Oil Protest

[Mynock]

My guess is whoever ends up investigating the why part of this is going to find, as is so often the case, it was a bunch of little things that didn't matter much on their own but when combined at the right (wrong) time cause catastrophe. Ever see somebody smoking a cigarette while gassing up their lawnmower? Yea. How often do those people blow themselves up? Not often. But every once in a while you get some poor bastard who does this on a completely windless day, which allows the fumes to come up and mix just right with the air around his face and.....BOOM. Crispy critter.

[Duncan Edwards]

I've avoided commenting on this simply because there aren't any real answers here. I am personally affected because my family will likely be unable to enjoy the beaches of our lovely "Redneck Riviera" as a result of this mess. Yes, BP obviously screwed up but they have no monopoly on that. Everyone laments the loss of wildlife and environmental destruction and I hate it also. The honest truth is that once the media hype dies down nobody will care after a while. Since the early seventies the world has sacrificed hundreds of thousands of human lives in direct combat and many billions of dollars to secure or control the flow of oil. Regardless of how you feel about the latest in an endless line of conflicts in the Middle East it is sad that the lives of many of the best and brightest from this and other nations have been spent so we can drive to the shopping mall. The United States alone has annually dumped a fortune in blood and treasure into protecting access to this most important resource and as a people we don't care. Some of us might get a little animated from time to time but every day when I see a small woman driving vehicle with room for eight all by herself, when I see an RV the size of a bus towing another car behind it so an old couple can travel the country in comfort, when most of suburban America has to have a four wheel drive SUV to navigate the asphalt to the grocery, I know we don't really care. We don't care what it costs to get us our oil in terms of blood, environment, or the discomfort of others. Someday the world will awaken to this cost and decide that its just not worth it any longer. Until we do I don't understand all the indignation and fuss.

[Mynock]

It's not just gas. Even if everybody traded in their gas guzzling 4x4 for a Prius (I'll walk the 20miles back and fourth to work first) it would hardly make a dent in the amount of oil we consume. Hell, without oil, you wouldn't have a plastic keyboard to type that post on.

[Duncan Edwards]

It's not just gas. Even if everybody traded in their gas guzzling 4x4 for a Prius (I'll walk the 20miles back and fourth to work first) it would hardly make a dent in the amount of oil we consume. Hell, without oil, you wouldn't have a plastic keyboard to type that post on.

In the absence of empirical data I'll take your word for it. Either way I'm sure you understand what I'm saying.

[nachtjaeger]

There's a Native American saying that the Creator put just exactly enough of everything on earth for man's needs. So you'd better use whatever you have very, very carefully, and not waste it.

We still need some better energy storage medium. Something like Heinlein's "Shipstones"; small, compact batteries with greater power densities than a tank of petrol. Something like this: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-F ... wsNum=1179
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEStor

[Mynock]

It's not just gas. Even if everybody traded in their gas guzzling 4x4 for a Prius (I'll walk the 20miles back and fourth to work first) it would hardly make a dent in the amount of oil we consume. Hell, without oil, you wouldn't have a plastic keyboard to type that post on.

In the absence of empirical data I'll take your word for it. Either way I'm sure you understand what I'm saying.

Oh yea, I get what you're saying, we're fighting and dying over black goo that comes out of the ground. It sounds pathetic but, in reality, there's not much else we can do about it at the moment.

[Duncan Edwards]

It's not just gas. Even if everybody traded in their gas guzzling 4x4 for a Prius (I'll walk the 20miles back and fourth to work first) it would hardly make a dent in the amount of oil we consume. Hell, without oil, you wouldn't have a plastic keyboard to type that post on.

In the absence of empirical data I'll take your word for it. Either way I'm sure you understand what I'm saying.

Oh yea, I get what you're saying, we're fighting and dying over black goo that comes out of the ground. It sounds pathetic but, in reality, there's not much else we can do about it at the moment.

Agreed.

The just of it is I can't understand why people want to get so upset when there's a far greater human blasphemy going on every day for decades.

[MuddyEddie]

Just be glad you're not in Palestine...

Moderator's Edit - If you want to begin another topic that is your choice but let's stay on the subject with this one.

[PM2K]

Just something to put this spill into perspective..... the link lets you superimpose the spill on top of your home area, to give one a sense of scale.

http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/


How can one not weep?

[Zoe Mal Doran]

In the words of Rupert Giles, "The Earth is definitely doomed"