Shell's Offshore Oil Rig Leaking. Our addiction is killing us.

Here we go again. More spilled oil. I'm sick. Real sick. I got industrial disease. And so do you. I could go on and on about oil and it's problems. I could. But I won't at the moment. I'm not even sure why I'm writing this. I suppose it's because I'm sick and I want a cure. I've really tried to change my ways. I don't have a car anymore. I walk everywhere. I recycle. I compost. I try not to waste. There's not much more I can do.

Except to speak out. My writing these days has one main target. Big oil. Whether it's the market crash or conflict, when you boil down the propaganda, you'll always left with a slimy goo. Oil.

Oil is the lifeblood of industry. It allowed for the industrial revolution. You can take most things out of the equation and you'll still have a functioning civilization. You remove oil, the whole thing stops. Oil is the most important substance on the planet at this moment. We need another revolution. We need to end our addiction to oil and recover. We need to stop the denial and look in the mirror.

If we don't. We will get sicker until there is a life and death crisis.

I don't know where, or when, or how the next global war will start.
But I do know the cause.
The cause will be oil.

I know this plea and expressive protest is in vain and my opinion muted.
Gotta do sumtin, right?

www.bbc.co.uk...

By the way, are you ready for another Texan as President of the United States. The oilmen's pick is Rick Perry.
Spelled with an A.

reply to post by Robin Marks


Why are you using products made with oil then?

A bit hypocritical don't ya think?

reply to post by Robin Marks


I applaud you for doing what you can in today's oil dependent society to reduce your use of oil!! The above poster can sometimes be quite abrasive without realizing it.....

Oil is like the earths circulatory blood system and Gaia is being drained....We humans are like the vampires......

Yes we need a new method of energy...Its not coming fast enough is it?

reply to post by kro32


I've had this conversation with my son. Oil is a great thing. The products it produces are a wonder. The problem is the way we are managing the resource. Making products with oil is a more productive use than using it as a fuel source. You can recycle plastics. But once you burn it. It's gone.

If there was responsible drilling.
And if we didn't waste so much of it, and if we polluting our enviroment, and killing our wildlife, I wouldn't have a problem with oil.

reply to post by Robin Marks


Well that sounds like a very logical statement as opposed to your death post earlier

I will absolutely agree that it needs to be managed better and i've done some research that shows at this point alternative fuels are just too costly and that most of the population would rather put up with oil than the higher increase in cost.

I will try to find the link for you later.

Great post by the way

His computer is full oil based products

In the national debate about opening up more of America's offshore regions to oil and gas drilling -- and setting aside the problem of carbon dioxide-induced climate change -- a sixty mile long stretch of coastline that reaches roughly from Ventura Country west north west to San Luis Obispo Country, well south of the Big Sur coast, has some 2,000 active sea floor oil seeps. According to former JPL physicist Bruce Allen, the tectonically active zone is estimated to have leaked some 800 million barrels of oil over the last 10,000 years.

Source
emphasis by me

That's ~80,000 barrels a year from leaks... oops I mean natural sources... off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.

From the same article:

Now a resident of Santa Barbara and a member of the air quality board, Allen -- who is writing a book on energy policy -- discovered during the course of his research that in the 38 years since the moratorium on oil drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel and off-shore California, an estimated 900 barrels of crude oil have leaked from the production platforms visible off the the coast. In contrast, he points out, the seeps have leaked an estimated two million barrels.

Wildlife seems to be doing well off Santa Barbara.

The leak is of no significance, the article even says so.

Given the amount of oil we use, during the process of getting it out of the ground there will invariably be spills and leaks. Protesting against this is not only asinine but pointless. They will keep harvesting the oil until none is left no matter how loudly you or others like you complain about it.

And here's why. It comes from the earth, the earth's ecosystem can actually handle oil leaks, even if we werent mining the stuff and this planet was uninhabited leaks would still occur naturally through volcanism, earthquakes and meteorite impacts. In fact the very act of mining the oil is preventing some of these occurences by reducing pressure in geologically weak areas where leaks might otherwise occur naturally and possibly uncontrollably.

So, dont be so quick to criticise. These oil companies are doing a very good job and the worlds oceans are a lot cleaner than they would be if we didnt mine those fossil fuels!

Originally posted by Thunderheart
His computer is full oil based products

I "challenge" you to find something that isn't especially a "tech" product!)

ain't happenin until I get my sunflower seed and hemp pc boards made up...and bulid that laptop running off organic chlorophyl photo-voltaics...(He should be applauded not ridiculed: the guy is making an effort by walking and biking; most folks don't think twice before heading to walmart or Samsclub in the S.U.V. for a bunker sized tin of cheetos.

reply to post by kro32


I don't like my death post either. But it's the reality. Oil is, the cause of, and the solution to, all our problems.

