I have noticed along the way that many of you are passionate environmentalists in whatever ways work for you, and that my blogs connecting ecology and faith often elicit a relatively high number of responses.
My second blog entry, back in October 2006, was about ExxonMobil and the way that company had dodged paying the massive bill for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In fact it rebounded so that in the last quarter of 2005 the corporation made more than $10 billion in profit. I connected all this to the question posed by the prophet Jeremiah: "why do the wicked prosper?" It often seems that the "big players" amongst corporations can avoid responsibility for greed or disregard for the rights of creatures, whether they be human or otherwise.
Will we go through this again with the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana? While this ecological catastrophe was not caused by the actions of one person (the Exxon Valdez captain was inebriated) it does not lessen the impact. How can these companies be allowed to drill without adequate safeguards in the case of a well failure? It makes me ill to think of the destruction of wildlife which will ensue.
What is your reaction to what you are hearing and seeing?
3 comments:
My reaction is similar to yours David. It makes me sick to think of the consequences of such a spill. It happens far too often, and I wonder if people/corporations even care enough to create safeguards to prevent these spills or care enough to clean up after themselves afterwards. In my own experience around environmental concerns, there is just too much ambivalence. I just don't think many want to change their lives for the sake of our earth.
It's nothing short of catastophic, and those of us thinking we're relatively safe in Ontario need only study the path of the Gulf stream to know that this thing will affect us all somehow. It's literally epic in proportion.
The only good to come from this is that it could prove a turning point in the argument toward finally looking seriously at alternative forms of energy. President Obama issues an immediate halt on all development of new off-shore drilling, so the potential is certainly there.
In the meantime, pray that this thing finds a way to shut itself off!
This is very sad. What makes me angry is the attitude of some of the BP executives who seem to only be thinking of the implications to BP. Some of them are even acting as though THEY have suffered a disaster. How pathetic.
BP should pay big time for this. I don't care much about the financial consequences of this disaster, I care about the countless creatures this will kill, and the impact this will have on families in the southern states who depend of fishing for a living.
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