Like many people, I can’t bring myself to look away from the constant updates about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
There’s something about this spill that seems more personal than previous ones. Bigger. More prophetic, or something. Maybe it’s because I live in Florida now, or maybe it’s because it’s still spilling, after all this time. Or maybe it’s because, the today’s climate of environmental responsibility, it’s too hard to ignore my part in it.
I keep reading amazing stories and tributes to the Gulf. People want to do something, anything to help. We’re angry and scared and overwhelmed and, I think, all feeling a little helpless.
And I think we can all agree that we’re pretty pissed off at BP, the company that owns the oil that’s currently flowing into the Gulf unchecked.
But maybe we need to be a little angry at ourselves, too.
I’ve heard people say, “all BP cares about is money,” and my first though is – of course that’s what they care about. They are a company with shareholders and employees and executives to answer to. The only reason BP exists is to generate income. Their job, as a profit-generating entity, is to figure out how to meet consumer need in a way that makes as much money as possible. Their entire purpose, ironically, is to plug a hole that the markets create.
Our job, as consumers, is to decide what that need is.
We make the hole.
But we already know this, don’t we? On some level, as we watch the shoreline for signs of destruction and wonder how bad it is in places where we can’t watch, we have a nagging in the back of our minds that says, we did this.
We did this with our SUVs and V-8 engines. We did this with our sprawling suburbs and commuter lifestyles. We did this by failing to encourage the spending tax dollars for public transit systems, refusing to use public transit systems that exist, purchasing goods that need to be transported from miles away when local alternatives exist, valuing comfort and luxury over efficient use of our resources, and generally just neglecting to ask if we should have it just because we can.
As one writer put it:
“the fact that the US is drilling over a mile below the surface in one of its most important marine ecosystems is directly related to US consumption of oil: the highest in the world.”
It is embarassing how much more petroleum we consume than other countries. According to the US Department of Energy, the United States used more than 19 million barrels per day in 2008, compared to only 7.9 million barrels per day used by China, the second largest consumer of oil.
So we can yell and protest and rage against BP all we want. We can even be pissed off at our government for failing to do more to ensure “safer” drilling or continuing to divert our tax dollars to keeping oil companies strong. But in the end, we did this.
Now the question is – what are we going to do about it?
Will we bemoan this tragedy and use it as the latest reason for us to play human, before moving on to the next cause? Because there will inevitably be a next cause. The world is constantly supplying us with reasons to cry and help and love harder and rethink. But unlike earthquakes or hurricanes or other causes that we can only hope to survive and clean up – this tragedy was made by our own hands. This tragedy could have been prevented, and we can prevent it from happening again.
But how?
I don’t know. I’ve been turning this over and over in my head, and it’s overwhelming. It’s hard not to feel like nothing I do could matter, really. We may be able to get rid of the SUV we have now, or use it much less frequently. Maybe we can find a more efficient way to do our shopping locally and look for products that aren’t grown or made closer to home. Long term, I’d like to live in a place where I can walk or use public transit for most of my daily transportation needs.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but I know my family needs to go on a petroleum diet.
Maybe it’s because I live in Florida now, but I really do love the Gulf, and I’m so, so sorry for my part in harming it.
Posted in Serious Discussions - Politics, Religion, Society Tagged: activism, environment, Florida, love the gulf, oil, oil spill, society
Miss Britt Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:00 am
@Mighty Hunter, I like to imagine it’s never “too late”, our options just might change.
I really want to do my part, too. What I think I need to figure out is how to set a measurable goal for my family and what small steps we can consistently take to reach that goal.