“Worse than Valdez” says the front page of the newspaper. Word is getting around that even while the oil continues to spew out of the floor of the ocean, BP’s oil rig disaster has surpassed the worst in American history.
I don’t remember much from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but I vaguely remember being young and seeing animals being pulled out of the waters in Alaska, covered in oil with a hopeless look on their faces. At the time, my great aunt Sylvia was a champion for animal rights and made it a point to educate me on nature and environmental issues, so I grew up feeling affected by things like this. Yeah… crazy right? Some people were thinking green before reusable bottles were needed to curb our needless addiction to manufactured, boutique, aristocrat bottled water.
I’m gonna make this one quick, because I don’t need to say much to get my point across. Forget the politics, forget who we point the finger at, forget the worthless arguments that have taken place between the guy in the suit and the guy on the road bike about how much BP should go under because of this.
It’s as simple as this. This oil spill is an embarrassment to us all. America, big business, and ultimately, man kind as a whole. I’ve been bitching and moaning for a few years now about how it’s time we start taking our responsibility for being on this planet, a little more seriously. I’ve talked about how it’s a shame that we brush amazing scientific and technological breakthroughs under the rug in the name of the status quo & I’ve spoke my mind about the strangle hold that big, corporate America has on our society.
Well, here we are. Wild life, and the well being of millions of Americans is being destroyed. Americans who I would like to add have already shown some of the toughest skin on the planet after surviving hurrican Katrina.
I’m not really too concerned about which side of the political game you stand on, because it’s absolutely irrelevant. The fact is, this disaster is unacceptable and we should be ashamed of ourselves. The technology to guarantee that something like this never happens again, is right in front of us and has been for over a decade, but we sit on our hands and wait for the corporate powers that be, tell us what we should do next. We should have thrust forward with these new technologies in the spirit of human creativity and innovation, but now, I can’t imagine that any of us need any more excuses.
Industrialized man is the only thing on this planet with such a severe god complex, and we’ve convinced ourselves that it’s our divine right to do what we will with this planet. We take take take from the earth and don’t stop to think for very long about the consequences. Well, this planet is not our sandbox created for our indulgences and entertainment.
I think we should all sit down and really reflect about this oil spill and think about the little steps and the big ones that we can take to make sure our children don’t know what the hell oil is besides the stuff that’s in their hair when they spent the last three days outside without showering.
We’re better than this people, and deep down, I know that you all realize that… Let’s show it.
