BP Oil Spill: How is it affecting you?

Our job, according to Joseph Campbell, is to live joyfully in this world of sorrows. Tough to do.

I don't think we are being told the half of it.
Its much, much worse than we are being told. Can you say media blackout?
If i lived in the Gulf area, i would have everything packed and ready to go on very short notice.
Actually, i would consider getting out now. After they make it mandatory, there will we nothing but chaos.
JMO. Who knows, maybe i am just paranoid!

And yes, my heart breaks when i see those poor pelicans soaked in oil. And for all the other innocent creatures too.

I feel so pained seeing those beautiful creatures completely covered in oil. What a sad thing to happen. The beautiful birds don't even know what's happened to them and they are look so powerless to fix it.
Humans have really pushed nature beyond the limit now and I just fear when nature decides, enough is enough and decides to backlash.

Rampant greed by crooked mortgage brokers very nearly caused the worlds economy to collapse, and now rampant greed by BP who apparently cut corners to save costs has created the worst environmental disaster in history. Sadly, this is what happens when you leave some companies under or unregulated and to their own devices, as the greed for profits lately seems to be trumping common sense.

Around the world, thousands of people are dying of treatable diseases. Around the world, thousands of species are being driven to extinction due to environmental destruction. Everywhere, people are losing livelihoods, losing homes, and losing loved ones. That is when everything is going alright, when there are no major disasters to galvanize international attention. That's a good day in the world as it is, presuming no wars, plagues, or famines are in ones immediate vicinity.

I do feel for those effected by the spill, but as to answer how I manage to enjoy life as best I can anyway - the spill is only a bad day for one part of the world in a world where every day is a bad day for some person, place, or thing. Disasters make news, but the river of misery in the world flows at a steady rate. I just do my best not to be consumed by it.

Many of you know that my Dad died in March and I had to move my Mom to Connecticut and rent out her house in Panama City Beach, FL.

Well, as of today, Panama City Beach is on the 72-hour oil trajectory map. Despite this, we have found long term tenants-- moving in tomorrow-- which is remarkable in the circumstances. The coastal communities all have their plans in place for dealing with the oil as it makes landfall.

I read the updates every few days and just pray for the welfare of the whole coast-- not only the animals being harmed, but the people whose livelihoods are at risk.

I'm not sure I even realized it, but this is how I've been looking at the oil leak, and most other recent catastrophes.

The Gulf spill is a terrible, horrible tragedy, yes, but it's one of many. And until humanity in general is able to make some serious changes in the way it occupies this world, it will not be the last, or the worst. I can't allow myself to be consumed by this. I just live the best I can.

Don't get me started. What man is doing in the seas and oceans is absolutely disgusting. From dumping wastes to whaling to shark finning to extreme fishing and now THIS.

My girlfriend and I were going to go down to bayou country for a short weekend getaway. We've postponed because of the oil spill, but we will probably just go further inland (e.g. Houma instead of Grand Isle) a little later.

As usual, Fareed Zakaria has the right view on this:

article
video

This is currently, in the most immediate sense, a problem of science, not policy. Zakaria proves once again that he is one of the only truly intelligent, balanced thinkers being given a voice right now. Zakaria can't be elected president, since he is foreign-born, like Kissinger. But he could be appointed Secretary of State ... also like Kissinger. The fact that we American voters continue to place useless people into high office together with their equally useless political appointees, while people like this are allowed to sit on the sidelines and kibbutz, is completely embarrassing.

^ That you for posting that article. I read another of his articles a few weeks ago with basically the same point. I'm glad someone is writing this.

We have to face the very real possibility that we won't be able to the leak because we just...can't. Period. It might not stop until the damn thing runs out of oil.

So what do we ask of our leaders? Maybe he could tell us that the leak is slowing down and the cleanup is going well. Or maybe they can tell that what they say to BP is going to have any effect whatsoever on its ability to take action on this, or that the Gulf coast will be teeming with tourists and pelicans and seahorses and unicorns before we know it! Oh wait...

BP could go out of business if they don't figure out a way to stop the oil. The oil industry is probably the only entity that can stop the flow, and it's certainly in the industry's best interest not to have this disaster push people further toward alternative energy than they've already been pushed. That's all the incentive they need; politicians yelling at them is an afterthought.

(Quote from LiveJazz): The oil industry is probably the only entity that can stop the flow, and it's certainly in the industry's best interest not to have this disaster push people further toward alternative energy than they've already been pushed.


