Are We to Blame for the Oil Spill?

Indirectly maybe, but BP should have put the remote safety valves in place.

What alternatives do we have? How can we get out from under crude oil?

This is not just about BP anymore, they are just the first ones to really screw up, and it’s being hard felt now. Like a crack addict we have become dependent upon oil, oil has been cheap and easily attainable with low impact, till now.

People can bitch, complain, deny, make excuses, posture all they want, but the fact is all of us are a tiny bit responsible.

Now there will be some reading this thread that will say “I don’t drive”, well you’re still to blame oil is used for almost everything. Plastics, Roofing, Roads, Electricity, Heating, Air conditioning, Soaps, Laundry Detergent, Fertilizers, Paints, Bug killers, Pesticides, Stains on furniture, Clothes, Computers, Cell phones, TV’s, Trash Bags, etc…..

Some that are reading this are still in denial, but our greed and need for oil drives this whole market, and the thoughtless companies that we employ, yes “WE”.

We may not be directly to blame and yes BP didn't spend money for the safety valves, so they are mostly at fault for this one, but we all still use a tiny percentage of oil that is being used.

Does anyone remember and old adage? “When you play with fire”, we don’t just play with oil we live it, daily, by the minute, we can’t survive without it. Or can we?

I personally believe this is our wakeup call, not just in the USA, but worldwide who live by oil. The USA uses the most, so now we should lead by example, and come up with some alternatives ASAP.

Like a baby that drinks from its mother, it’s time to be weaned, we need to start to learn that there is other foods, yes mother’s milk is comforting but it’s time to move on.

There are 6 billion people on this planet and the odds are that more than one of them has ideas that will work.

I understand in our busy live we have difficultly in changing quickly, but something needs to change here.

What are the positive alternatives, how do we make a brighter/less toxic future for ourselves and the coming generations?




[edit on 11-6-2010 by Realtruth]

I'd like to apologize to everyone right now for the mess in the gulf.
I am addicted to oil. I simply can't get enough. Jonesing right now.
My oil based shadow clock is the first thing I will depart with.
I hope this paves the way for others to be brave in facing their addiction.
I had no choice though. It's all they gave me. What was I to do?
Do you hate me? Please accept me for me.

By that thinking, the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster was all of our faults because we need chemicals. And the Chernobyl disaster was all of our faults because we need electricity. And the W. Va. mine disaster is all of our faults because we need coal.

Come on. Don't try to lay blame on the population because one company failed to heed warning signs that their oil rig was in trouble. BP and TransOcean are who to blame

Originally posted by keepureye2thesky
I'd like to apologize to everyone right now for the mess in the gulf.
I am addicted to oil. I simply can't get enough. Jonesing right now.
My oil based shadow clock is the first thing I will depart with.
I hope this paves the way for others to be brave in facing their addiction.
I had no choice though. It's all they gave me. What was I to do?
Do you hate me? Please accept me for me.

Your sarcasm is not even funny, this is the type of denial that we are all saddled with.

As long as there is a need for toxic chemicals to maintain our lifestyle and we use those chemicals on a daily basis, then we are indirectly to blame.

Originally posted by Realtruth
Your sarcasm is not even funny, this is the type of denial that we are all saddled with.

As long as there is a need for toxic chemicals to maintain our lifestyle and we use those chemicals on a daily basis, then we are indirectly to blame.

My sarcasm is just that. I will let you know when I tell a joke.
Is this Tony Hayward?! Nice try. Back to work, you made an awful mess out
there.

reply to post by Realtruth


I don't think that you can blame the people who have no other alternative.

I blame the people who outlawed hemp production (yes hemp oil can be used in everything that oil is used for...i.e. plastics, fuel, etc.).

Yes, we are in this situation because we are not allowed by our rulers to employ alternatives to oil.

So, place the blame where blame is due. TPTB.

[edit on 11-6-2010 by Nutter]

Enough blame is getting spread around..

where are the solutions though?

more blame?


