Captain Kathy Wilkinson

Five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the owner of a small business dependent on the water and the environment in southern Mississippi weighs in on what's changed.

For many in Louisiana, Hurricane Isaac arrives in the shadow of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the region exactly seven years ago. While some residents have evacuated, others hav...

All week long we're talking with some of our favorite guests from the past year about the year that was, and what they foresee in the year ahead.

Today: a conversation about the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry…the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which leaked over 205 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf this past spring and summer. The leaking oilhead was capped in July: how are people in Gulf states doing today?

We've come a long way, baby...

The Macondo well may be sealed and "dead," but the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is going to be felt for some time to come. We're spending the whole hour wrestling with some of the unanswered questions and lingering issues that the BP oil spill has left in its wake. To help us navigate these dirty waters, Robert Hernan, author of "This Borrowed Earth: Lessons from the Fifteen Worst Environmental Disasters Around the World" joins us for the hour.

Also, check out our timeline of the entire disaster, spanning from the Deepwater Horizon's construction in 1998 through when it was declared "dead" on Sunday.

• OIL SPILL TAKEOUT: We check in with Captain Kathy Wilkinson, who operates an eco-tourism business in southern Mississippi. She describes the nervous anticipation in the air as Mississippians wait for the oil slick to break on the coast. Check out her blog post for more on the spill's business impact.
• LISTENERS RESPOND: Over the phone and on the web, Takeaway listeners weigh in on the oil spill and share their favorite movie moms in honor of Mother's Day.

Kathy Wilkinson, a "boat captain and master naturalist," operates an eco-tourism business in southern Mississippi and brings us an update from the Gulf coast on the practical impact of the looming oil slick.