I've read many studies and arguments about the cost of renewables. The problem is that most don't include the real numbers. Oil is subsidize. Farming is subsidized. We are not paying the true costs. Green Technologies do not get captitalized because investors, due to the markets, forced to see immediate, substantial returns on their investment. Goverments have not supported green energy in the same way the fund and promote exploration.

This will not always be the case. China is seeing the future and they are making cheap, affordable solar cells. They are taking existing technology and are investing in green energy. What this means is that they will be leading the new energy revolution and will be profiting down the road.

There are so many ways to make new energy producing devices. And ways to make things more efficient. In France they are designing sideways that produce electricty from the footsteps of pedestrians. Methane from cow barns is collected to provide heat. We are only limited by our imaginations. Unfortunately at this time, the human race is content on the short term thinking. And fast profits.

The problem isn't even oil. The problem is our policies. And the problem with our policies is that they are dictated by corporate lobby groups with dump trucks of money, which they are making because they are wasting the resource. If the oil companies control the policy, and if we are allowing them by buying their oil no matter the cost, we will only get a change after we are faced with a serious crisis.

When you have a crisis, you almost always get a conflict.

I wish I could see it a different way and not have to write anymore death posts. But that's the facts, jack.
I'd much rather be writing about the bear that I was trying to film the other night.
Or about geology, new medical breakthroughs, you know, stuff.

But since oil has come to dominate my world, it's too hard to ignore it. The world is rule by oil and cars. I can hardly walk down the road without getting hit by a car. I don't even ride my bike on the road anymore because it's risking your life. I loved breathing in the fumes as I rode in traffic. I love going fishing and seeing the oil spilled on the water. It has such a beautiful rainbow sheen.

What I'd really love to do is forget about all the problems with oil.
But everywhere I go, and with everything I do, I've got oil thrust in my face and stuck up my nose.

Originally posted by angus1745
And here's why. It comes from the earth, the earth's ecosystem can actually handle oil leaks,

What a lot of people dont realise is that oil is FOOD to a lot of small sea creatures.
That is, after all, what did the majority of the cleanup work in the big gulf spill.

The problems only arise when there is too much / too soon for the ecosystem to handle (like in the big gulf spill).
But that doesnt seem to be the situation in this latest case.

Originally posted by abecedarian

In the national debate about opening up more of America's offshore regions to oil and gas drilling -- and setting aside the problem of carbon dioxide-induced climate change -- a sixty mile long stretch of coastline that reaches roughly from Ventura Country west north west to San Luis Obispo Country, well south of the Big Sur coast, has some 2,000 active sea floor oil seeps. According to former JPL physicist Bruce Allen, the tectonically active zone is estimated to have leaked some 800 million barrels of oil over the last 10,000 years.

Source
emphasis by me

That's ~80,000 barrels a year from leaks... oops I mean natural sources... off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.

From the same article:

Now a resident of Santa Barbara and a member of the air quality board, Allen -- who is writing a book on energy policy -- discovered during the course of his research that in the 38 years since the moratorium on oil drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel and off-shore California, an estimated 900 barrels of crude oil have leaked from the production platforms visible off the the coast. In contrast, he points out, the seeps have leaked an estimated two million barrels.

Wildlife seems to be doing well off Santa Barbara.

edit on 8/12/2011 by abecedarian because: (no reason given)

Yes, there are many natural seeps of oil all over the planet. And where you find these seeps, you find an ecosystem that has developed to benefit from just such and enviroment. Bacteria can ever live in harsher enviroments such as you find around volcanic vents. But you're comparing apples and oranges.

The Gulf Coast Spill had much of the spill eaten up by marvelous bacteria. But the real problem occured when the oil kill marsh grasses and other plants and animals. The death of the grasses allowed massive erosion. In a place where erosion was alredy a problem do to the alterations made at the mouth of the Mississippi.

We are not taking about slow, nature seeps that have been happening for, forever. The oil spill in the Yellowstone River was not a good thing. The plants and animals that were exposed to the oil did not have a good time. They died. When gas companies fracknig pads overflow into rivers and creeks, fish and animals die.

Fish pee in the water all the time. So it's natural and alright then. So I guess it's just natural and okay for the holding tanks at pig farms to once and awhile break and raw sewage flows into rivers. Pooh is natural so it must be okay.

Originally posted by Robin Marks
...I love going fishing and seeing the oil spilled on the water. It has such a beautiful rainbow sheen.

From the article I cited above:

He also points out that when the seas in the channel are calm, it's possible to see a 50 square mile oil slick from the air as you fly into and out of the Santa Barbara airport; all of it the result of being located on an active major geological fault line that releases trapped petroleum,

Note that is from NATURAL leaks....

