What are some ideas from ecological economics that might help with the kind of disaster?

CANE AND ABLE? Marsh plants like roseau cane hold the soil together and help keep Louisiana’s wetlands from vanishing into the Gulf of Mexico. But a rust-colored sheen from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill floats among the reeds, and a black stain is visible about two feet above the waterline.

 

Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Analysis from All Sides

Released: 7/1/2010 4:00 PM EDT

Source: University of Vermont
...Wetland loss is complicated: it's a matter of having channelized the river and controlled the flow of sediment that used to replenish the marshes naturally. It's also a function of oil and gas canals that were dug through the marshes to allow for oil exploration -- back when we didn't have to go miles off the coast! Now, with the BP disaster, the wetlands are threatened by oil washing up. This kills plants, and when plants die you don't have them there to stabilize the soil. Combine this with more hurricanes and we can foresee even bigger losses of coastal wetlands...

...Ecological economics takes a deep look at the proper roles of government and business -- where are the incentives for business to look out for the long-term future? They're really not there in the current economic model. The focus is quarterly profits. From a traditional business perspective, if you can cut some corners on safety or the environment and human health -- and make some more money -- that's seen as a good thing....
 
http://www.newswise.com/articles/gulf-coast-oil-spill-analysis-from-all-sides

The current business models for companies engaged in 'commerce' in the USA is AMORAL and UNETHICAL.  Just that simple.  There was a time in the USA when ethical business practices were a 'value' everyone admired.  That doesn't exist anymore.  What exists today are 'bonuses' and 'profit' at any cost.  The Republicans like to call it 'GROWTH,' when in fact it is EXPLOITATION and amoral business content.

"Excellant Customer Service" is the only 'value' citizens receive anymore and that is only to facilitate profits. 

In this UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite of North America, Alex and its twin have morphed into a significant set of storm sytems. (click title for 12 hour loop)

July 1, 2010
21:30:13z

A Cat Two Hurricane is killing people in Mexico.  Wow.  What are they going to name it once it enters the Pacific?

Hurricane Alex pounds northern Mexico; at least 2 killed



The storm sends rivers overflowing and cuts power to thousands of homes in the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.

By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times
July 1, 2010
2:00 p.m.

Reporting from Mexico City — Remnants of Hurricane Alex on Thursday raked northern Mexico with damaging winds and heavy rains, knocking out power to thousands of homes and causing floods that killed at least two people.
Alex, which roared in from the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, weakened to a tropical storm as it crossed the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon into Mexico's northern interior.
But high winds and torrential rain left much of the region without electricity or working telephones, forced schools to close and sent rivers over their banks in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon and Mexico's most important industrial city....

Municipal officials stand next to the overflowing La Silla river in Monterrey, Mexico on Thursday. (Kristian Lopez / Reuters)

So, is there any leverage on Iran? Is that why spies that hadn't accomplished squat were arrested?

In this undated photo, Peruvian journalist Vicky Pelaez is seen on assignment in Lima, Peru. Pelaez and her husband Juan Lazaro were among 10 suspects arrested in a sweep in the United States on June 27 as part of an alleged Russian spy ring and charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison upon conviction. (AP Photo/Diario La Republica) PERU OUT - NO PUBLICAR O USAR EN PERU


See, journalists really do have bad reputations even in the USA.

FBI says alleged Russian 'sleeper agent' Juan Lazaro admitted passing data  (click title to entry - thank you)
Jul 01, 2010
...Juan Lazaro also implicated his wife, Vicky Pelaez, a New York newspaper columnist, and acknowledged that his Yonkers home had been paid for by the Russian intelligence service. The admissions came in what the FBI said was a "lengthy'' statement following the arrest of Lazaro and Pelaez in New York on Sunday.
"Although he (Lazaro) loved his son, he would not violate his loyalty to the (Russian intelligence) service, even for his son,'' federal prosecutors alleged in documents filed to keep Lazaro, Pelaez and two suspects who had been living in New Jersey, Richard and Cynthia Murphy, in jail without bail because they might flee the country....

What kind of information, because, the charges against these people don't reflect any brevity to the crimes.  What was it a telephone number to Hardee's CEO or something?

I figured they were more 'corporate' spies than government spies.  There is more reason to spy on the Plutocracy than the USA government actually.