Twitter pal @amandabee writes:
So we're burying coal miners & there's a 600 sq mile oil slick in the Gulf o'Mex. Is using less energy still too much trouble?
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Thinking we should Pat Robertson the significance of a massive oil spill headed for Pensacola just in time for Memorial Day weekend? Nah.
Hey Gulf Coast: nice tourism business you have there. Shame if anything happened to it.
http://sobeale.blogspot.com/2010/04/goodbye-white-sand-beaches.html
We probably will not be burying the 11 oil rig workers whose bodies won't be found, having presumably been unable to escape the doomed rig as it exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. We were lucky this time -- in the worst ever oil rig disaster, 167 workers were killed (North Sea's Piper Alpha oil rig tragedy in 1988). Here's a list of oil & gas rig "incidents" including the date, location, and number of fatalities. I believe the only reason we aren't more concerned about this is that most of these "incidents" did not happen off the US coast.
http://home.versatel.nl/the_sims/rig/losses.htm
Didn't repubs during the last election, (Palin in particular), claim that there has never been any kind of serious oil leak from drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, (ignorning reality)? When you "drill baby, drill", you can leak baby, leak...it's just inevitable, whether due to human error or natural disasters. Unfortunately, we need oil and coal for now, but we need to redouble our efforts to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. There are just too many reasons to do so, and no matter what end of the political spectrum you are on, there should be at least one that is compelling to you. Whether it is based on national security, a desire to tell the Middle East to go to hell, the environmental pollution or global climate change, there are just too many reasons to accelerate the development of alternative energy. Drill baby, drill is for those who lack neurons baby, neurons.
You just can't time this stuff any better! One of the main reasons there is such a push for more drilling is because we haven't had a bad spill on our shores for a very long time. There was Valdez, but that was way up in Alaska. Few remember, although I do, the major oil spill off the Cal. coast near Santa Barbara in the late 60's/early 70's. It was bad. And it shaped our thinking for many decades. We (collectively) just have a fairly short memory. When/if this gets into the gulf coast wetlands and starts destroying both plants and animals it could get very nasty. There will hopefully be another push against more of this off-shore drilling.
The only way you will get the drill baby, drill crowd to change their minds is if they are personally affected by a spill, e.g. their beachfront property is soiled by a spill. Since a good portion of Red State America isn't near the beaches, odds are that they will blithely ignore each and every spill. They could care less about wetlands, plants, animals or anything else.
So what is going to happen as this oil spill mixes & interacts with the hypoxic dead zone?
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So what is going to happen as this oil spill mixes & interacts with the hypoxic dead zone?
I can just hear Sarah Palin chanting "Spill Baby Spill"
I'd also point you to the five people who died in a refinery explosion in early April here in Washington State. As long as red staters buy the argument that its about "energy security" we won't be dealing with the real problems of consumption and this stuff will only get worse.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0217144720100403?type=marketsNews
A friend linked me to this article:http://www.countercurrents.org/arguimbau230410.htm
The article references this document (supposedly from the Department of Energy)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/conference/2009/session3/Sweetnam.pdf
Page 8 of that report from the Department of Energy has a graph that shows the situation we are in with the dwindling oil supply, and increasing demand for more as the world population grows exponentially.
Assuming these figures are reasonably accurate, I think we all have adequate reason to freak out.
We have reached peak oil. No amount of "drill, baby, drill" can even come close to fixing this. We need to start increasing our use of solar, wind, water, and perhaps even nuclear power YESTERDAY. Electric cars must replace gasoline based cars YESTERDAY. And we need to start simply using less energy, period.
As we've known but refused to ACT like we knew, our reliance on oil and fossil fuels is unsustainable. These resources are finite.
It has been well-known in oil industry circles for quite a while that the Saudis are cooking the books when it comes to reserves and production, overstating both by a substantial margin for quite a while. Energy companies are desperately clinging to the hope that they will magically find new oil reserves, or come up with economically viable schemes to recover oil from increasing deep and difficult areas. In many ways, they are like addicts, desperately searching for another fix, and becoming more frantic as they do so. Sadly, there is a lot of energy available, if you are willing to do the work to get it, and aren't married to just one source. Nuclear can be an excellent source, but a concerted effort has to be made to deal with the waste. Solar is also an excellent source, but would probably be better harvested in space and beamed back to receivers on earth rather than having huge solar farms dotting the landscape. Fusion has never had the support that it needs or deserves, despite its tremendous potential. Instead, 21st century dinosaurs continue to hunt for the remains of Jurassic dinosaurs to fuel their profit engines.
I have to say I was very disappointed when Obama opened up off shore drilling. It is so environmentally hazardous in so many more ways than just spills.
I haven't run out to buy a hybrid, so every time I fill at the tank I contribute to the problem.
While crews work to contain the mess, Exxon's US taxes (or lack there of) should be the big focus. If it isn't, we'll likely see more lobby-led blockage on corporate tax reform.
Is it impossible to believe that our vehicles could be powered by something other then oil...really, are we that shallow and unimaginative? This spill makes me ache for our environment not to mention the pain of the families of those lost. Maybe it is time for each one of us to do our share, walk a little more, buy a bike...a bike made in China. China, which is a huge part of the problem, no jobs near home and crazy long commutes. What a vicious circle we have put ourselves in!
from Nature News:
Oil spill endangers fragile marshland http://ff.im/-ju3S0
Come on biofuel pilot projects!
As long as this problem (or any other one) does not decrease my personal income over the next quarter, I don't care what happens.
What seems strange to me is that other people seem to care. Since I can't see how this problem could possibly would decrease their income either, it baffles me that they still seem to care.
One possible explanation is that these liberals actually make money from bad situations. That's why they worry so much about things. Worrying and complaining somehow makes them rich.
Stupid liberals! If they would just shut up (ok, and sing), all our problems would be over.
Ralph, it is attitudes like yours that have destroyed this country. Do you think the Founding Fathers felt that way? If so, we would still be a colony of Great Britain, because fighting a revolution against the most powerful country in the world at that time certainly decreased their personal income over the next quarter and beyond. As long as money is the only yardstick you use to determine your opinions and actions, you will always be a hollow person. Would you support a dictatorial government if they didn't decrease your personal income over the next quarter? How about human sacrifice, if it didn't hurt your bottom line? Slavery? Nuclear war? Genocide? Are all of those fine by you as long as your wallet isn't affected?
I feel pity for you, because your entire existence, by your own words, seems to be dictated by what your bank account looks like. That is a shallow existence, and I hope that in the unlikely event you have children, that they will grow up with a better set of values despite you.