What I'd really love to do is forget about all the problems with oil.
But everywhere I go, and with everything I do, I've got oil thrust in my face and stuck up my nose.

and again, same article:

With up to an estimated $350 billion in oil royalties (at $138/barrel) at stake, Allen and his supporters are calling for an end to the California moratorium. Given the offshore oil industry's safety record over the last 38 years, his group believes the oil can be extracted safely, which will reduce in natural oil and gas seepage, resulting in environmental benefits. Gradually depleting the oil over 25 years will not only reduce the amount of seepage that is polluting the water and air off Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, but will provide the funds needed to develop the state's solar economy.

There ya' go, solution to your oil problem, funded by oil.
Cheers.

reply to post by Robin Marks


Please stay on [your] topic.

reply to post by angus1745


Did you really just say what I think you said?
We're better off for having oil companies drilling. Tell that to the people who live in Alaska who dealt with Exxon.
There are spills everywhere, all the time. There just not reported. The Niger Delta is a toxic waste dump. There was a spill recently near Saudia Arabia. And in the China Sea. Really. The oceans are cleaner becaue of oil.

I would spend lots of time trying to convince your statement isn't factual, but I know I will never succeed.

Maybe you work in the industry. That may explain your views.

Right now, somewhere in the pacific, there is a giant island of floating garbage. The reason this garbage floats is because it's made from oil. Maybe this is why I'm having so much trouble believing that our dependance on oil is cleaning up our oceans.

reply to post by abecedarian


My topic is oil. And I am not opposed to responsible drilling. Nor am I opposed to using oil for products.

I am opposed to the current system that has the oil companies and gas companies having too much power over policy.

In the Gulf of Mexico, there is a dead zone. It is so contaminated by petrochemicals and sewage that no life exists there. Not even bacteria can eat the stuff. The only thing that can survive there is algae which deplete the oxygen. There are dead zones in many other bodies of water. In Hamilton, Ontario there is such a dead zone in the habour. Years ago the St. Clair river was so polluted that it caught on fire.

Fertilizer runoff is killing bodies of water. What are our fertilizers made from?
Oil/Potash.

www.google.com...


www.abovetopsecret.com...

Here's some more recent oil spills that come up when you do a simple google seach of the news on oil spills.

www.cbc.ca...

Surpise. Surprise. The oil company underestimated the amount of oil spilled.

www.istockanalyst.com...

yosemite.epa.gov...


www.theaustralian.com.au...

Boy, it seems funny that the oil companies always underestimate the amounts that spill.

How much oil spilled during the Gulf of Mexico spill?

We'll never know.

Originally posted by Robin Marks ...
Fertilizer runoff is killing bodies of water. What are our fertilizers made from?
Oil/Potash.

Which fertilizer? Most of what I see applied in CA is anhydrous ammonia, obtained primarily from methane, propane or butane (various "natural gas" forms), not the more complex liquid hydrocarbons such as crude oil, and it's diluted with water, and... potash is obtained primarily via mines, and are potassium salts which are not a significant constituent of crude oil.

Originally posted by alfa1

Originally posted by angus1745
And here's why. It comes from the earth, the earth's ecosystem can actually handle oil leaks,

What a lot of people dont realise is that oil is FOOD to a lot of small sea creatures.
That is, after all, what did the majority of the cleanup work in the big gulf spill.

The problems only arise when there is too much / too soon for the ecosystem to handle (like in the big gulf spill).
But that doesnt seem to be the situation in this latest case.

The Gulf is far from 'cleaned up.'

Every day there are new photos and videos coming up that show the oil is still washing ashore int he Gulf of Mexico. Not to mention the combined kill due to the pesticides from the rivers and the oil/Corexit mixture that is killing off the bottom dwelling sea life in the Gulf.

While there are some species that can live off the oil, they are not exactly anything I'd call food.

What happens when the sea life that eats those 'life forms' die off due to the oil/Corexit mix? Are we looking a future where the sea is killed off or crippled due to those bacteria? Look at Australia, where the ecology has been changed just by adding in rabbits, cats and other non-native species.

Yes plastics and things made from oil are needed, we can hardly escape them. However, we need sensible ways to produce them and recycle them.

There are huge swaths of the ocean where plastic just accumulates:

Google: Ocean + Plastic

then click on view images.

Is this what we want for the future?

M.

reply to post by abecedarian


You are correct. You make fertilizers from natual gas. But you're splitting hairs. When you drill for oil, you almost always get natural gas. If you remember the BP oil spill, there were two substances emerging as a result of the blowout. Crude, and natural gas. Oil and gas companies make fertilizer out of fossil fuels.

They also make pesticides. And pharmaceuticals.

Here's a whole list of other things made from oil.

thomko.squarespace.com...

Like I said, oil is not the problem. I bought a hockey helmet for my kid. When it protected his head from a vulcanized rubber puck, I was very thankful for it's usefulness.

It's the policies. Which have led to the problems of overuse, waste, and to corruption of our democracies.