Where is "Big Environment"?

UPDATE: Apparently, I am not the only one noticing the conspicuous absence of "big environment" during the Gulf oil crisis.  Interesting essay here. While worth reading in its entirety, it states..

And, one may ask, where is the environmentalist industrial complex in all this? The pursuit of a clean environment comes second to the pursuit of federal largess...

ORIGINAL POST:

The Gulf oil spill gets worse by the day. But, I have noticed that there is less news coverage than there was a few weeks ago, the opposite of what I would expect. The huge Washington-based environmental groups are known for rallying the media and support for environmental causes. So, I decided to visit some of their sites to see their level of support for stepping up the Gulf cleanup efforts. To my surprise, the Gulf oil spill does not seem to be their top priority.

 Lets start with the Sierra Club. When you go to their web site, this is the first thing you see. While "freedom from oil" may be a noble

idea, it will not happen any time soon. Besides, getting us off oil, even if possible, does nothing to clean up the oil gushing into the Gulf. The Sierra Club's rotating display eventually does take you to a graphic about the oil spill. When you click on that graphic, it takes you back to the "freedom from oil" article!  Nothing that is readily apparent about stepping up the pressure to increase the speed and comprehensiveness of the cleanup in the Gulf.

Then, there is the Environmental Defense Fund. What is the headline? Global warming! 

I watched the 2:43 tape (set to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow") which was pretty pointless and, at the end, says we can be in favor of "clean energy." OK, but how does that fix the ongoing spill in the Gulf? There is nothing that complains about the slow, bureaucratic pace, at least that is visible on the home page.

So, then I went to the World Wildlife Fund. Pretty pictures of animals. I clicked on "United States"

thinking I would see an urgent response there. After watching yet another rotating display (including Leonardo DiCaprio!), one of the seven icons takes you to their Gulf "coverage." It is a solicitation for donations but says, 

      While WWF does not have active field programs in the gulf, we have numerous partner organizations that are undertaking front-line efforts to protect and restore the wildlife and wildlife habitats in affected areas. To assist those efforts, we’ve established a special oil spill relief fund to receive contributions. 

Again, nothing about increasing the sense of urgency and slow pace of action pertaining to this disaster. 

This amazing lack of concern (as judged from their web sites) about the slow pace of the Gulf cleanup effort -- while still touting 'global warming' (which might or might not be a major problem in the future) -- strikes me as worrying about a future termite infestation while your house is burning down.

One gets the impression that there are big donations related to global warming while money spent cleaning up the Gulf will be spent (horrors!) on the environment, i.e.,  cleaning up the Gulf. I guess if you don't have a "field program" you don't get any of the money. Sadly, it appears that concern about money trumps concern about the environment.