Is the Gulf Oil Spill the nation's worst environmental disaster as the President and many pundits have declared? Justin Gillis, writing in the NYT, points out that this highly subjective (and, ultimately, political) declaration really depends on how one defines a disaster. Unfortunately, there are many candidates for the US to choose from for the winner in this division, and in reading the  article I wonder if the Gulf Spill will rank in the top five. However, it's early days yet.

“My take,” said William W. Savage Jr., a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma, “is that we’re not going to be able to tell until it’s over.”