivered in anticipation when he finally entered the perimeter of the village.

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The ants arrived in my kitchen the other day, a thin line trailing by the compost to the water filter. I ignored them for a day or two, hoping that I could avoid dealing with it, so, of course, the line turned into a highway, and small groups of scouts headed out across the walls, over the breadboard, onto the stove. Untenable situation.

I like ants. I do not like wiping up hundreds of them. I recalled something I read recently about Bali, where food offerings are made to the spirits every morning at different spots around the family compound, and the ants eat the offerings and don’t enter the structures.

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Castor canadensis

“We, the North American beavers, Castor canadensis, are what is known as a ‘keystone’ species. Unlike your kind, we play a critical role in maintaining the health, structure and balance of ecological communities. Our dams and labor create new habitat where multitudes thrive; subsequently, relative to our biomass, we have a disproportionate influence upon species diversity and stability. We are integral allogenic ecosystem engineers; and just as with a keystone in an arch, the entire structure collapses when we are removed.

Your kind, however, is what is known as a destructive parasite. You prey upon and violate everything within your grasp. You continually rape and poison the land, air and water, ravaging shared resources, making mere existence unbearable or impossible for thousands of other species. The resolutely thoughtless manner in which your species behaves is utterly baffling, completely unsustainable and diseased. You are a toxic cancer that will be excised. Once your kind has been removed, perhaps fragile ecosystems may be able to re-balance themselves and become relatively healthy again some day. Although so much has already been forever lost. You are well aware that the demise of your species is imminent?“

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Chemical Dispersants & Acid Rain

At the beginning of the apocalyptic oil spill disaster, the criminal British Petroleum cartel flushed billions of gallons of untested chemical dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico in a feeble attempt to make the evidence of their catastrophe disappear. Each day millions of gallons of toxic crude and monstrous poisonous methane clouds continued to spew from the chasm that they tore into the earth’s crust back in 2010. The experimental chemicals created massive oil plumes beneath the water’s surface which spread for thousands of miles. Then the dispersants were absorbed up into the atmosphere and came back down as acid rain, scorching and withering all life that it fell upon.

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This was the year we had set a collective alarm clock as the deadline to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of loss of biodiversity. Now it is ringing rather loudly. All assessments of progress indicate that we are far from reaching the goals we set in 2002.

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This is an enchanting short trailer for Animalia, a dark and beautifully surreal Illustrated fairy-tale. The animation was created by my friend Ryder Cooley, and was brought to life by Bart Woodstrup; the music is by Fall Harbor. The collaborative film is a work in progress.

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