July 3, 2010

Spilling It

And now for something more serious . . .

I felt sickened all over again after reading Liberality's post about the Gulf oil spill and watching the video. The feeling of helplessness in the face of this disaster permeates my psyche, because no matter how aware we are of the realities of drilling's impact, my bet is that nothing much will change the way we do business with oil companies nor the partnerships we tacitly endorse between the biggest domestic and foreign corporations and our government. Our collective voices aren't loud enough, our wills for change aren't angry enough, and our national resolve is therefore just plain impotent.


The video is powerful, but you don't have to watch it to tell me what you think. What has to happen before new, clean technologies that can't harm our planet and the life it gives us will be the only legal technologies we allow? When will we say enough is enough with oil?

This disaster has already affected all living things for generations to come, and it's possible we will not see the entire impact of it in our lifetimes. This weekend as we celebrate our Independence Day, it feels right and patriotic to express how much I don't want my country to be polluted and devastated by oil slicks or slick corporations trying to cover their collective asses before Congress. Somebody, please put a boom up around Capitol Hill.

So thanks for indulging my rant. It's not a political statement; it's just commentary from a concerned American. And an Earthling. Otherwise, Happy Fourth of July, peeps.
|

28 comments:

Shrinky said...

I'm far too depressed from reading about, viewing and talking about this thing, to even dare to contemplate playing the video (sigh). Yeah, what a fuck-up, eh?

On a teensie-tiny, wee cheer up note, you know how our island is really nuts over motorbike racing? The past couple of years they've added an all electric bike race. Most thought it a joke, as the challenge was to get one up to 100mph. This year I think the winner crossed the line at over 130mph. The race isn't important, what is, is that electric vehicles are proving their perfomance IS steadily improving, and may well soon be a viable option for anyone to own.

Just saying.

ellen abbott said...

You are so right. This will change nothing. The only way things are going to change is when we finally use up every drop of oil on the planet. Because, and I know this is gonna come as a big surprise, the people don't actually control the government...big business does.

If there are any of us left by then, we'll probably just sink into another dark age. Probably be for the best. for the planet, that is.

CiCi said...

I agree with ellen, corporations own our country. We the people are insignificant. How did we let this happen?

Unknown said...

Your rant is felt by all of us!

Anonymous said...

For one thing, we can stop buying new vehicles unless they power them without gas. OR on much less gas. Let's all just drive our current vehicles into the ground and keep fixing them because if the auto companies make no money then they are no longer in kahootz with oil companies who are in kahootz with the govt. I say drive our current vehicles into the ground before buying new. Keep fixing the old. OR, buy electric only.

Our local news channel was doing a 'oh boo hoo' job last night for the local BP gas stations... they said that these stations are locally owned, not BP owned and so we are only hurting our local businesses by boycotting them... TOUGH SHIT! They pump BP gas from their holding tanks. I will never buy BP again and hopefully others won't either and it will drive them out of our country. All we can do to BP is hit them in their pocketbooks because it's the only language large corporations know how to speak.

injaynesworld said...

I share your sadness,disgust and anger. There are still deep water drills operating to took advantage of the same safety loophole that Obama has just closed. We need to shut down those drills, too. I fear we have really screwed ourselves this time.

Jason, as himself said...

I know. It is just horrible. I don't even know what to say about it.

Hilary said...

Ellen speaks the truth.. sadly.

Unknown said...

We can take this country back from the oil companies - believe it or not, we've done a good bit to take back things from the banks (I work in the industry and trust me, banks are flipping out over all they've lost). But we have to demand action. Feeling impotent doesn't do a thing.

Remember, every major movement in the world is begun by people. We stopped slavery, we brought back hundreds of animals from extinction.

Don't feel helpless. Get up and get active. Revolutions happen when people get fed up.

Remember, that's why we celebrate the 4th of July in the first place. People got fed up.

Red Shoes said...

It seems to me that as more and more information is released, either BP... or the company who originally owned the rig (Deep Water Horizon?) knew that some corner-cutting had been taking place. Guidelines and parameters were established that were to minimize the chance of such an event happening, and someone decided to circumvent those processes...

Furthermore, it seems that, based on information that I have read, that there were many ways to capture the oil that has been leaking, yet, BP etal, as well as our own Federal government, has refused to act...

It's a sad, sad day here in my part of the Country.

