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OIL IN EARTH
A homeowner walks into their home after a long days works only to discover that sewage is shooting out of the toilet. This person quickly slams down the lid and closes the bathroom door. Now this person is forced to make a quick decision: A.) Do they immediately call the plumber (solution)? or B.) Do they assemble a press conference to alert their neighbors of this emergency situation?
As days go by, raw sewage continues to spill in their home. The homeowner still hasn't called the plumber, however they acknowledge something needs to be done and announce they will stop the sewage flow in about 3 months. The neighbors catch a whiff of the smelly pollutant invading the home, and start to grow impatient with the homeowner's handling of the spill. Now the spill threatens to bother their lifestyle and homes. The homeowner immediately addresses their disapproval by assuring the neighbors they have everything under control, and will call the plumber in a couple of days. The homeowner finally makes that call and by the time the plumber arrives, what probably would have been an easy fix is now close to an impossible task.
Where am I going with this extreme made up story, you ask? Well, if you're a human being on planet Earth, you are the disgruntled neighbors from the story. The plumber represents the solution, which in present time is a four story concrete containment structure. And by now you should have already figured out the identity of the slow, indecisive homeowner. Thats right, its none other than oil giant, British Petroleum PLC (BP).
Sadly just before Earth Day on April 20th, the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded and is now leaking an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil per day. What is soon to be the biggest oil spill in U.S history will leave a crippling effect, damaging the Gulf of Mexico's fishing industry, tourism, and most importantly its habitat - including hundreds of bird species.
Right now, offshore drilling permits have been halted; you should hope it stays that way. We were made to believe by politicians and greedy shareholders that offshore drilling is harmless and safer than ever before, however, it is actually a high risk activity being managed by highly irresponsible companies (BP, Haliburton, etc.). Though it can offer high reward, is it worth losing our home planet? Earth is the only planet we have in the foreseeable future. When are we finally going to wake up and realize what we do to Earth we do to ourselves?
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