I hope you’re finding me helpful, not only an irritant. If you hate your topic already and need something counterintuitive—and quickly!—and no other suggestion I’ve offered appeals to you, here’s another I’m working on that might turn out to be true. Either way, it’s splendidly C/I, if you know what I mean.

Here are some general interest links. I hope you’ll be able to find objective scientific reports in the databases.

Mixed Results From Dispersants

Dispersants Long Term Effects

Dispersants “Sticking Around”

Dispersants Lingering in Gulf Long After Oil Spill

Corexit Suspected in Widespread Crop Damage

Dispersant May Make Deepwater Spill More Toxic

Chemicals Present New Environmental Concerns

Radio Times Program with “The Father of Green Chemistry” Paul Anastas

Paul Anastas is a deadly bore, but the discussion about dispersants is brief, beginning about the -17:00 minute mark. Read all the popular press reports about dispersants, listen to the broadcast, then make up your mind about what’s crazier, using dispersants or not using dispersants.

Equally terrifying (and discussed in the broadcast) are the hundreds of toxic chemicals energy companies eject directly into the underground stores of natural gas to “fracK’ or fracture the rock that traps the gas so they can pipe it to the surface. I’ve mentioned the politics of fracking elsewhere, in a Reading List entry called “Fracking Money.”