Watching dark plumes of oil and gas rise like dirty clouds from the broken pipe at the BP oil site makes me sick. My stomach turns over when I think of millions of gallons of oil fouling the earth every day. The thought that this will happen day after day for months is unfathomable.
Anger rising from my heart is as dark and dirty as the oily clouds. I don’t trust BP or its statements, and I want them to pay, BIG. I want lawmakers voted out of office who take big oil money and don’t insist on stringent requirements to protect the environment. Why didn’t organizations charged with oversight of the drilling for oil in deep water insist on numerous back-up plans to deal with a collapse of the oil rig and subsequent catastrophe?
A sizable chunk of the earth is being polluted to death. People who live and work on that coast are watching their way of life disappear. Oil-covered sea turtles struggle to the beach to lay their eggs. That probably won’t happen. Thick sludge is washing into salt-water marshes, called “nurseries” for fish and shrimp.
Along with millions of others, I am outraged by the largest environmental disaster in the history of our country, and I want to see those responsible for it identified and held accountable.
Continuing to follow the story, I become uncomfortable. I realize that I am among those who share culpability for this outrage. I consume plenty of petroleum products and am part of the demand for them that necessitates drilling offshore or in Alaska, as well as importing oil from the Middle East.
I use my car to travel to work, grocery stores, and the bank. I drive hundreds of miles to visit my children and friends. I don’t walk or ride a bike to run my errands; I hop into my car and drive the couple of miles instead. True, it is a Honda Civic, purchased with environment in mind: the car gets great gas mileage. Still, my lifestyle is far from “green.”
Being angry with BP feels better than facing my part in creating excessive demand for their product, but if I am honest, I must accept my immersion in an oil-driven economy and standard of living. We all must.
That is not to let BP and other businesses and government oversight agencies off the hook for cutting corners and looking the other way. Investigations and charges should be pursued where appropriate, but I must look for ways to be faithful to God’s trust in me to care for the earth.
Will this event make US citizens more supportive of research into alternative fuels and to accept taxes to fund it? Will we move away from SUV’s and other gas-guzzling vehicles? Will we walk more or ride bikes for errands? Will we take our responsibility seriously and make sacrifices for the greater good, for the survival of the earth that sustains us?
Easier to be angry at BP. Jesus never said being faithful would be easy.
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