Opening: Steve’s Demonstration
Chatting on our front porch as we do in the early mornings, Steve told me about a demonstration he saw. They put one drop of oil on a small pond. It spread to cover the entire body of water.
The physics of it are striking. That one drop of oil spread until it was one molecule of oil thick. Nearly invisible, but absolutely effective at cutting off the exchange between air and water that keeps the ecosystem alive.
In actual fact, a thriving underwater ecosystem would have plants generating oxygen. It would not die instantly, and underwater microclimates might survive. It just depends on how thick the film is, how much sunlight can get through.
Still, the life of the pond would be smothered. Plants would die and rot. The methane would build up, poisoning the water. The increasing damage would spread through the entire pond, and even the healthier areas would be poisoned.
The life in the water would die as oxygen was used up. Suffocation, as oxygen exchange stops.