The Gulf Spill:Failing to See the Bigger Picture

If you've been following the news lately, you've heard a lot about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, I heard that BP's own shareholders are trying to sue the company.

Is BP really the evil empire, or is it us? I mean, we're pointing our fingers at a nasty, polluting industry, and at the same time filling our tanks with its nasty, polluting product. Are we playing the blame-game a little too hard with this news story? Are we focusing too much on some kind of technical fix that will "make drilling safe" so we can "get back to normal"?

That may have sounded rather harsh, but we've had other wake-up calls before. They came in various forms, some came in environmental disasters, some in recession-causing price hikes, and one that comes to my mind came in loud and clear from President George W. Bush. He stated that America was addicted to oil (he may have specified foreign oil, but the distinction is not particularly significant in my opinion). I think Mr. Bush was right. We have a problem.

If you still think all the focus should be put on companies like BP, a blogpost by Chris Nedler might change the way you're seeing things. "Another wake-up call for the world’s biggest oil junkie" (that "junkie," of course, is us). Nedler starts out by saying "OK, America, it’s time to get real about energy." I encourage you to read it and decide for yourself.