Oil Armageddon

The oil is washing ashore now in the Gulf of Mexico as a nearly Michael Bay-esque plan to “cap” the oil leak with a giant petrol condom is being attempted. Regardless, the lasting ecological damage is done.  Millions of microorganisms, the foundation of the oceanic food web will die.  Thousands upon thousands of insects, fish, crustaceans, birds and other animals will die.  The economy of the Gulf states will be hit harder than every before.  Restaurants, tourist destinations, fisheries, etc, etc, will close.  This is an ecological event with no comparison.  Nothing like this has ever happened before (Not even the Exxon Valdez).

Hearing the outrage of people regarding this tragedy across America, is in some cases genuine, and in others, laughable.  The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, widely considered to be the living breathing reincarnation of conservative god Ronnie Reagan blamed the spill on God.  Sarah Palin said that this is what our dependency on foreign oil gets us.  Mrs. Palin seemed to infer that because the company responsible for this spill was British, that had the company been American, this would not have occurred.  I hope Mrs. Palin is made aware that Haliburton was working on the site of the spill in the days and weeks before it happened.  She also forgot to chant her “Drill Baby Drill” mantra when speaking publicly regarding this situation.

I have yet to hear President Obama make a national address wherein he changes the energy policy of this country in a manner befitting a responsible and clean future.  I don’t think he can even if he wants to.  At the end of the great era of Conservation, the American public held tight to the ideals of Pinchot, Muir, and the Roosevelts.  After WWII, through the age of the baby boom and into the rise of modern neo-conservatism with the aforementioned conservative god, Ronald Reagan, conservation was lost to corporation and unchecked, unregulated development, often at the expense of the environment.

This oil spill shows us at our absolute worst. It shows a country afraid to make sacrifices for the greater good.  It shows a country no longer able to lead the world into a new day of prosperity, innovation, and sustainability. 

When no outcome was reached at Copenhagen last December on Carbon Dioxide emission reductions, I could do nothing but sigh.  Now, none of us can go to the Gulf Coast and ladle the oil out.  We can however, clean up our back yard, right here in Allentown.  We can restore, preserve and protect the environment right here.  If everyone joined together in every municipality across this country, and sacrificed and worked hard to make this a reality, then the President could get on the TV, turn to the nation and announce the plan we need.  

Are we tough enough to do what needs to be done?

As our ecological apocalypse continues, we can only watch the horror unfold. 

We can also start making a difference