Under The Sun

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by Nancy Klingener

Photo of Key West by “MacG5User”/stock.xchng ***  Photo of Gulf oil spill by Daniel Beltra/Courtesy of Greenpeace

Nancy Klingener is a writer who lives in Key West.  Periodically, she sends us dispatches from the Conch Republic.

Kilngener is used to the familiar ritual of waiting for a hurricane that may or may  not arrive: “If you live in the Florida Keys long enough,”  Klingener says, “you become familiar with a feeling of general public anxiety.  Hurricanes do that.”

Now, folks down south brace for a different sort of potential catastrophe: “Lately that feeling has enveloped Key West again, even though it’s a little early for hurricane season. This time, in some ways, it’s worse. This time, we’re waiting for the oil.”  Click on the player above to listen to Klingener’s latest Letter from Key West.

Google Maps has a collection of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) oil spill maps and forecasts, along with user-generated maps, here.

Music in this piece is by Joe Rehmer.  The song is appropriately titled “Guess the Smell.”