Edit to add:

I flagged this as well, because you are right.

[edit on 11-6-2010 by broahes]

reply to post by Realtruth

Look, I don’t want to admit it, but I will, this is not just about BP anymore, they are just the first ones to really screw up, and it’s being hard felt now. Like a crack addict we have become dependent upon oil, oil has been cheap and easily attainable with low impact, till now.

I dont mean to be rude but you have been living in a bubble if you think that Oil has been "low impact, till now"

Low impact to the USA maybe...

Just take a look at the mess in the Niger Delta where they have had over 50 years of oil spills... pollution on a massive scale killing local rivers, destroying farmers land and causing health issue to the population.

www.independent.co.uk...

Same is happening all over the world... It’s just when it happens to a "developed" nation... everyone hears about it.

I do agree with your sentiment though... we are addicted to oil... just wanted to point out this one issue...

S+F

Peace!

Originally posted by traditionaldrummer

Come on. Don't try to lay blame on the population because one company failed to heed warning signs that their oil rig was in trouble. BP and TransOcean are who to blame

Yes, BP screwed up, but this is just one instance.

How many spills does it take?

We as a world have known for quite some time that we need alternative energies.

We'll probably never do away with oil, but we need to reduce it significantly.

We have only been using oil for just a little over a hundred years, we don't know the long term effects. And we are just starting to see short term effects, spills being one of them.

Your correct, It's not just the USA, but a worldwide issue and has been for sometime.

What are our options?

Originally posted by Muckster

I dont mean to be rude but you have been living in a bubble if you think that Oil has been "low impact, till now"

Low impact to the USA maybe...

Just take a look at the mess in the Niger Delta where they have had over 50 years of oil spills... pollution on a massive scale killing local rivers, destroying farmers land and causing health issue to the population.

www.independent.co.uk...

Same is happening all over the world... It’s just when it happens to a "developed" nation... everyone hears about it.

I do agree with your sentiment though... we are addicted to oil... just wanted to point out this one issue...

S+F

Peace!

[edit on 11-6-2010 by Realtruth]

Originally posted by Realtruth
Yes, BP screwed up, but this is just one instance.

How many spills does it take?

We as a world have known for quite some time that we need alternative energies.

We'll probably never do away with oil, but we need to reduce it significantly.

We have only been using oil for just a little over a hundred years, we don't know the long term effects. And we are just starting to see short term effects, spills being one of them.

If you want to use the BP oil spill as a good prompt to explore alternative energies then good for you.

If you want to use the BP oil spill as a good prompt to blame everyone around you for the oil spill then shame on you.

reply to post by Realtruth


Is it the addicts' fault that they are hooked or is it the pushers'? Monday morning quartebacking is easy. I don't have a crytal ball to tell the future. Complicit, maybe but not responsible. We're just the frogs. Let's drop the blame game and start looking for solutions before it's too late.

oil can be grown via hemp like previously stated.

but that fact will most likely be ignored throughout this thread like it is everywhere else throughout the nation/world.



wake up folks, ethenol and bio-diesel are both EASILY made from hemp. no conversion of society needed, our CURRENT TECHNOLOGY already runs BOTH just fine.

all u gotta do is plant some seeds....ready...get set....

...go!


(but no...you all will most likely buy into the profiting scheme of $"technological transitioning"$)

hemp solves the oil issue. its as simple as that.

Originally posted by darkelf
reply to post by Realtruth

 

Is it the addicts' fault that they are hooked or is it the pushers'? Monday morning quartebacking is easy. I don't have a crytal ball to tell the future. Complicit, maybe but not responsible. We're just the frogs. Let's drop the blame game and start looking for solutions before it's too late.

Good point on "Addicts or Pushers", maybe we are all a bit to blame here.

Agreed, that is the last sentence in my post, no one is looking for fortune tellers just a little bit a motivation.

We need to get motivated as a whole to find and implement alternatives.

I think this spill may be a hidden blessing and here is why, if enough people see that we need alternatives, then the push to find and implement them will be that much easier.

