For several weeks now, we Americans have watched the news of the Gulf oil spill in horror. As we see watermen depressed, almost in shock, oil-covered birds gasping for their last breath, restaurant owners with no business, the prospect of damage that will not heal in our lifetime. We are quick to blame BP or the federal government.
We are all, however, complicit in the Gulf oil hemorrhage. All of us who drive cars, eat cheap food, use plastic containers, use non organic fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides, buy petroleum-based cosmetic products, heat our homes, you name it, we have contributed. Petroleum and its by-products are ubiquitous. The law of supply and demand is hard at work.
I believe that we Americans are especially guilty, because we are a nation that feels ENTITLED to certain things that make our lifestyle so sweet and so enviable.
We feel entitled to cheap fuel, which is destroying our environment and our health. And please help us if the local government wants to put a penny tax on a gallon of gas, because we are also entitled to a cheap tax base.
We feel entitled to eating cheap food, which is destroying our soil, our health, our productivity, and our watersheds. Because agribusiness is more about overproduction, which among other things, is deleting our topsoil and polluting our food and land with toxic chemicals.
We love cheap electricity, but are saddened when coal miners are killed in an explosion. Do we give it a second thought when we forget to turn off the TV or crank up the AC. And how many of us know that since the deadly explosion of the Massey coal mine that 150 workers have died of black lung disease? How many of us really care?
We love our jobs, but most of the products we buy are from China, because it is cheap,. It is not surprising that China’s economy is growing and ours is still in a slow recovery stage.
Perhaps, we as a nation should take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our consumption-based lifestyles and educate ourselves in how we can mitigate ongoing assault on our world. After all, we are generally concerned about the
national debt that we are leaving our children. What, about the world that we are leaving them?
Do we really have to sacrifice our comfy lifestyles to lessen our demand on fossil fuels? Well, it doesn’t necessarily mean going back to the dark ages. First, we need to understand that cheap ain’t so cheap. For example, eating cheap food is not cheap when you factor in the high cost of health care. It is now 20% of our GDP. When we shove a pizza and fries down our throats, maybe we should consider the future cost to us as individuals and as a society as a whole. We need to know that our current industrial agricultural practices are totally dependent upon petroleum. Maybe when the next flood destroys a city rather than building more dykes and levees, we should consider replanting the banks of our brooks, streams and rivers with indigenous plants and grass to absorb the water.
Maybe we need to rethink what we are entitled to and start with little baby steps like turning off our vehicles when we are idling…25% of the pollutants that we spew comes from idling!
If we were all to weatherize our homes, walk more often, ride a bike, be more respectful and mindful of the people and world around us, we could lessen our need for fossil fuel and leave a better world for future generations. It matters.
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Ranting on the BP Oil Disaster
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