Oil

My career goal, throughout grade school, high school and even in college, was to be an oceanographer. I grew up spending time weekly by the ocean and it was (and still is) my absolute favorite place to be. Any ocean. None disappoint. I am happiest when I'm near waves and surf and wind and I feel a part of every living creature who lives in or near the ocean.

The events of the BP oil debacle are so sad. I've never taken a stand pro or con regarding off-shore drilling. It seems reasonable that:

a) we need oil to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and;
b) most of our planet is covered in water, therefore;
c) some oil supplies are under water; therefore,
d) if we want that oil, we have to figure out a way to get it out from the ground which is under oceans.

I've lived my entire life not giving a lot of thought to what would happen IF the oil from under the ground under the ocean was somehow not coming out all nicely controlled and piped where it belongs, but instead, was pouring out of the ground, thousands of feet below the ocean's surface and entering the ocean. And I never, ever, in a zillion years imagined that IF that were to happen, the oil companies apparently have absolutely no idea what to do about it. They never considered this would ever, EVER happen - that seems obvious.

I saw a Facebook post about 'where are all the stars to do a concert for the oil disaster - to raise funds to help with cleanup, etc. and to help those affected? Cut and paste if you agree'. And for me, the difference is: this isn't a natural disaster. This isn't something out of man's control - like tsunamis or earthquakes. This is a man-made disaster. It was caused by BP being negligent and greedy and careless and....I can't even think of adjectives strong enough to describe them. This entire debacle is at their design, really - never planning for this worst case scenario; having no real idea of exactly what to do. So that's why there's no real rally for people getting on planes and going to help - no one knows exactly what to do. They don't know how to stop it. They can't entirely cap it. And at the moment, it appears it will 'leak' massive amounts of crude until the underground supply is gone. And who knows how long that will be.

Now that this has happened, there is no way I can ever be even remotely supportive of off-shore drilling - ever. IF this incident had resulted in a fairly quick 'fix' - if the 'spill' had been controlled within a matter of days, or even a week or so - then I think I could deal with it. But it's been 50+ days - and it's still gushing.

No one knows what to do about it. Not BP. Not our government. No one.

And that is the one scenario I never imagined - there isn't anyone who knows exactly what to do....and we're killing our ocean because of it.