I am already seeing positive methods for clean-up, now we need to have some groups come forward with alternative forms of clean energy's.

reply to post by Realtruth

I don't think there is a way to even escape the use of oil. The world would stop dead in its tracks. I'm sure there are alternatives ie: hemp, but every single thing that we need to survive, involves oil. Right down to the seed to produce hemp crops. (re: shipping) People aren't to blame for their use of oil or the oil spill. For the past 100 years we've grown up with it. I personally don't think we would be here if it wasn't for the use of oil. History would have been way different if oil wasn't involved.

Excellent point, we have gone through many changes the last 100 years, but don't you think it's time to move forward with cleaner solutions.


If you personally had a choice right now to still use oil, or to have a cleaner solution, which would you choose?

Originally posted by MAJESCOTT
reply to post by Realtruth

 

I don't think there is a way to even escape the use of oil. The world would stop dead in its tracks. I'm sure there are alternatives ie: hemp, but every single thing that we need to survive, involves oil. Right down to the seed to produce hemp crops. (re: shipping) People aren't to blame for their use of oil or the oil spill. For the past 100 years we've grown up with it. I personally don't think we would be here if it wasn't for the use of oil. History would have been way different if oil wasn't involved.

[edit on 11-6-2010 by Realtruth]

Why do folks who call themselves "Realtruth" start threads like this with half-truths and claim the answer is renewable energy?

ATS has grown ridiculously underwhelming. No one bothers to dig deeper anymore and simply tally it up to the usual suspects.

This has everything to do with "renewable energy" and the progressives shift to their chosen new energies.

Do you think the same dispersant COREXIT, based on urea, everyone is begging BP not to use and they continue to do so...urea also being a catalyst for rapid algae growth...is a coincidence?

Do you think it is a coincidence that algae biofuels are being heavily invested in by not only the same major corporations you despise (BP, Goldman Sachs, etc.) but also heavily by the current administration?

Coincidence that algae biofuel companies like Solazyme are winning government contracts to begin producing biofuels on a mass scale for the Dept. of Defense, international airlines, Honeywell, GE, etc?

Coincidence that BP's greatest assets in the Gulf and Alaska are talked about now being sold off to China National Petroleum Corp. where folks like Maurice Strong and George Soros are heavily invested, to help pay for BP's mounting costs?

Coincidence that the US also owes China a great deal of debt?

Coincidence that the $30 million dollars Nancy Pelosi included in the stimulus package to "save" the salt marsh mouse, while concurrently shutting off the pumps to supply the largest farms on the planet with water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta also happens to help the salt water mouse preferred habitat salicornia weed thrive and spread?

Coincidence that salicornia weed, like algae, is a preferred biomass stock for biofuels and carbon capture?

So, actually...no, this spill is not my fault. The domestic oil companies which go above and beyond what is required of them to leave the leases they have the privilege to drill on better than they found it...it's not their fault either.

It is folks who blindly give power to "change"...it is their faults.

[edit on 11-6-2010 by JauntyFlannigan]

NO No No .. Do Not let those who control the masses make you believe that WE did this to ourselves. Sure everybody uses oil products, but the powers that be the rich elite and those who would seek to control the people have forced oil on us.

Tesla proved over 100 years ago we could all have safe never ending free electricity and the Gov and Rich shut him down for Greed.

Don't anyone feel even the slightest bit guilty for this mess we are in.. we had no control.

That is what the powers that be want you to believe.. it's brainwashing.. don't fall for it!

reply to post by Realtruth

What are our options?

Well, unfortunately, my opinion often causes anger and scornfulness in people... but my feelings are this...

We need to go back to a simple way of living... we need to let go of all the crap we think is so important... and we need to return to a way of living that harmonises with nature rather than trying to control nature.

Unless we do this... we will continue down the spiral of oblivion...

Let the flames commence

reply to post by Muckster

Unfortunately you will get arrested for loitering or trespassing.
But, god damn I hear ya.