House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said friday that BP should be held accountable for all damages caused by the British company's horrendous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In pandering to public anger at BP, however, Pelosi misses the real point of this tragedy. Yes, BP may be guilty of gross negligence, and, yes, if the company wants to stay in business in the U.S., it will have to pay all fines and claims that the U.S. Government and U.S. courts deem appropriate. But BP is not the first oil company to have a huge accident, and it won't be the last. These companies are merely flawed purveyors of a product that we Americans can't get enough of. The real cause of the Gulf disaster is our insatiable thirst for oil.
Oil and its filthy cousin coal are dirty, dangerous fuels that have destroyed countless lives and are fast destroying our climate. Who knows how much damage is now being inflicted on the fragile ecosystem along the Gulf Coast? And who shares the blame with BP? How about people who drive cars much larger than they need? How about NASCAR, which burns oil for the amusement of spectators? How about well-to-do environmental activists like myself and Al Gore? We've spent our whole careers jetting around the globe for business and pleasure.
I'm not saying any of these activities should be banned. But we do have to switch to cleaner, safer alternative fuels as swiftly as possible. And that will never happen until we start to pay something closer to the true costs that carbon-based fuels impose on our society and our planet. Pelosi would agree with that goal in moments when she is not scapegoating BP. Whether these payments come in the form of a stiff carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, which would also spur conservation, is for Pelosi and her do-nothing-while-the-Earth-burns colleagues in Congress to decide.
Until then, let's not kid ourselves. We are all responsible for the Gulf tragedy. We should all pay.
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Charles, I attempted to teach chemistry next door to you at MBA. Seems like yesterday. Jim H.
There are specific individuals within our govt and at BP who are responsible for this. Your "we are one with this" attitude is a ridiculous prelude to letting those monsters off the hook.
You seem to think that children have a choice and can simply tell their parents to put a windmill in their condo instead of using grid electricity. But that isn't the case. We don't have those choices. They were made for us by our grandparents or great-grandparents and we do not share the guilt simply because we are no locked into a system we cannot change.
In point of fact, we cannot break the fossil fuel cycle, period. There is simply nothing available to replace it and, if there were, there would be no money for, or interest in, doing it.
But yes, we CAN do something. I am entirely self-sufficient. I grow my own food, collect my own water and dispose of my own waste. I make my own soap and charcoal. I make my own ethanol vehicle fuel from sugar cane and only travel a few thousand miles a year.
Even so, nothing anyone can do will prevent the world from dumping 30 billion tonnes of CO2 into the ecosphere annually because, unlike the oil in the gulf, one cannot directly observe greenhouse gases killing the planet. People are visual creatures with very short attention spans. I have no ipad, no telephone and no TV.
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How long have US manufacturers fought CAFE standards? Obviously more choices and more efficiency is needed and can be done now - the technology is available. It's time to change. And we're not to blame. We didn't insist on this version of the world. We don't demand plastic bags, bottles, and product wrappers - but we don't have a choice. We also don't have to Cap and Trade. Retro fit our homes and buildings with solar and wind generators, change the way we power our cars, homes and reduce our use of plastic now. The government, President Obama, is the place to start. Don't blame us. Retro fit every government building today.