My Slimy Rant

Like the rest of the country I look at the pictures from the gulf coast and become angry. Lives lost, fragile wetlands lost, beautiful beaches lost, livelihoods lost, confidence in big oil companies and the inspectors who are supposed to regulate them all lost. The problem is that our anger seems to be a wasted emotion. Our collective anger must take this tragedy and use it as a lesson for our future. Although this is the biggest, this is not our first big oil spill. Big oil spills have polluted our waters and our land many times over the years. We look at the tragedy and become angry, then the news becomes old and we move on to the next big breaking news event. We continue to live lives that demand great amounts of energy. We need the oil to sustain our way of life, so we turn our backs on the tragedy and tell big oil to drill more wells, find more energy. “Drill baby drill,” just does not to be a very good solution. If we continue to drill as we have done, there will be another disastrous spill.

We are the problem. We can recycle and change to low watt light bulbs, but without new public policies we will suffer more oil spills over and over until the wells run dry. We must find better, cleaner, more efficient ways to produce energy. We must change the way we and the world use energy. We must find the money to develop new technology that produces energy without needing oil. As a nation we need to be willing to look for a better way.

I'm tired of being angry. I'm tired of trying to figure out who's to blame. I'm tired of the tragic stories. It is time to spend real effort on finding a better way.