Oil Spill Outrage

[pigsteak]

I have seen the videos of dolphins dying, and get enraged. I see the pictures of the coastal towns and the lives that have been decimated.

And then I see the money BP is paying to "fix" the mess. Nothing will bring back the destruction, but I keep wondering. Shouldn't every single one of us be responsible, and be ashamed of our behavior up to this point?

Shouldn't any of us who drive oil guzzling cars to our weekend "fun" be just as responsible? Shouldn't those of us who "know better" have done our part to make America not so dependent on oil?

It feels smug to blame the big evil BP and the a-hole oil execs, but for me that blame is misplaced. It rests squarely on our shoulders, the common folks who indiscriminately consume the oil products so we can pursue frivolous leisure time activities, make a buck at our jobs at the expense of our planet, run around in our cars going out to eat and going to shows and shopping malls, driving our cars with no passengers...

sorry for venting..the whole thing makes me sick. I cast blame on "big oil", but then the mirror stares back at me and whispers that change has to start with me. I am not sure I can do it.

[Josephine]

... blame is misplaced. It rests squarely on our shoulders, the common folks who indiscriminately consume the oil products...

yes and no.

remember that plastic is an oil product. can you live without plastic? i can't - even if i wanted to, i couldn't.

my car has a plastic body. my bike has plastic parts for the gear shifters and other thingies on there i don't even know what they do. my rollerblades are almost all plastic. my shoes - well i suppose i could find a pair that's all leather and nothing synthetic at all, but then PETA would be upset since i'm killing cows. i think my mom has a pair of wooden clogs from her trip to holland i could borrow.

my milk comes in plastic jugs, my medicine in plastic bottles, shoot - even this computer i'm typing on is covered in plastic!

as for gas - the home where i live is heated by that and i kinda like to stay warm. i suppose we could use electric heat, which comes from coal, and if the entire nation switched to coal i'm sure that would cause major environmental impacts as well.

i agree that our consumer driven lifestyle is excessive, but at the same time, i can't really see much that i can do to completely boycott oil and oil based products.

[gripster]

with new technologies come new problems and more often then not our planet gets ass raped for these "conveniences". if you think about it you are completely surrounded by things that were made from starting materials derived from petroleum. not just plastic either, remember plastic hasn't been around that long relatively speaking, nor have any of the other polymers. imagine having to wear calf belts to hold your socks up because no one had invented elastic yet, it really hasn't been that long ago. so what do you do, how do you decide which conveniences are worth destroying another little piece of the planet over, and which ones are not?

[kato]

It wasn't merely drilling for oil that caused this accident, it was CARELESS drilling. Cutting corners motivated by greed. If the mere act of drilling for oil caused the damage we are seeing, then I would say, yes, we are all to blame. But we are not to blame for corporate greed. Most people I know are willing to pay a fair price for a gallon of gas, enough for it to be safely extracted from the ground.

[lena_chita]

I have seen the videos of dolphins dying, and get enraged. I see the pictures of the coastal towns and the lives that have been decimated.

And then I see the money BP is paying to "fix" the mess. Nothing will bring back the destruction, but I keep wondering. Shouldn't every single one of us be responsible, and be ashamed of our behavior up to this point?

Shouldn't any of us who drive oil guzzling cars to our weekend "fun" be just as responsible? Shouldn't those of us who "know better" have done our part to make America not so dependent on oil?

I see where you are coming from, and I agree, to a large extent.

But it isn't as simple as a bunch of people deciding to use less gas that would change things because it is a combination of government policies that are currently in place, the corporate greed, and yes, the consumer attitudes that are all playing part in setting up the situation where this accident occurred.

I would very much like to see the gasoline price here in the USA go up to AT LEAST the levels that consumers in Europe play. I would like to see a charge for that "free" plastic bag people put groceries in, for the styrofoam cup that you get handed in a coffee shop, for the take-home boxes that you get in a restaurant, etc. etc. I would like the price of those throw-away single-use conveniences, like diapers, and plates/forks, cups to be higher, to reflect the true environmental cost of them.

I do not think that you would see a large-scale change in the consumer behavior until you put a price tag on it.

But I do see some changes though, they just aren't happening fast enough and aren't wide-spread enough without economic stimulus to prod people along into doing what they already know would be a good idea.

About 10 years ago, when I started using rangom totes and cloth bags I already had around the house for groceries, instead of getting the plastic bags, I was looked at weirdly. Now I see people bringing their own bags to store all the time-- but it is still a minority.

When I startred working at my current job, the majority of people chose to go to McDonald's for a quick lunch, and paper plates/plastic forks/styrofoam cups were provided at work for anyone to use, no problem, so people used them-- for morning coffee, etc. etc... A move to a new location made McDonalds inconvenient, and the expenses for the consumables were way too high, so as a way of trimming the costs those disposable plates, etc. were put under lock and key, to be used during lab-wide functions (potliucks, etc)-- but not for everyday use. Bingo: most people switched to packing lunches and are keeping their reusable utensils and plates/mugs in a kitchen at work.

Things happen when there is a proper insentive and a tangible benefit...

[captain static]

Better go back to using hemp ropes and leather boots for climbing them rocks too

[anticlmber]

it is our fault if we are not voting, petitioning, voicing the need for a change. people want renewable energy but if a dollar amount is placed upon it that is higher than we would like to see people shy away from it. "oh that solar car will cost twice what a gas car costs." never mind you won't have to ever stop for gas again, its the dollar.
and as stated above, it isn't us so motivated by a dollar as the big-wigs motivated by cents on the dollar.

[bcombs]

Pig, do you want me to pick you up on my way to the Red Saturday? I can drive the Prius.

Just do what you can. I stopped taking bags at convenience stores awhile back. They look at me like I'm nuts but if I can get it to the counter, I can get it to the car!

The only time it backfires is when they start to get the bag out and you say no and they throw it away.

[charlie]

Exxon learned from their mistake. BP routinely flirts with disaster for the sake of project schedules and cost and to cater to share prices. This is what happens with laissez-faire capitalism. I'm glad my company can't really destroy as much of the planet cause my execs follow this pattern every day.........cut costs, ignore quality of work, make stock holders happy.

The interviews when it was still on fire explained the guy from BP was forcing the contractors to rush and ignore the warnings and common processes. Typical big business hubris.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/busin ... ss&emc=rss

That said, it is normal for me to only start my truck when I am rolling out of town. I telecommute and bike wherever I can.

[michaelarmand]

"Renewable energy" is currently a joke. Wind and solar are never going to meet our energy needs. You people who see this spill as the motivator to pass "cap and tax" legislation are very misguided. This ill conceived legislation could destroy our economy and our entire way of life. We can't produce anything, not even food with fossil fuels!

"Never let a tragedy go to waste..." - Rham Emanuel