I have to strongly disagree. If this environmental disaster causes a push towards developing cleaner alternative energy resources, i will be leading the cheering section! I am unequivocally for replacing highly pollutive oil with cleaner alternative energy sources such as natural gas, nuclear, solar, and wind. If the demand for oil was eased by more alternate energy choices, perhaps there would be less need for risky mile deep offshore drilling for oil. Every president from Bush senior to Obama has recognized the folly of not reducing our dependence on foreign oil (and resulting huge foreign trade imbalances) by promoting the development of alternate energy sources, but with the strong oil lobby holding court in our legislative branch, nothing ever gets done. If the oil industry is the only entity that can stop the flow, they certainly aren't doing a very good job at it. BP wisely agreed to fund a twenty billion dollar fund held in trust for the cleanup, and they should remain economically viable long enough to fund it, after which if their bottom line is adversely affected by competition from cleaner energy resources, then frankly, i could give a damn!

[edited in various spots]

^ I think you misunderstand the point of my comment. I, too, am in favor of using as much alternative energy as possible, as soon as possible. However, I also know that the oil industry has been and will continue to delay this transition, for its own long-term survival. The current oil spill will advance the cause of alternative energy. Thus, the oil industry will want to clean it up and move on, asap. The longer this is on the minds of oil consumers, the worse it is for the industry.

So: the point was that, out of pure self-interest, BP must already be doing everything its technology allows to reduce the impact of the spill (even if their reasoning is not exactly in line with the common good). BP doesn't require further political prodding to act.

Therefore, the political circus is a waste of energy, even though I agree with the sentiment of it. Politicians should be focusing their attention on things the government actually can affect.

I kind of hope BP does end up bankrupt...put the other oil companies on notice.

Yes i did misunderstand your point, thanks for clarifying. I found the political heckling at the BP hearing to be highly laughable and smarmy, as many representatives from both sides of the aisle that were heckling the loudest had voted in lockstep with the Big Oil lobby.

Given how important energy is within a modern society, we should always be looking for alternative sources and new ways to conserve. Ultimately, real progress along these lines may not be achieved without severely crimping the flow of oil money into Congressional coffers. The Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal Government have masterfully portrayed wars in the Middle East as "wars for freedom," despite the fact that equally horrific dictatorial regimes have existed in Central Africa for decades. But America can buy its bananas from Ecuador, so there's no need to get in a huff about almost one million being killed in Rwanda, right? The oil industry has equally masterfully managed to convince Congress to hide the cost of war in the Middle East as a "defense" cost, when in reality the cost should mostly appear directly at the gas pump. How much faster do you think American voters would light a fire under the ass of Congress to move toward alternative energy sources, if people gassing up their Ford Expeditions could see how much wars in the Middle East were costing them per gallon?

Do I think America should pull out of the Middle East? No, not as long as we need oil. But we should be taking steps to move away from it quickly. Also, although it seems like a radical move, we should ultimately do away with representative government for most decisions not involving classified information, and leverage current communications and information technology to move toward a direct referendum voting system. It will be the only viable way to stop politicians from feeding at the political action committee trough --- take away their power to vote. Independent legislation evaluation committees can compete for the attention of voters, and provide detailed voting guides. But most voting would be required to be done directly by registered voters and not by elected members of a legislative branch who can be bought off. If necessary, we can restrict voting to a subset of voters who demonstrate required domain knowledge, and voters would always have the right to acquire such knowledge on their own. This couldn't possibly be worse than the current system, in which slick liars only interested in getting reelected allow themselves to get bought off.

... and if Exxon/Mobil has enough cash to directly pay off 150 million voters, let them start making deposits into peoples' Paypal accounts.

mild depression and general malaise

BP going bankrupt isn't going to solve the problem. It will only mean the loss of livelihood for thousands of people. Neither is this the first subterranean oil well to leak into the ocean. BP's PR machinery might just have to take a leaf from big old tobaccos' book. Speaking of which the fact that billions of cancer sticks are still being sold is probably the greater tragedy.

BP probably will have to aim for "100% Capture" rather than "100% Stop-Leak", at least for the near term. The stop-technology just isn't there for a case like this. Lateral well drilling is still a long shot to get to that 100% Stop-Leak mark. Probably the situation will end up as a combination of the two but somewhat less than 100% in total.