Love in October

Day 50 of the oil spill is approaching and things are still looking very grim for the gulf region. It is evident that this is going to affect the US for years, possibly decades, to come. There is anger amongst the general public, myself included, about the spill, why it happened, and how it was handled. Many are angry at BP, some at Obama, and some don’t know who to direct their anger to. While there are valid claims that BP didn’t have a safe blowout preventer or that Obama’s response was to slow, everybody seems to be playing the blame game. Throughout all of this, it is my opinion that nobody has pointed the blame to the right culprit: all of us!

This tragedy has been in the making for decades. It is an unwritten fact that in America we value money more than life, personal health, social values, communal responsibility, and family. We put profits above everything, including safety and environmental impact. It is imperative to us that the quarterly profits are higher than the last, even if it means laying off thousands of employees, cheating the accounting books, or in BP’s case; compromising the safety system of the oil-rig to save money. I cannot solely place all the blame on BP for this. This is indirectly all of our faults by wanting to see BP’s stock go up.  We do not wish to read the fine print of how it is done, we just want to see it happen.

Equally alarming to the greed on Wall Street is America’s thirst for oil. The US consumes 869,000,000 gallons of oil per day (2008)!  It is a difficult number to comprehend. We are the largest oil-consumer in the world ousting China, who uses 1/3 of the US daily oil consumption despite having a population 4 times in size. Our dependence on foreign oil has become that greatest issue of national defense, despite not being recognized by congress. In 2007 two thirds of our oil supply was imported. In the summer of 2008 when gasoline was $4.50 per gallon in many cities the country came to a standstill and people began to question their way of life. The US government was helpless as much of our oil is imported. It was a wake up call to all of us that other countries heavily impact our way of life. It is sad that only in times of economic or manmade environmental disaster do we realize the impact of how we are living.

Here is my call to you. Look at your life. What kind of car do you drive? Do you drive a large SUV or truck  during your single person commute to work? How many cars do you own? Have you considered riding a bike to work? We all have to make small changes that will make a large impact for our country and the world.

There is a ridiculous sense of entitlement in the US. We believe we have a natural born right as US citizens to own a car, a house, and land. The fact is that we don’t have any natural born rights. We’re beasts of nature, and we’re not born with any more rights than any other species in the animal kingdom. We have created a false sense of reality by imposing man-made rules and rights upon us that consume earth’s resources to make life comfortable for us. This might sound like a load of hippie talk to you and you’re probably rolling your eyes at this point. All I ask is that you look at your life and how you live and ask yourself if you are happy with it. Are you happy with your environmental impact? Are you happy with what’s going on in the gulf? Please look at your lifestyle and find changes that can help lessen the US dependence on energy. Our current path is not sustainable and we all need to pitch in to help promote change. Thank You.

-Erik