~shoes~

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

I didn't realize how far things had gone--in terms of corporations running the country--until I saw that the justice system is corrupt, too. The judge who struck down the moratorium on new drilling owned Big Oil stock. The Supreme Court decided that corporations are people and can spend whatever they want to buy elections.

That said, I agree, we are celebrating the holiday of rebellion and revolution, and we need to get active.

Beth said...

I realized a couple of weeks ago that I kept getting stressed after coming home from work. It finally dawned on me that all this talk (and so little action) about the oil spill was completely freaking me out. My husband then put me on CNN restriction.

I have never felt so helpless.

Joanna Jenkins said...

I am so with you on this rant! It blows my mind that so much time has passed and NO oil company has been able to step up with a prompt solution which means 100% of the oil wells would be in the exact same boat if something goes wrong with them. Grrrrrrr.

Thanks for your kinds words on my "feeling blue" post. I really appreciate it. I'm sure some fun fireworks and great bbq will help life my spirits.

Cheers, jj

mac said...

Like Pogo said,
We've met the enemy, and he is us :(

How do we rid ourselves of our oil dependence?
If I knew, I'd be sure to tell you.

Bunnym said...

I can't get myself to watch but I totally agree with you on this one. There will ALWAYS be oil as long as someone will benefit from it.

bunny

Vodka Mom said...

i'm here for the ranters convention. However, there appear to be no more SEATS LEFT.


I'll sit on the floor.

secret agent woman said...

We are a nation of idiots. Actually, a world of idiots. I think we have to insist on cleaner technologies. But there is so little available. I drive a Prius, but it still uses gasoline. It makes me crazy that this will likely change nothing at all.

(Your blog title reminds me of a Judybats song:
Nothing to say
Nothing at all
And we stood there anxiously
Waiting for the scent
Of her perfumed lies
)

gayle said...

I know it is so hard to watch!! Makes you wonder!!

Madame DeFarge said...

We are left feeling somewhat impotent by this, but having Obama rant away doesn't seem to change anything.

Candice said...

It's definitely depressing. :(

Debbie said...

I think we are all in complete agreement with you. I am sickened by this. And I feel so helpless.

Bar L. said...

I feel extremely depressed thinking about this, yet it needs to be looked at and talked about.

I just hope there can be some long term changes.

Life As I Know It Now said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Life As I Know It Now said...

Thanks for the link love. The situation is certainly very depressing. We have to be willing to act and the first step is understanding the situation and then speaking out about it. Beyond that, if people will work together something should be able to be done (I hope).

I've added you to my blogroll. Came here via Lisa @That's Why.

Jocelyn said...

I can't think of a more appropriate post for this country's day of celebration, to tell you true. Time to get real, already.

foxy said...

This whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. It is disgusting. Thanks for sharing the video.

lisahgolden said...

In this regard more than any other, I have felt more helpless and powerless than ever.

Stafford Ray said...

Hi again FL.
It may be instructive that this piece drew half the comment rate of your shaving hair, bad hair day, photos of Miss America (lovely as they were) etc.
If you read back on my bits and pieces (no need to check) the environmental writing gets the same treatment here (Oz) too.

My concern that my government is so controlled by its supporters, Big Biz on the right and Big Labor on the left, neither was able to do anything that upset the immediate bottom line of either or shake their job descriptions. (There are more jobs waiting in Green industries than in all oil/coal/nuclear industries combined.)

But why should any of us be surprised! Short term greed, NIMBY, hip pocket nerve etc etc will always find an apologist and too many find it convenient to believer their crap. But this time, with natural disasters (may be exascerbated by climate change and man made disasters resulting from, our 'oil at any cost' mind set we need to change the paradigm.

That is why I joined the Green Party here and thankfully, after 30 years of hard work we got 18% of the vote this time and that gives us 'balance of power' in the Senate and a real chance of negotiating greener laws.

By the way, the geenest economy in Europe (40+%renewable energy) is also the strongest economy. Germany is the only government in the world with Greens in its (coalition) governmnet!

Sorry this is so long, but with referece to Shrinky's comment. Wasn't it exciting that a solar powered plane stayed in the air for more than a whole day, night time too! Imagine a huge solar airliner going west (to stay in sunlight the whole way)... a bit hard if you want to go from LA to Denver, say, but exciting nevertheless!

PS thanks for the visit.