If you believe a picture is worth a thousand words then a picture combined with a thousand words should just blow your mind. I recently received this amazing graphic created by the talented people at InfographicWorld.com. I have to say, it is overwhelming.
Surely the image is overwhelming due to the massive amount of data it contains, and it is also overwhelming because the BP oil spill making its way to the gulf coast has been on my mind a lot already.
With every failed attempt to literally “stem the tide” transporting the massive oil spill my thoughts grow darker and darker. It seems the price we are paying for oil (both collectively as a society as well as individually) is creeping steadily upward. I believe in a live and let live approach to most personal choices that I face in life. I choose to drive a compact car. My neighbor’s car doesn’t fit in his garage. I choose to live close to where I work. I have a sister who routinely drives across county. I choose to embrace a lifestyle of moderate consumption of resources and recycling. I also am keenly aware that my choices are not popular or mainstream lifestyle choices.
So when, and maybe a better question, at what cost would less consumption of even one resource—namely oil—be the obvious choice for my friends toiling back and forth in vehicles the size of a mini bus on their hour plus commutes? Or does the rounding error of personal vehicle oil consumption even make a dent?
The American consumption of oil has been fodder for tycoons, terrorists, peace activists and politicians. We Americans consume more than our fair share of global resources. We have built empires, gone to war and definitely elected people into office in the name of oil. We are bonded together in worry over the scarcity of the remaining oil on the planet. We cheer and jeer “Drill Baby Drill”. And still the giant wave of oil creeps toward the already battered coast.
As we approach the five year anniversary of the Katrina disaster I find myself awake at night concerned with community larger than just the city where I live and work. I think about the same volunteers who picked up hammers to rebuild homes in New Orleans now wading into mucky beaches to rescue wildlife. I think of the employers who will grant employees paid time off to help with clean up efforts on top of the rebuilding efforts in the gulf and the employees who will spend precious family vacation time in this noble cause. I am proud that all of these people are part of my community. But the dark thoughts are still with me. Is my community lacking the type of leadership that could prevent the need for all of this activity?
And a spokesperson for BP said yesterday that the environmental impact of this should be minimal? Can I live in his world for awhile? It’s much nicer than my world.
Did anyone see the WCCO TV segment May 17? A Minnesota man has invented a clean up product made from peat. It works like a sponge to sop up the oil and leaves behind clean water and peat pellets that can be burned for fuel or which become non-toxic and no longer dangerous. It can even grow grass on top. It’s already used in Duluth for Lake Superior clean up.
Link: Secret to Oil Spill Cleanup may be from Minnesota: http://wcco.com/video/?cid=5
Al Franken supposedly knows about this product and is trying to get the word out. The inventor is pretty fun, a Willie Nelson mad inventor sort. Would be cool if a Minnesota product could help solve this massive clean up problem.
Here are the videos BP just released http://tinyurl.com/2blbuja. To me, it is just numbing.