WASHINGTON — Overwhelmed and saddened by the gargantuan size of the Gulf oil spill?
A little mathematical context to the spill size can put the environmental catastrophe in perspective. Viewing it through some lenses, it isn’t that huge. The Mississippi River pours as much water into the Gulf of Mexico in 38 seconds as the BP oil leak has done in two months.
On a more human scale, the spill seems more daunting. Take the average-sized living room. The amount of oil spilled would fill 9,200 of them…
