Oil has been gushing from the sea floor into the Gulf of Mexico for seventy-five days now. That’s 75 days too long.

Last time I wrote about the spill, tarballs had just started washing ashore on Florida’s panhandle. Since then, the oil slick has spread farther east and Hurricane Alex, which made landfall on the Texas-Mexico border, has hampered clean-up efforts. President Barack Obama has addressed the nation and BP CEO Tony Hayward has gone yachting.

So what has changed in the Gulf? From the looks of it, not too much. The BP Gulf Oil Spill is now the largest accidental oil spill in history. According to a recent ABC World News Tonight broadcast, the oil slicking across the water’s surface now covers an area roughly the size of Tennessee. Tennessee!

The media isn’t covering the spill with the same sense of urgency it was a couple weeks ago. Maybe the story’s gotten a bit stale for reporters and audiences alike. (Same goes for the Haiti earthquake- do you think Port Au Prince has been rebuilt?) It doesn’t help that there’s been no real signs of progress, and most citizens can’t do much to help. To make matters worse, there have been reports that the media has been restricted access to the site of the spill.

This by no means makes the Gulf oil spill any less important. We need to keep in mind what is happening in the Gulf. There is so much suffering. Consider this a reminder:

ALL IMAGES VIA FLICKR

Even though I haven’t been directly impacted by the spill, I still think it’s important for us to stay aware of the situation. Right now is a good time to reflect, not just because it’s another unfortunate milestone for the spill, but because it’s the Fourth of July weekend. The holiday is usually a time for touristy Gulf towns to flourish, but now many are deserted, even if the oil hasn’t hit some of their shores yet.

The relief well meant to stop the leak won’t be completed until mid-August, so hopefully then the real progress begins. In the meanwhile, I hope the oil spill will at least show Americans how dangerous our oil addiction is. Could this be the beginning of real change in our mindsets? If it is, at least something good can came out of this disaster.