Woefully Unprepared
Loki contacted us here at CincyVoices not too long ago, beseeching us to write about the horror that is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf. I went back and forth about writing about Peak Oil, or pleading with all of you to stop driving your cars, or writing some blistering tirade aimed at BP and all of the other giants of the Oil Industry. I’ve watched the story unfold in abject disbelief. How is it that we got to this point? How is it that Big Oil hasn’t spent any time or money on research or technology used to clean up spills for decades? They’ve spent plenty on how to drill for it, and plenty on marketing their products. We’ve bought plenty of those products… with nary a thought about the process those products take to get to us.
1st Procession of the Krewe of Dead Pelicans, New Orleans. Reaction to the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil gusher disaster. Stop in front of Gallier Hall for a minute of silence for each of the 11 workers killed in the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig, the first casualties of the disaster.
We get a little angry when pump prices increase. Not angry enough to stop driving. Not angry enough to stop and think about the items we consume and how much fossil fuel it took to get them to us. Have any of you changed your buying habits in the last month or so, since the disaster started? Have you joined that “Boycott BP” group on Facebook? Do you cry when you see the pictures of oiled pelicans? Do you get furious when you hear that BP has bought key words on the search engines to re-direct queries, and they are doing their damnedest to keep journalists away from fouled beaches? Are you ready to do something about it? I am. I am also terrified at how woefully unprepared I am to take real meaningful steps towards changing my consumer presence, and I am ashamed.
Fact is that we are all addicted to oil, and we aren’t ready to go cold turkey. Unfortunately, disasters like the Gulf, and those that continue in countries like Nigeria (and countless other third-world countries being raped for their fossil fuel wealth) aren’t really going to force the oil industry to change ANYTHING about how they do business. Why not? Because there is still overwhelming demand for their products. As long as they are making money hand-over-fist, why would they dream of changing how they operate?
Woe on us for living in la-la land for so long, for lying to ourselves that Peak Oil would never happen… to us. What would you do, if you couldn’t get gas, if plastics were no longer manufactured, if supermarkets weren’t chock-full of goods trucked or flown in from all over the world, etc., etc.?
For me, I’m doing my best to buy local goods, drive as little as I can (although I spank myself over the fact that I drive AT ALL), I’m consuming less wherever I find the opportunity. It is not enough. I’m farming now, to help get more quality food into my community. It is still not enough. We Americans will soon be faced with a concept that no person in power has ever had the balls to tell us to our faces – WE HAVE TO USE LESS. Right there is the most UN-AMERICAN thing I can think of. I may be labeled a socialist. This isn’t some wartime concept of saving it for the troops, this is us owning up to the fact that there isn’t enough to go around.
Don’t think for a moment that the magical petroleum fairy is going to appear and bless America with a never-ending supply of oil, or that some amazing inland supply is just waiting to be discovered. Don’t be fooled by Big Oil’s PR machine, and think that this tragedy in the Gulf is just a fluke. This is real, it is happening, and it is ultimately up to us, the American Consumers, to speak with our actions and our pocketbooks, to make sure that those responsible for this travesty are held accountable and are not ever allowed into a position to do this again.
Dark Martha
http://www.consciousurbanliving.com | White Fox Farm
Image Credit: Infrogmation on Flickr | CC 2.0
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