I've refrained from commenting specifically about the oil spill in the Gulf up to this point, because I wanted to keep this blog more general - addressing overall issues rather than the hot topics of the moment.
But I'm tired of holding my tongue.
I am brought to tears every time I read about this oil spill. I am devastated by the devastation.
A wonderful friend posted THIS article for all to see on Facebook - I truly hope those who know her on Facebook read it, and those who don't, read it now.
Who do we think we are? We aren't better than anything else on this planet - we are only a part of it. Yet we've taken it over. Our greed for oil has led to the current destruction of so many other living things - dolphins, fish, sperm whales, turtles, pelicans, and other sea birds. And forget plankton - the basis of the sea life food chain. When oil is spilled, bacteria is attracted to it, that then depletes the surrounding ocean of oxygen. So phyto-plankton is screwed. And when the ocean's foundation is screwed, so is the rest of the ocean. When the ocean is screwed? Us land-dwellers are just sitting ducks..... OH! And how about all of the other damage that has been done up to this point - anyone remember the ozone? Yea, the carbon emissions that we have doled out have FAR exceeded any oil spill in world history - I honestly forget where I read it, but Al Gore wrote an article about how if we could physically SEE the amount of carbon in our atmosphere, not only would it gray-out the sky, but also it would overshadow the current oil spill.
I'm not sure I have many words to describe the emotions I feel when I read articles such as the one above. Or when I watch CNN's live feed of the spill - the continual leaking of oil into our ocean gives me nightmares. Does it for you? Because it should. And if it doesn't, just watch the feed, and remind yourself that this is happening NOW. It's not the local news showing "earlier footage" - it's now. NOW. NOW!
What is wrong with us? How can we be so insensitive, so inhumane? Our species is the derivative of the word humane, yet we harbor none of it's qualities. We absorb, consume, and deplete everything around us so that we can drive where we want, eat what we want, feel the temperature in our own homes that we want.....We are the parasites.
I am so sad for our Earth. Our great creator. And we crossed Her. We should be crying for our wrongdoings - yet we keep justifying our consumption, our overconsumption, our greed, our lust, our gluttony. Who are we?
We created religion to keep us from sinning - where's the religion that maintains that our sins also includes crimes against this Earth?
Just now, I said to Zach, "We are horrible people...." He replied, "We are the horrible species." I agree with him and make no apologies for it. You and I may consider ourselves good people. I may think this blog is doing some good. But I still fill my gas tank up to go to work. I still put make up on in the morning. I still eat canned goods. I still use plastic, no matter how hard I try not to. And so do you.
check out this article. i think you will be very shocked!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/08/oil.rig.warning.signs/?hpt=Sbin
i know it makes my blood boil too.
how irresponsible! it's a web of lies, i've come to realize. very disheartening.
ReplyDeleteI read that article (CNN) this morning. It's infuriating but entirely consistent with capitalism unbridled.
ReplyDeleteThe overarching question in my mind is how to institutionalize change on a broad, global scale. The current right-wing argument is that, if we don't drill it, some other country will, so - holding environmental risk at a near constant - why shouldn't we be the economic beneficiaries. But with the same logic one could justify looting after an earthquake or other natural disaster: "If I don't steal it, someone else will. Morality be damned!"
There is certainly an argument for more regulation and tighter oversight. My father tries to make this case. He argues that BP's disaster is a game changer - that, here forward, everyone is going to be vigilant and aggressive with enforcing protocol, thus preventing a similar disaster in the future.
The obvious problem with this line of reasoning is that time passed without incident invariably engenders indifference, inattention, and a false of security. One could have made my father's argument after Exxon Valdez. 20 years later we were convinced that drilling was "100% safe"; oversight became lax. "Drill baby, drill."
His argument also skirts around the fact that effective oversight is naturally difficult. The article above shows a company making procedural changes/modifications in secret and on short notice. Absent this disaster no one would have ever known.
I'm not sure of a solution - at least not one of scale that extends beyond our shores. It's heartbreaking.
Appreciate your enthusiasm Arielle.
Thanks for commenting, John. I hope people read what you had to say; you bring up a great point: Nothing that happened should really surprise anyone. It's the idea of "Bp just got busted doing what everyone else is doing."
ReplyDeleteThe only cure, as you said, is a change within the infrastructure of our international community and economy.
Which makes me worry, because, again as you said with Exxon-Valdez, shouldn't we have been shocked into change decades ago? This spill is no different (in terms of "shock value") than many others in the past. What is different about it that will make us change our ways (to the point that we have TRULY changed our ways)?
Time will tell; the environmental movement is growing, but I'm not sure it's at the peak it needs to be to bring about such change as you discussed.
We like to proclaim "DEMOCRACY!" when we describe our government and way of life; honestly, we are governed by big business and live our lives according the business practices. In essence, we should be proclaiming "CAPITALISM!"